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January and February is Fund Raising for Habitat Season in NY! Many millions of dollars will be raised the next 8 weeks for waterfowl, pheasant, ruffed grouse and woodcock right here in NY state. The NYC DU banquet alone brings in around one million dollars each year! To engage the conservationists on this site,who are just getting into hunting and do not know what all goes on, lets start a thread and post chapter events. Here is one notification I got this morning I am passing along: Hello All. If you live in the Rochester, NY area or surrounding area you need to come check out an awesome event!! The Webster/Penfield Chapter of Ducks Unlimited will be hosting our 35th annual Dinner/Banquet & Live auction. Come support Wetlands conservation & the great outdoors. Whether you're an avid waterfowler,beginner or any sort of outdoorsmen there is something for everyone. We have tons & tons of raffles & games loaded with great merchandise, hunting & fishing gear. Along with live & silent auctions. We have hunts up for auction as well as tons of oppurtunities at winning guns. If you have never been to a Ducks Unlimited dinner you are missing out and do not want to miss this one. Come join us on Friday February 26th, 2016 @ Webster Golf Club for great food, drinks, great people and a great time all for a great cause. Doors open @ 5:00pm with dinner serving @ 7:00pm Ticket prices are $75 for a single or $105 for a couple, which includes your dinner, open bar & 1 year membership to Ducks Unlimited. We also have Sponsor packages and corporate table packages available. For more info or if you are interested in attending contact me Gabe Speranza @ 585-313-1643

You can vote for DU to win a $5,000 donation from First Tennessee Foundation today! Go here: http://bit.ly/PLGGpM & Vote for Ducks Unlimited!

This was just posted by the NY Senate on youtube. I suggest watching the whole video, but in segments, since it is over 7 hours long. For example I watch one hour an evenening for 7 days. Do not skip over discussions which do not interest you because you can get a feel for each assembly and senate members attitude which is valuaeble intell. I would like to discuss this in segments as well. Particularily interesting is questions to DEC commissioner Martens from Mark Grisanti. Grisanti is the chairman of the senate environmental conservation committee. Grisanti refused to forward S-6968, the NY Dove Bill for two years allowing the bill to expire to the delight of the HSUS. The stated justification of the dove bill was to increase the states conservation fund. Grisanti did not discuss doves, but he did say that the conservation fund is so large that license fees should be reduced. No he didnt say use the money, he said lower fees so the fund depletes. The kicker is the next thing he asks about is the possible loss of federal conservation funds. If you know anything about these federal funds you know that these are grants which a state or organization applies for on a somewhat competitive basis. The state or organization's conservation funds are matched three to one. For example if the state applies one million dollars toward a project, the FWS chips in an additional 3 million. So Grisanti wants to drain the states conservation fund, but yet wants federal grants? This is just an "illusion of action" because the state cannot access its share of federal wildife funds unless it has an approved project proposal and its share of matching funds. Another point is concern with the hatcheries and the state pheasant farm. I hunt released pheasant and am glad that this program is in good shape, despite that NY got sued a few years ago by the HSUS to abolish released pheasant hunting - yeah I know nobody heard about that, but I will be reporting on that at a latter date.What is remarkable about the hatchery/farm concern is that state and federal conservation funds can create natural hatcheries/farms by habitat enhancements - a fundemental purpose of such funds. Our state has become so disconnected to that and the way this topic flowed it should have biologists shaking their heads. Please watch this entire video in segments and participate in productive discussion in the next several weeks.