Irrelevant
Well-known member
But ask yourself if your love and affection for public lands, outside of hunting, are associated with their proximity, and if you couldn't access them on the weekend- say you lived in Arkansas, and only came out west for a week a year to enjoy your public lands with a tag in your pocket, why that person might not value your (westerner) ability to enjoy the full portfolio of public land uses. I share you feelings on the matter, but I find the more I evaluate my position, the less I can support the entitlement I'm granted by living where I do. Unfortunately what Treeshark and Trial are proposing would trade the equality of NR opportunities for the affluence of NR opportunities. Trial may have "unlimited" income potential, because he's a very smart capable human, but not everyone who enjoys hunting checks those boxes. And the US hunting experiment is based on the equality of the masses, not free-market, which is much more in line with the rest of the world.Apologies in advance if this souds like birdwatching or wildflower smelling - but public lands a lot more than hunting to me.
Ive backpacked probably 100 miles and stayed overnight an amount i couldnt predict. I asked my wife to marry me on public land. My best childhood memories were spent on public land with my family. Ive often said if i no longer had the heart to kill elk, i would watch them rut and enjoy them regardless. There are viewing areas (with no hunting) that get an immense amount of traffic and interest just from that. Thats a lot to lose - even if i dont live here.
Decreased opportunity and increased cost isn't expressly the residents fault and many arent looking expressly to screw the NR. Wildlife are facing development preassure, increased interest from the average person, and increased interest from the wealthy who typically want exclusive access to their own or other land. Im not sure some of those things are worth focusing on - they are well outside our control and are side effects of an increased population, with increased access (in terms of ease to do it and understand it), and increased media.
One things for sure - PLT is only a silver bullet at killing everyones opportunity. To take a position that you dont care, because you pay 25x more to hunt than someone else just sounds selfish - even if its coming from a place of your own frustration and disappointment.
Research for wildlife benefits everyone - i guess im not sure im capable of being convinced on that.