Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!ihlpf!jimf
From: jimf@ihlpf.ATT.COM (YES)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Hunting
Message-ID: <6641@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Date: 15 Nov 88 15:15:54 GMT
Organization: NO
Lines: 33

Certainly there are a lot of irresponsible idiots with guns (some of
them on the police force). In Illinois, hunters must attend hunter
safety seminars to get permits to hunt on some state hunting areas -
I assume these also talk about legal hunting, littering, etc. but I
don't know since I've never attended one. It would be a good idea if
all hunters had to attend one of these every few years and pass a
test (like driver's license) but the expense would be great. But a ban
on hunting would be a wildlife disaster in that much of the money for
habitat - not just wetlands - comes from hunting licenses. If you think
most state legislatures are going to shell out big bucks year after year
for habitat for songbirds unless it's a state park or otherwise has some
economic benefit, you're nuts. That money comes from hunter fees and
conservation groups. I've noticed in Illinois a trend toward 
commercializing state parks to generate income. (Building swimming
pools, resorts, etc) I believe the pressure on administrators to hold
down conservation costs and generate income will only get more intense
in the future. If hunting were banned (which it won't be), states would
start selling off wildlife preserves, state forests etc in a hurry (much
like Raygun has done with federal lands) because a major source of
income for the conservation departments would be gone. In farm states
like Illinois and Iowa, the real villain as far as wildlife is concerned
is intensive agriculture. For some reason, a lot of farmers have an
irresistible impulse to chop down every tree in sight, clean out every
fencerow, clear cut every river bottom woods so they can plant a crop
on it that gets flooded out every Spring, mow every roadside, etc,
etc. I guess I don't understand the logic of removing a fencerow to
get 3 more rows of corn when the price corn brings barely pays for the
cost of planting it. Removing all the fencrerows increases soil erosion,
destroys wildlife, etc. Many hunting groups are working to get farmers
to leave more land untilled, to leave roadsides unmowed, etc. In
Northern Illinois, a group called Pheasants Forever actually pays
farmers to let some of their land grow wild. Hunters are, for whatever
reasons, the Major conservation group in this country.