MADMEN!

[DJH]

MADMEN!

I find it so bizarre that hunters keep viciously turning on hunters. Today I emailed out state’s Deer Hunting organization in response to an email message I received asking me to go out an contact everyone I know about the evils of shooting preserves. How strange it is that 800 Minnesota Deer, Elk and Exotic Ranchers should face the threat of being put out of business by their own brothers! What on earth is happening to us?

Why must hunters fall victim to persecution from their own kind? What causes the cannibalism among the ranks of the modern hunter, when never before has their unity been so needed to survive? What causes the myopic vision that disables so many from seeing the real threat to our hunting heritage and its future? Honestly I swear that a very larger percentage of those who call themselves hunters are truly “brain dead”! When is the madness going to stop? When are the hunting and fishing masses going to gain the vision to see the big picture and realize that our hunting heritage is in terminal peril?

In spite of signs that are so vibrant that even a blind man could comprehend, we have bowhunters persecuting the crossbow and deer hunters condemning the deer farmer. All the while the ARF’s circle the carnage with smiles of satisfaction at the destructive cannibalism that is destroying our ranks. It is not a proud time for this hunter who has spent his last 45 years of his life in pursuit of big game! It is a travesty that brings deep shame to a sport that has become my way of life.

If you or any of your friends are looking for a fight, there are any number of organizations that are dedicated to the demise of the modern hunter. Doesn’t it make sense to focus our energies on those that would see us to extinction? Why persecute a brother and destroy his preference of harvesting wild game?

While I am having a hard time understanding what is happening within our ranks, I have dedicated my life to the unification of all hunters in a common effort against our real enemy, the ARF’s. Please listen to my plea and join me and those who understand where the true danger lies. That jeopardy does not come from another who enjoys harvesting natural resources with a weapon or a rod and reel. It comes from those who strive to eliminate all forms of hunting and fishing and who will not rest until their mission is accomplished. For the mercy of the sports that mean so much to us all, wake up! The clock is ticking and we are allowing our hunting and fishing futures to be placed in peril. If you really care about the future of our sports, you will put away your selfish agendas and go to work with your brothers and your sisters to preserve the things that are so dear to us all.

It makes no difference what your choose to take your animal with! You are a hunter and the choice should be yours to make. What does matter is that there is a well financed and a well organized enemy that is bound and determined to see hunting and fishing banned forever. We all know that! And, if in the shadow of that knowledge, you still feel it more important to persecute your fellow hunter because of where he or she wants to hunt or because of what he or she wants to hunt with, then you are more of a threat than the ARF is. At least the ARF has the honesty to declare that they want to see hunting gone forever. Those that say, “I want your hunting gone, but not mine!” are no better than the evil that would see all hunting totally eradicated.

There are those of you who would call me a Madman! But,, if you can not see the logic in what I say, I claim that you are the ones that are mad and you will be the death of us all!

[buckeye]

I could not agree more DJH aka Madman. These same hunters who want to put an end to these big game "shooting preserves" have no problem themselves shooting pheasants, quail and boars on these same preserves. This I can find no logic in. I myself have never shot big game in a preserve but I do not judge others who have. I look at it as if it is legal and a person feels it is right for him or her then go for it. Their decision in no way will take away from the joy and thrill of my hunting experience. Just as you stated DJH, it reminds us of the compound bow hunters condeming the use of crossbows as unethical and a poachers tool. The thinking that the existence of these so called "shooting preserves" gives hunters a black eye doesn't hold water either. Every endeavor in life wether it is in buisness, sports, recreation or whatever will allways have certain practices that will be looked upon as unethical or questionable and hunting is no different except that there are people and organizations that want a total ban on all hunting, shooting preserves or no shooting preserves.

[DJH]

You folks may or may not know that I belong to a large group of bowhunters that started the United Foundation For Disabled Archers back in 1994. This group hosts two events each year, one in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin, where we treat fifty disabled bowhunters to a four-day whitetail hunt. We raise the funds to house them, feed them and cater to their every need. Needless to say, we all have a huge number of disabled friends. Some aren’t so bad, others are very severe.

Over the past decade plus, I have taken many of these disabled hunters, as well as terminal ill hunters, to shooting preserves to help them harvest an animal or species that they could not readily harvest in the wild. Several cases were a priority, because the hunter would not live until the next season opened. I have also accompanied senior hunters that were just too old or ill to climb a mountain or canoe back into the wilderness. For them, the shooting preserve provides a viable solution to sate their appetite for the hunt.

For Pete sakes, if you don’t believe in shooting preserves, do the Capitalistic thing and don’t spend your money there. There is no more effective solution than that. Preserve owners are not asking that they be made mandatory, the are just asking to be left alone to run the businesses that they work so hard at and operate to feed their families. What is it about hunters that cause them to say, “I don’t like it so lets kill it”? What a shame that we just can’t mind our own business and live and let live.

[ecoaster]

Well said DJH. You obviously have first hand knowledge of these preserves. I would be willing to venture a guess that most of the individuals or organizations who are opposed to preserves, do not have this knowledge and are baseing arguments on myths, lies, bad info or plain ignorance.

It is a great service that you provide for those handicap individuals each year.

[GaryL]

I feel as long as the preserves take care of the animals proper, and as has been seen in a couple of preserve hunts, the animal is not drugged it is OK in my book. The preserves can and do serve a need.

[l patterson]

djh i agree 100percent. hunters are hunters no matter what. or if they hunt big game to groundhogs we all try to kill our prey. i dont fish but i like fisherman they are part of nature too