Federal Upland Stamp?

[Cajun Casey]

Chad Love's blog entry gets another incarnation in the most recent QF newsletter. Here's the original

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/man ... -worth-you

[displaced_texan]

I saw that when it went up. I think it's a good idea, it's certainly worked for waterfowl.

Logistics would be tougher because like Chad said they don't migrate. Something needs to happen for sure though...

[nikegundog]

I spend about $300 annually on hunting licenses, don't believe I need to spend more. Quite honestly dollar for dollar I know DU does more for ducks than the Feds, I support upland hunting by belonging to organizations like Pheasants Forever and my local Rod & Gun Club, probably get 5 times the bang for my buck than going through government red tape.

[jimbo&rooster]

I dont think that there should be a federal upland bird stamp. If i remember correctly, I believe that Indiana already has a game bird stamp but I am not 100%sure. If a state thinks that they can do some good buy charging for stamps then why not.

I will agree that organizations like DU QF PF, and others do quite a bit, but I also know that locally most of what is accompolished by these groups has been joint efforts with the state. Even if the state (or federal) would use the money to fund projects or programs like CRP then I would be for it. As much as we would all like state or federal money to benefit public lands, I am ok with it benefitting private landowners as well, since there is alot more private lands available and more birds is more birds.

I understand that there are alot of folks who drop some seriouse money already to be able to go hunting. I for one would be more than happy to spend money on stamps that might benefit wild bird populations, if it meant that I didnt have to spend several hundred dollars at a local game preserve just to be able to cosistently get into birds.

Jim

[dreamerofdreams]

Federal stamps make sense for migratory birds. If the birds aren't migratory, it doesn't make any sense at all. State stamps would make sense. Even better, doing it at the state level would reduce the "red tape" and make it more likely that your money is going to help your birds.

[JKP]

If the government would get out of the corn to alcohol business ...would be all we need. Grain prices are working against us. I also think we may not be doing enough to control predators. There are just raccoons, skunks, mink, weasel, fox, coyote, etc all over the place....and then there's the sacred birds of prey.

But this year the weather got us...not much you can do about that.

[Greek]

Yes Indiana has two additional stamps..Habitat(for upland birds) and a Waterfowl..on top of the Federal Waterfowl. I really believe it should be the state not the Feds. In my experience anytime you get the Feds involved it seems to cost you more in the long run and nothing gets solved. That being said the habitat orgs like Pheasants Forever, DU etc.. really should be the best way to go. The States should just utilize these orgs as resources.

[ezzy333]

My first question is what are the feds supposed to do with the money they get? Come up with some senisible things they could do and then make up your mind. Off hand, I can't think of a single thing they could do, should do, or would do. Plus on top of that tell me one thing they have done with any program that has been done properly, efficiently, or cost effective.

I think history would pretty much tell you that the less government involvement there is in most any venue the better off we are.

Ezzy

[Grange]

WI has a pheasant stamp that is required to hunt pheasant anywhere in the State. The money is used for stocking pheasant and some habitat impovements.

[RayGubernat]

Guys =-

The stamp idea is great...IF... teh Federal Government will repeal Pittman Robertson. They have raked in BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of dollars under Pittman Robertson and the biggest part of those funds have gone to hiring more people to bust our chops in the field and in paneled offices, passing regulations to limit our access an fuerther restict and regulate our time afield.

Current hunting regulations in most states are a ridiculous hodgepodge of spit seasons, overlapping seasons, management zones and interminal other BULLswipe. You need to be a Philadephia lawyer to figure out when, where and you you can hunt. If I hunt on this side of the lane i am legal...TODAY. If I hunt on this side of the lane tomorrow, I will be breaking the law. What a crock. Before long they will try to regulate the WHY.

The more money you give to any government organization...the more regulations and regulatory personnel you will create and the more difficult it will be to do things legally, because if there are enough regulations, if you do anything at all, you will be in violation of something...somewhere...sometime.

Giving the Federal government any money at all for conservation, of any type at all is a VERY BAD idea, because they cannot help but screw it up totally.

The federal government has a CONSTITUTIONAL mandate to secure our borders. See where that one went folks. Thyey suck at that too,. So, instead of doing their job...they want to parlay their incompetience into keeping track of every single citizen 24 hours a day and monitoring every single thing that every single citizen says and does. Like that is going to make us safer.

NJ has had a stamp program for a number of years. They actually buy birds(thousands of them, pheasants and quail) and stock them with those funds, so upland hunters have something to hunt in one of the most densely populated states in the country. I have no doubt in my mind that a similar Federal program would be unable to purchase a single gamebird because they ran out of funds. If they did manage to find funding to purchase birds and stock them, this would be done in places where the general hunting population was not permitted. I don't know much, but I do know that.

RayG

[jcbuttry8]

They do stock alot of birds. Assunpink where i hunt get alot of birds. The problem is finding a 50 yard stretch that doesn't have 6 bodies in orange on it. It is very hard to find a place to hunt on the public land. To many dogs and hunters to deal with. That's a whole lotta faith to put into that many people you don't know carrying guns.

Joe

[live4point]

If the government would get out of the corn to alcohol business ...would be all we need. Grain prices are working against us. I also think we may not be doing enough to control predators. There are just raccoons, skunks, mink, weasel, fox, coyote, etc all over the place....and then there's the sacred birds of prey.

But this year the weather got us...not much you can do about that.

Man I sure agree.If ethanol was a good deal it could stand on it's own,but it's not,and it's screwing us in many ways.High grain prices due to ethanol are putting a serious hurt on any kind of livestock producers,and driving food prices way up.And it's hurting wildlife habitat also,if a spot can be tilled,it's being tilled and planted.