Westside Pheasant & duck hunters!!! please read

[Stilly bay]

Oct 30 6:30 at the Stanwood Middle school cafeteria marks one of the first public meets to try and determine what will happen to the Smith farm/ Leque island Pheasant release site on the Skagit Wildlife area.

We are back to square one with the entire project, so there is still hope.

There are several groups that are highly interested in flooding the area for salmon production and non hunting pursuits. They will all be there supporting their agendas. If you hunt pheasants in Western Wa or Ducks make sure that you stand up and make yourself known in support of keeping this piece of land open to all hunting.

Please take the time to show your support. WDFW has the final decision on all of this so please don't take the defeatist way out and believe that your opinion doesn't matter, this is one of the rare times where it really does.

this area was purchased for Hunters in the 70's, now the Indians want it for raising Salmon and Anti hunters want it for themselves. Don't let them chip away at another of our limited Westside hunting Resources!!!!!!

[Stilly bay]

bump

[Special T]

 

[singleshot12]

232 views,1 thumbs up and 3  hunters in support at last nights meeting.. pretty damn pathetic

[Stilly bay]

Yes very weak, there are more than a few hunters that should be ashamed of themselves.

If you have hunted smith farm in the past, planned on hunting it in the future and didn't have a good excuse for not showing up or at least writing an email, then don't be surprised when other local hunting opportunities are taken away while others become overcrowded because of displaced hunters.
Don't be upset when your kids and grand kids have no hunting opportunities on this side of the state. Don't get up set when billy is cooking or smoking meth when he could have been out hunting ducks or pheasants.

This is one of the first of HUNDREDS of proposed salmon restoration areas, a project that they don't even know what the out come will be.
By Restoring smith farm they hope to create an extra 10-15K salmon smolt. Not juvies or full grown fish, but smolt. IMO it is just not worth it for the amount of people -hunters and non hunters alike- using that piece of land through out the year.

if anyone has any interest in following this project or god forbid getting off your lazy ass and doing something, here is the website.

http:wdfw.wa.gov/lands/wildlife_areas/skagit/leque_island_project.php

[AspenBud]

Yes very weak, there are more than a few hunters that should be ashamed of themselves.

If you have hunted smith farm in the past, planned on hunting it in the future and didn't have a good excuse for not showing up or at least writing an email, then don't be surprised when other local hunting opportunities are taken away while others become overcrowded because of displaced hunters.
Don't be upset when your kids and grand kids have no hunting opportunities on this side of the state. Don't get up set when billy is cooking or smoking meth when he could have been out hunting ducks or pheasants.

This is one of the first of HUNDREDS of proposed salmon restoration areas, a project that they don't even know what the out come will be.
By Restoring smith farm they hope to create an extra 10-15K salmon smolt. Not juvies or full grown fish, but smolt. IMO it is just not worth it for the amount of people -hunters and non hunters alike- using that piece of land through out the year.

if anyone has any interest in following this project or god forbid getting off your lazy ass and doing something, here is the website.

http:wdfw.wa.gov/lands/wildlife_areas/skagit/leque_island_project.php

My current household work schedule makes a drive like that impossible, otherwise I'd have been happy to make the drive.

The sad thing is I think you'd have had more turn out if the meeting involved big game or could have dropped the word "wolf" in there.

Hunting is in trouble here. With less than 300,000 of us statewide we have a small and ever shrinking voice.

[Stilly bay]

I think if we could have just had a tenth of the guys that hunt that area for pheasant and duck throughout the season show up to give support it would have been impressive. That place gets some serious traffic by hunters.

I can understand not showing up  if your not local or never plan on using the area, we all have interests and  lives and gas money isn't cheap, but it just blows my mind how many people were just not there.

There were plenty of non hunters there, that was evident. they outnumbered us ten to one. They will the undoing of all hunting someday if only for the fact that they know how to get off their ass and stand up for something they believe in with others that believe the same thing.

[Special T]

I'm sorry im didn't go.  I've been dealing with sick & injured family (including myself).
 Unfortunately this is not an isolated event (changing hunting ground into salmon ground) It would seem that the WDFW is pushing for management of these properties into holdings that manage themselves. A couple of other examples are the breaching of the dykes  at  the headquarters unit and the farmed island segment across the freshwater slew. Where they blew out the dikes for salmon restoration.... And increased hunting opportunities.....