Finally some truth!

[G-Man]

http://urbandeercomplex.com/news/if-you-are-against-hunting-you-are-against-conservation/

[mike rossi]

Many bird watchers do in fact purchase the federal migratory bird hunting and conservation stamp. Unfortunately, mostly due to the arrogant attitude expressed in this sign, bird watchers have began taking measures to enumerate their purchases from the hunters by purchasing the federal stamp from bird watching organizations who are keeping records,  instead of buying the stamp from license agents, the FWS, or the post office.

 

Other birders, who dislike hunters, are pushing congress for a federal non-hunting stamp. This is more complex than you may be aware. There also has been federal proposals to include bird watching equipment and bird seed in the Pitman Robertson Program, but Congress has not yet agreed. The FWS in conjunction with the Census Bureau conducts the National Survey of Wildlife - Related Recreation every five years (or is it every two years?). The spending  of birdwatchers has been tracked for some time now in the national Survey and the revenue is significant.There is nothing to gain from making enemies out of the bird watching community. Instead biach about the extraction industries on public land...

[G-Man]

it goes past that for me, my snowmobile club builds and maintain bridges and trail thru several , non hunting properties , only to hear the cyclists and runners / x country skiers complain about why do they allow the stinky snowmobiles in here anyways messing up out trails. the general public does not know why trails/parksystems multiple use areas are maintained.

though you are right making enemys is not a good thing, though i felt the artice was very valid. its time hunters as a group are given some credit for the wildlife and programs all enjoy, rather than being outcasts despised because they kill

[G-Man]

perhaps instead of a county exec1s or govenor name on a sign, a simple one paid for in part by hunters should be placed to raise awareness

[Mr VJP]

Birders are buying the stamps, but are they signing them?  No.  they collect them and sell them years later for a profit.

 

[Doc]

I think that sign struck me the same way it struck a lot of you. The first thought was "why pick a fight with birders"? I know the intent was to highlight the financial contributions of hunters toward the welfare of wildlife and habitat. But the tone of the sign was such an in-your-face statement that it just seemed to be a whole lot more confrontational than it had to be to get the same point across. Is there some kind of active conflict going on between birdwatchers and hunters that might have caused a sign of this sort to have been put up?

[mike rossi]

I am not positive when the duck stamp was first used as an entry pass to certain national wildlife refuges which do charge an entry fee; however, it was 2004 when Congress passed the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.  REA allows the government to charge a fee for recreational use of public lands managed by agencies under the umbrella of the DOI (Department of the Interior), such as the FWS (Fish and Wildlife Service) BLM (Bureau of Land management) etc…

The allowable public uses of refuges was clarified in 1962 in the Refuge recreation Act and then again in 1997 in the National Wildlife refuge Improvement Act also known as Public Law 105-57. “Priority Public Uses of Refuges”; outlined in these laws enacted by Congress include hunting, but they also include wildlife observation.

Another law passed in 1976 allowed the DOI to sell duck stamps through facilities other than post offices to quote: “encourage non-hunters to buy them”.

National Wildlife Refuges sell duck stamps and ask purchasers if they are using the stamp for waterfowl hunting and record the answers. Large bird conservation organizations, such as the American Bird Association sell the duck stamp in an effort to enumerate the number of non-hunters who buy the duck stamp. Every time we buy our duck stamps at post offices, we seem to be asked if we are hunters and are now wondering if this is actually a survey question being asked.

Some conservationists have a hatred of hunters and hunting and there is indeed an organized movement to get Congress to authorize a Federal Wildlife Conservation Stamp. However, since such a stamp does not do anything that the duck stamp does not do, it will be some time before they convince federal lawmakers to enact such a law. The administration costs of a different stamp which serves no practical purpose also will be difficult to reconcile with congress; which adds to the difficulty in passage of such a proposal.  See these links:

http://wildlifeconservationstamp.org/

https://www.facebook.com/WildlifeConservationStamp

There has also been proposals by Congress to amend the Pitman-Robertson Act to include among the items subject to a conservation excise tax the expensive equipment used by wildlife observers and the huge amount of bird seed purchased each year. So far, Congress has voted down these proposals. The last thing I want to try to do is speculate or second guess on how politician’s think, but it may have something to do with the intent of the PR Act. The Pitman-Robertson Act is really a nickname for the Wildlife Restoration Act, crafted by Congressman Pitman and Congressman Robertson. The name “Wildlife Restoration Act” is self- explanatory. I think wildlife observation being a non-consumptive activity does not fit as an activity that should be required by law to mitigate harm to wildlife populations. It is in the best interest of wildlife observers to contribute to conservation on a voluntary basis, but other than entrance fees, a legal requirement to contribute to wildlife restoration is pushing it.

 Many conservationists do indeed voluntarily purchase duck stamps and make other contributions; but as discussed a portion of them do not want to buy the duck stamp because of its association with hunting and hunters.  This attitude is exasperated by hunters with equally poor attitudes who also drive a wedge between two groups which should be working towards the same goal. Case in point is the photo posted by the OP, a photo I have already seen because hunters and organizations who represent hunters have distributed it online for some time now. It would be one thing if both groups engaged in a friendly competition to raise conservation revenue, but this serves no useful purpose.

The actual spending of conservationists is studied along with the spending of hunters in a federal report compiled every five years. Here is a link to the latest report done in 2011:

https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/fhw11-nat.pdf

As you should be starting to understand; the conservation community is both organized and their spending is being documented. The number of people engaged in conservation is growing, while the number of people involved in hunting is shrinking. The number of hunters buying the Federal Duck Stamp is shrinking more than hunters in general as well. How many of you deer hunters purchased a duck stamp this year? Most of the younger hunters don’t even know it exists. Teach hunter education? Do you even mention the duck stamp? I doubt it.

Like any business would do when their customer base is shrinking, that is search for new markets, state and federal wildlife agencies are planning for the future by engaging non-hunters in conservation. Just as they are developing programs to recruit and retain hunters, they are actively recruiting non-hunters to replace the fading funds they have historically relied upon from hunters. The age attrition facing hunting is compounded by mostly non-hunters entering the wildlife biology field. Most biologists today are not hunters. In a few short years, most who are the college professors giving the training to new biologists also will not be hunters. Senior biologists will soon not be hunters.  Hunters are grossly outnumbered, already have very few friends, yet some hunters and most organizations representing hunters are insistent on picking fights with nothing to gain. I think the word here is “Reality Check”…