birdwatchers on release sites

[Stilly bay]

Less than 300,000 hunters and probabely only 300 hundred of them actually get off their butts write letters and show up at meetings We as a whole "the hunter" are making the anti-hunter agenda very easy for them. I'm ashamed to say we are letting it happen. So really the only ones who deserve to bitch and complain are the ones who actually tried to do something about it.

You're absolutely right.

It's more than that. There isn't a lot going on to introduce more people to hunting.

Some of it also falls on parents. I know guys who spend more time taking their kids to baseball than they do in a field chasing birds behind a dog or in the woods hunting deer. A number of those guys like to hunt but for whatever reason seldom, if ever, take their kids hunting or even fishing and the culture is being lost as a result.

It sucks.

it does indeed, this particular loss for hunters ( its not lost yet, the coffin has been built and they just need one more nail) and potential hunters is a tragedy. I wonder how many kids that live on Camano Island are going to miss out on hunting opportunities? Camano is somewhat isolated by distance, now the nearest release site will be around an hour away, public duck hunting opportunities will be further and feeling the impact of displaced hunters that once used smith farm. Gas money adds up quick along with license fees and gear hunting is cost prohibitive for beginners these days. We should be making it cheaper and easier for kids to be introduced to this sport too bad its the other way around.

Less than 300,000 hunters and probabely only 300 hundred of them actually get off their butts write letters and show up at meetings We as a whole "the hunter" are making the anti-hunter agenda very easy for them. I'm ashamed to say we are letting it happen. So really the only ones who deserve to bitch and complain are the ones who actually tried to do something about it.

I am blaming this on every last pheasant hunter, duck hunter, dog walker, sturgeon fisherman, and good birdwatcher that has used smith farm but couldn't be bothered to do anything about its pending demise. It was no secret, this has been going on for years now. plenty of people use the place for outdoor recreation of all sorts, its a mad house on the weekends during hunting season where the hell were all of you?

Hunters for the most part enjoy the solitary aspect of their sport, gathering together and uniting isn't in our nature. But it is in the nature of all these animal rights cluks, and that is why in the end they are going to beat us and have their way. Too many hunters are just willing to sit back and hope that someone else is going to do the heavy lifting for them in regards to fighting for our rights and our hunting areas.

Thank you to all those who actually did something.

[singleshot12]

Well said Stilly! and local hunting opportunity is what has helped the youth stay away from drugs and a whole list of destructive trouble.
I remember when the schools had archery classes and skeet and trap shoots. More than half the teachers hunted them selves and supported it. Now the teachers seem to bad mouth hunting anyway they can by expressing their own personal non-hunting beliefs in front of the students. What kind of a backwards society are they trying to create?

[seth30]

I looked over that website and there were pics of the usuall slob hunters leaving behind there shells.  I wish guys would clean up after themselves   I no longer upland hunt but when I waterfowel hunt I usually pull out a shopping bag's worth of shotgun shells left from other hunters.  We cant continue to give the left ammo to shut our way of life down.

[singleshot12]

I looked over that website and there were pics of the usuall slob hunters leaving behind there shells.  I wish guys would clean up after themselves   I no longer upland hunt but when I waterfowel hunt I usually pull out a shopping bag's worth of shotgun shells left from other hunters.  We cant continue to give the left ammo to shut our way of life down.

And that's a major part of the problem. Most DO pick up after themselves, but like fishing it's the 10% that don't and it makes us all look bad. The people that don't hunt look at us as all slobs becuase of it.

[AspenBud]

The guy that started that blog is animal rights nut.

He's also incredibly insulting to the hunting community. Given the amount of money for habitat that we provide every year both via Pittman Robertson and other organizations like Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, The Ruffed Grouse Society, and so forth I would say we do probably more for the very birds he likes to watch than anyone else. Heck, in some parts of the country hunters help states out by using their dogs to find migratory birds like woodcock and band them.

We're also banned from running our dogs on wild birds between April and the start of August. How many here get a serious case of the red ass when they see some hiker or whoever letting their house dog romp around during nesting season? I know I do.

Sorry, I'm just really tired of guys like this. They are both very misinformed and offensive.

[singleshot12]

They are nothing but bleeding heart extremists who call themselves "Defenders of Wildlife".. They also claim themselves as educated City bred yuppies who don't have a clue about wildlife and conservation. Will they go away? unfortunately not!

[stevemiller]

We all need to be very dilligent in our hunting areas,any one interfering with someones hunt in any way needs to be turned in to leo and we need to force the pros. att. into prosecuting each and everyone of them to the fullest.

[BIGINNER]

We all need to be very dilligent in our hunting areas,any one interfering with someones hunt in any way needs to be turned in to leo and we need to force the pros. att. into prosecuting each and everyone of them to the fullest.

 

[singleshot12]

We all need to be very dilligent in our hunting areas,any one interfering with someones hunt in any way needs to be turned in to leo and we need to force the pros. att. into prosecuting each and everyone of them to the fullest.

I guess I should of reported them when they yelled at me for training my dogs. I also should of reported the mysterious nails and screws that keep getting dumped where hunters park. Next time I will file a complaint against these people.

You know if these anti-hunter birdwatchers insist on being in the field during hunting season it boggles my mind why they don't have the smarts to wear ORANGE. After all their main concern for shutting down these areas to hunting is the safety issue. It's as if they want accidents and confrontations.

[Stilly bay]

We all need to be very dilligent in our hunting areas,any one interfering with someones hunt in any way needs to be turned in to leo and we need to force the pros. att. into prosecuting each and everyone of them to the fullest.

I guess I should of reported them when they yelled at me for training my dogs. I also should of reported the mysterious nails and screws that keep getting dumped where hunters park. Next time I will file a complaint against these people.

You know if these anti-hunter birdwatchers insist on being in the field during hunting season it boggles my mind why they don't have the smarts to wear ORANGE. After all their main concern for shutting down these areas to hunting is the safety issue. It's as if they want accidents and confrontations.

You can Bird Watch and to some extent duck hunt anywhere, Pheasant release sites are very few. It only makes sense that everyone wears blaze orange during pheasant season between 8:00 - 4:00 if bird hunters or duck hunters don't like it, go somewhere else for the brief time that Western Wa pheasant is open.
Mandatory Blaze Orange can only improve things for everyone on the release site, its a small concession that most reasonable people can agree with.
Blaze orange isn't just for safety, it also helps us to do our best to stay out of each other's way.

[AspenBud]

I'm of the opinion that if people (non-hunting) are going to be enjoying the outdoors during hunting season, and if they choose to go where hunters may be, it should be state law that they wear hunter orange as well. No exceptions.

[CedarPants]

Anyone ever hunt the Fishtrap release site back in the late 90's, early 2000's?  There were several ponds that got hunted for ducks as well.  There used to be this lady that would show up frequently in the early AM to "walk her dogs".  She'd walk down to the ponds, past the blinds full of hunters.  She'd walk around the sage flats where the pheasant hunters were.  I came across her several times and although she never said anything it was obvious what she was doing.

Frustrating, and potentially dangerous.  No, she wasn't wearing orange either

[singleshot12]

I'm of the opinion that if people (non-hunting) are going to be enjoying the outdoors during hunting season, and if they choose to go where hunters may be, it should be state law that they wear hunter orange as well. No exceptions.

Definately a common sense law that needs to be pushed

[stevemiller]

I agree so far with all the statements made in this thread,the most commen sense laws pertaining to this thread are the hunter harassment laws that we do have and we as hunters need to start pushing those laws,if the lady walking her dog is interfering in a hunt in any way she is breaking the law!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  if she is getting between you and your quarry then she is breaking the law,if she is jumping the birds then she is harrassing and interfering.  RCW.  77.15.180

[singleshot12]

well we don't have to worry about harrassment if the bleeding heart birdwatchers win and get the whole release site all to themselves. this is what this thread is about.