Migration initiative on the ropes

[SAJ-99]

Kind of a silly old-school setup that dates all the way back to a time before women could vote and slavery was abolished

This I agree with. That is the way it was set up and implemented. King of silly but not totally. Tell me if I'm wrong on this, but I am not sure you want that changed though? in other words, I doubt you want decisions on the number of Wyoming pronghorn tags to come from Washington DC. Given the changes we have seen lately in DC, there aren't but a couple of people on HT who could pay the amount necessary or have the right connections to even get the payment to the right people to get a tag.

The system isn't perfect, and may not even be "fair" to all, but I'm not sure I can come up with a better idea. I certainly don't want land transferred to states who have said numerous times they can't afford to manage it. Specifically regarding the Migration Initiative, the Federal government should fund research of all types- medical, technological, wildlife, etc. Yeah, it's looks like a loss on the US income statement, but the number of discoveries that have come from paying for that research are so numerous they are now the basis for our economy. We have to remember not to lose the forest for the trees.

 

[Buffs35]

Maybe we should have accepted the cancellation of the "like button" in exchange for some of the obtuse riffraff going back to MM.

Just because you may never get a tag for a certain animal, doesn't mean you should root for mismanagement into extinction.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Had to update a classic meme for this thread

 

[Treeshark]

Forky, you rascal!

 

[Forkyfinder]

Forky, you rascal!

I cant help it. You know its all in good fun.

You ever get the MT combo, ill help you find a 120" muley

 

[Lucky_Lep]

I think a person should consider this in your gofundme calcuation:

We had to work like hell to raise 200K to open up 8 million acres for corner crossing. For the record, about 15.9 million hunting licenses sold in the U.S. each year.

I don't think a migration initiative gofundme would raise much if that's any indicator.

In both of those cases, if each of those purchasers added 1 dollar to their licenses...well, you can do that math.

That kind of money can make a lot of things happen and provide a lot of influence, but its just asking "too much" to pitch in a whole dollar.

I don’t think I knew about the CO gofundme. Also, I generally oppose fee increases because I don’t believe government agencies know how to do the “efficient thing” with my money, never mind the right thing.

 

[Forkyfinder]

I don’t think I knew about the CO gofundme. Also, I generally oppose fee increases because I don’t believe government agencies know how to do the “efficient thing” with my money, never mind the right thing.

Unlike most fed agencies - ive found its relatively easy to see where the money goes. From what ive seen where i live, the demands are wide and the resources are thin. Too few dollars supporting too many services.

To be clear - i used to think the same way you do until i dug a little deeper. If you havent done that, its a useful tool to gain understanding with the added benefit of knowing/seeing where money is specifically spent (and what can be accurately called "waste").

 

[SwaggyD]

I cant help it. You know its all in good fun.

You ever get the MT combo, ill help you find a 120" muley

That's a big forky.

 

[88man]

It is just amazing to me how so many always want someone else to pay their bill.

 

[rogerthat]

It is just amazing to me how so many always want someone else to pay their bill.

Well I pay taxes… quite a lot in fact and all I’m saying is that this was a bill I was happy to pay even if I never hunt Wyoming again which is looking more and more likely as the creep goes on.

 

[SaskHunter]

Funding wildlife is such a Commie concept!

 

[Treeshark]

I cant help it. You know its all in good fun.

You ever get the MT combo, ill help you find a 120" muley

You get that season changed to Oct 1 and I’ll head on over. A 120” is right up my alley.

 

[Lucky_Lep]

Unlike most fed agencies - ive found its relatively easy to see where the money goes. From what ive seen where i live, the demands are wide and the resources are thin. Too few dollars supporting too many services.

To be clear - i used to think the same way you do until i dug a little deeper. If you havent done that, its a useful tool to gain understanding with the added benefit of knowing/seeing where money is specifically spent (and what can be accurately called "waste").

I thought the fee increases that were being discussed went to state agencies. I'm only familiar with California and Nevada (states where I've lived). Generally speaking, California is below average in allocating money to the intended recipients (just look at the State lottery), and Nevada seems OK but I am not convinced yet.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Agreed- it would be perfectly appropriate for Wyoming to either sell this data to surrounding states and/or solicit a co-funding agreement for future projects.

This would help protect the sanctity of state-owned wildlife management against federal overreach.

Virtually every project that gets done by the cooperative research units is co-funded, since, as the name states, they are cooperative units comprised of state agency, university and federal partners. I feel like I’m pointing out the obvious here, but apparently it needs to be pointed out?

Many, if not most, projects already do have multiple partners funding them because research is expensive. Management is expensive. It is also collaborative, because wildlife don’t follow arbitrary map boundaries and federal management of habitat impacts wildlife, state management of wildlife impacts federal lands, private lands might be affected by both…nothing about wildlife and habitat management is as black and white as some people want to try to make it seem. Neither is funding it.

If we want to have nice things, they cost money. If we don’t want to pay for them, that’s the voters’ prerogative but then we won’t continue to have those things.

 

[Treeshark]

@Hunting Wife, nice post and I agree with much of what you wrote.

In case you missed it earlier in the thread, I will repeat my view on this: wildlife and habitat management is more nuanced than a simple and smug “wildlife is a state-owned resource” dismissal.

We need to rethink how we view this complex relationship, including how it is funded and exploited.

As you said, it is not black and white as some like to frame it as being.

 

[Wild Bill]

@Hunting Wife, nice post and I agree with much of what you wrote.

In case you missed it earlier in the thread, I will repeat my view on this: wildlife and habitat management is more nuanced than a simple and smug “wildlife is a state-owned resource” dismissal.

We need to rethink how we view this complex relationship, including how it is funded and exploited.

As you said, it is not black and white as some like to frame it as being.

Have you thought about a career as a politician?
You offer a different opinion/viewpoint than most here agree with, which is great as it drives conversation, but I rarely hear any constructive input. Easy to cast doubt and ask questions. Difficult to propose meaningful thoughts and potential solutions.

 

[Trial153]

There has been plenty of meaningful thoughts and solutions brought forth to increase stakeholders(nr hunters) with skin in the game that would driven awareness for public lands in the west from the standpoint of hunters. Most of those ideas are met with an attitude that said be happy you're paying for the most of our pie, and you're lucky to be getting any piece of the crust at all.
Alas, now that the chickens have come to home to roost and PLT is a stark reality and not just a looming unlikely threat is it really any surprise at some of the lack of empathy?
maybe some self introspection is in order that identifies how we got to this point.

 

[rtraverdavis]

I think @Trial153 makes a point that a lot of us need to spend some real time thinking about, and which @Treeshark has been making in his own way for a while now. With all the shit currently being thrown from all sides at wildlife, public land, and hunter access & opportunity, we need to be doing all we can to work together, hear each other out, and not act like smug, self-righteous dicks. Myself included. I want your kids and my kids to be able to go on their own public land hunting and fishing adventures like we’ve been able to, but I think that’s only going to happen if we work together.

 

[Treeshark]

Have you thought about a career as a politician?
You offer a different opinion/viewpoint than most here agree with, which is great as it drives conversation, but I rarely hear any constructive input.

Ha, no I have not @Wild Bill.

I do ask a lot of questions discussing these things because the resulting conversation is helpful and informative (to me anyway, your mileage may vary). I hope you find them more constructive moving forward.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Curious - what would you @Trial153 feel is best? Let me know how any and every state with harvestable recreational wildlife is different - including the ones east of the missippi that relatively few people are interested in, should manage things. We could charge 17000 NR the same price for their tag as R. We could over run the landscape to the worst degree and let everyone buy a tag where ever they live. Mostly - ive just heard lots of frustration about nr hunting. You know what - "me too." What should we be doing to treat the NR fairly? So far - in the years ive been here - all ive ever really heard is how unfair it is. Tell me - how is it supposed to be fair?