Free: Contests & Raffles.
I've never liked the MH program since I first heard it proposed. It sets up a two tier class of people among hunters, a recipe for tensions and ready-made for divide and conquer anti-hunters. Master Hunter strikes me as a pseudo elitist designation which IMO appeals to the kind of person who likes to join clubs, of which I am not one. But I'm probably in the minority. The volunteer work is good but there are less divisive ways to achieve that.
If this was a group of MHs, then there was a hunt coordinator. If they were hunting on private land without permission, all of them will lose their MH status. MHs are held to much higher standards of conduct in order to keep the designation they have worked hard for. I'm unsure what happened on this specific "hunt", but it's quite possible that this group was called in to cull several animals at the request of the landowner or because a bio saw the need to thin the herd in that specific place. There's not enough information here to make a judgement just yet.The MH program provides a minimum of 16,000 hours of volunteer conservation work each year - minimum; that's if each MH only does what's required. At $10/hr, that saves conservation resources a minimum of $160,000.00 a year. I've personally never done less than 20 hours and I'm not alone. I suggest that our wildlife and budding young hunters would suffer greatly as a result of eliminating this program. Are there a$$hats out there who abuse the program? Yes, of course there are and the WDFW is doing their best to identify and remove those types from the program. Are there regular hunters out there who are unethical and shed a bad light on hunting? I would guarantee there are far more than in the MH ranks. Does that mean we should eliminate hunting altogether? What do you think? Before you decide to eliminate a program which provides much to conservation and our wildlife, I suggest you should definitely learn more about its benefits to our hunting community and wildlife. Closing the program would be tantamount to cutting off your nose to spite your face, IMHO.
I put in 60-100 hours of service teaching hunter education classes each year and another 16 hours repairing fences knocked down by elk.Quote from: Okanagan on December 14, 2016, 08:00:29 AMI've never liked the MH program since I first heard it proposed. It sets up a two tier class of people among hunters, a recipe for tensions and ready-made for divide and conquer anti-hunters. Master Hunter strikes me as a pseudo elitist designation which IMO appeals to the kind of person who likes to join clubs, of which I am not one. But I'm probably in the minority. The volunteer work is good but there are less divisive ways to achieve that. Two tier is actually what you have. The WDFW wanted a group of hunters that could work as ambassadors of hunting and interact with the private landowners to build a positive image of hunters. The goal was to paint hunters in a better light and hopefully open up more private land for all hunters to access.Is it working to do that? In many cases yes. However these bad ones really put a black on the program.One other thing that the program does and I have witnessed personally is to change the habits of the elk. I have seen the impact of these "hunts" on the elk in 3911. I used to see 300-400 elk in the farmers fields in my area and since the hunts have been going on the elk have moved to ground that doesn't result in conflict with private land owners. That's a good thing for everyone. The point of these hunts isn't to give master hunters the opportunity to harvest more elk the point is to haze the elk and make them change their habits. The side benefit is MH's have the opportunity to harvest elk. Now that the hazing is working there is not as much opportunity to harvest an elk.
Quote from: Rainier10 on December 14, 2016, 08:10:22 AMI put in 60-100 hours of service teaching hunter education classes each year and another 16 hours repairing fences knocked down by elk.Quote from: Okanagan on December 14, 2016, 08:00:29 AMI've never liked the MH program since I first heard it proposed. It sets up a two tier class of people among hunters, a recipe for tensions and ready-made for divide and conquer anti-hunters. Master Hunter strikes me as a pseudo elitist designation which IMO appeals to the kind of person who likes to join clubs, of which I am not one. But I'm probably in the minority. The volunteer work is good but there are less divisive ways to achieve that. Two tier is actually what you have. The WDFW wanted a group of hunters that could work as ambassadors of hunting and interact with the private landowners to build a positive image of hunters. The goal was to paint hunters in a better light and hopefully open up more private land for all hunters to access.Is it working to do that? In many cases yes. However these bad ones really put a black on the program.One other thing that the program does and I have witnessed personally is to change the habits of the elk. I have seen the impact of these "hunts" on the elk in 3911. I used to see 300-400 elk in the farmers fields in my area and since the hunts have been going on the elk have moved to ground that doesn't result in conflict with private land owners. That's a good thing for everyone. The point of these hunts isn't to give master hunters the opportunity to harvest more elk the point is to haze the elk and make them change their habits. The side benefit is MH's have the opportunity to harvest elk. Now that the hazing is working there is not as much opportunity to harvest an elk.I wonder if your last sentence is part of the problem? Maybe many of these guys see this as their only opportunity to put meat in the freezer and take less than optimal shots once the shooting begins and there are multiple shooters.The trespassing issue aside, it seems that ethical/accurate shot placement is a big complaint in these group shoots. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
Its unfortunate that members of a group that is supposed to be setting the standard for ethical and moral hunting practices and building a better relationship with landowners has members committing acts like this. Unfortunately I have watched the exact same behavior on multiple occasions in the area that I hunt. It appears that people are only getting into the Master Hunter program for more opportunity, not to be a steward and a voice for all sportsman in the state. I know there are people in the program who exude that behavior. But unfortunately from all the Master Hunters I have run into; their attitude has been that they are better, they are elite, and they have the "right" to go hunt wherever they want. As if they are somehow blessed by the Fish & Game to do their deeds. I began the process of completing my Master Hunter Certification some time back; but decided I didn't want to be associated with a group that has developed such an awful reputation.
A lot of these arguements seem to be comparative to what some of you claim are issues with tribal hunting. Many of you that are master hunters seem to react the same way that tribal hunters do when they defend their rights. The other funny thing that I've noticed is that instead of the race card, many pull, we are fighting amongst each other thus going to,end hunting card.
I believe a little self inspection and cleaning up amongst ourselves might be a good thing. I know tribal guys that exercise their rights and are very respectful and honorable. I assume there are MAster Hunters that are the same. I don't really like the tier system in either case, but that's neither here or there. Maybe a little more accountability in either situation could go a long ways. After all, all of us are "hunters" to the non hunting world, and most of us all want a full freezer in our futures.
