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Rights of hunters should be protected
Published Monday, August 31, 2009
In Mississippi, hunting is both a time-honored tradition and a way of life for hundreds of thousands of residents. Like many states across the country, Mississippi is blessed with more than abundant wildlife. Sportsmen across our state also have access to publicly-owned hunting land that is second-to-none. There are approximately two million acres open to public hunting in Mississippi, a large portion of which is controlled by the federal government.
It was with that fact in mind that I recently cosponsored bipartisan legislation to help protect the rights of Mississippi’s sportsmen. The Hunting Heritage Protection Act aims to recognize the heritage of hunting in America and provide opportunities for continued hunting on federal public land in the future.
Hunting heritage protection act
The loss of hunting land has been one reason for the decline in hunting activity across our country. According to one estimate, America had 13 million hunters in 2008 compared to 14 million in 1996. To help reverse this trend, our legislation seeks to prevent the federal government from making public lands off-limits for hunting.
Specifically, the measure would require federal lands to be managed in a way that supports, enhances and promotes hunting opportunities. The bill calls on federal agencies managing federal lands to submit an annual report to Congress describing any limitation of access for hunting on federal lands. Additionally, those agencies would be required to submit prior written notification to Congress before any limitation affecting access to hunting on 5,000 acres or more becomes effective.
The Hunting Heritage Protection Act has garnered the support of some of the nation’s leading sportsmen’s advocate groups. Chris Cox of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action said our bill “is a vital step toward preserving our hunting heritage. Lack of access to hunting land is a major challenge hunters face and is also a major factor that causes many to give up hunting.” Barton James, director of public policy for Ducks Unlimited, said: “Waterfowlers have been supporting federal lands through duck stamp sales for 75 years, and we welcome this effort to ensure that hunting remains a part of America’s conservation legacy.”
Sportsmen’s economic impact
Beyond its cultural importance in Mississippi, hunting plays a significant part in our state’s economy. Keeping public lands open to hunters is an important way to keep our economy strong, particularly in small towns that rely on income from visiting sportsmen.
It is estimated that sportsmen spend $863 million annually in Mississippi, which breaks down to $2.3 million per day. According to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, this revenue has helped create and maintain over 17,000 jobs in our state. Nationally, sportsmen contribute more than $76 billion to the U.S. economy each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The group also estimates that hunting is responsible for over 320,000 jobs in our country.
Protecting our heritage
I have worked hard in Congress to support the rights of sportsmen. As a member of the Congressional Sportsman’s Caucus, I have consistently stood up for the Second Amendment and other rights important to our ability to enjoy and preserve the outdoors.
The Hunting Heritage Protection Act is part of that effort. By passing this legislation, Congress can affirm the cultural importance of hunting in America while simultaneously ensuring suitable hunting opportunities are available to hunters in the years to come.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker represents Mississippi. He can be reached at his Washington, D.C., Office at 555 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510; or by phone at 202-224-6253.
Comments
Posted by unclered (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 5:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just when you think Wicker cannot get any more stupid. "The Hunting Heritage Protection Act?" Who cares? Talk about a non-issue. It's comforting to know that our senator has such important legislative priorities.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 7:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
thank you Senator Wicker, I for one and there are a lot of hunters that care about this. Mississippi has a lot of people come here for hunting tourism. Also a lot of people travel various other places to hunt, such as out West for elk, etc. The big federal lands out there should remain open to hunting, thank you.
I enjoyed the town hall meeting also and appreciated the announcement of Senator Wicker's bill on healthcare he, along with democrat support, has submitted that will allow more people access to quality healthcare on a private basis. Senator Wicker also expressed his legislative action on a number of other issues. This hunting issue is just one issue that he has chosen to announce today. So our Senator is obviously active in submitting legislation that is meaningful to Mississippians, and he listens to his constituents.
Stupid is as Stupid does, and this is not stupid. There are a lot of groups(animal rights groups, various environmental groups) pressuring liberals to stop hunting.
unclered you are wrong for calling our good Senator names like that. You show you own level of intelligence by your lack of consideration for others opinions and lifestyles by your irrational and rash statements. I personally resent your remarks and attacks on our good and honorable Senator. You're a very sarcastic and unreasonably critical person, your life must really suck......why don't you make an effort to know the facts before you show your ignorance.
Did you attend the town hall meeting here with Senator Wicker? If you had you would know that the above facts I have presented are true, and that there were liberal democrats there that did talk some nonsense, which Sen Wicker did listen to and did counter with some solid facts and sensible response. Several liberals stood up and expressed their concern for more handouts and entitlements, expressing their selfish concerns for less work and more "when will the federal government pay all my bills" .....some people are so pathetic in their lack of concern for our country's welfare, yet they are so selfishly concerned with what the country will do for their welfare. Some people will go to great lengths to whine about their "disabilities" in hopes that they will be relieved of their personal responsibilities. One guy - a white dude - complained that he had been trying to receive disability entitlements for over ten years, he appeared quite capable of work to me, yet he has refused to get a job for all these years.......ridiculous the entitlement attitude some people attempt to cling to.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 8:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If you do not see eye-to-eye-with a liberal, you are pegged as "stupid". That's the only way they can cope with various outlooks on life, politics, religion, etc.
Posted by rhymeandreason (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
and vice versa OGD.
Posted by realtalker123 (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you Senator Wicker! I am a life long democrat and not often do i agree with the other party, but this goes beyond liberal, democratic or republican parties this is about the future of a time honored tradition. I was brought and taught that kids that spend time hunting and fishing don't rob old ladies, because the lessons of right and wrong learned hunting and fishing also apply to life. I love hunting and fishing here in mississippi and louisiana and am trying to teach my grandsons how to hunt and fish, but i don't own a thousand acres of land to take them on so i rely on the fact that i can take them on federal land and teach them, so that they will be better young men and better citizen of this great country. So once again i say thank you because not all of us can afford to belong to a hunting club or own land, but there are a lot of us who love to hunt. Just remember the time when fathers, brothers, and uncles took the you men out to hunt and fish they weren't standing on street corners with their pants hanging off their butts and getting in trouble and thats all race of kids.
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 9:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We need a hunting heritage act? I have to wonder how much the hunting industry has invested in this "act"? At 2.3 million a day, they must be seriously interested.
I guess I've never seen the fascination in hunting. I've done it, and I've killed my share of quail, doves, ducks and squirrels, but never killed a deer. I shot one once, knocked him down from about 200 yards, but by the time I got up there and followed the blood trail, there were two hunters standing over a dead deer, telling me I was on their property since the deer had jumped the fence. I asked them if they were serious, one spit out some tobacco juice, and the other racked his shotgun...I left the way I came in.
But really...it kills me when someone tells me they hunt for the meat ...isn't that what we have grocery stores for? I mean $8000-$10,000 for a four wheeler, $800-$2500 for a rifle $1-$8 a bullet, or shell, and I've seen what the paraphenalia costs, too. Hunting hats, gloves, boots, waders, coats, game bags, ammo bags, all the various "calls", fees for stamps, tags, licenses and permits...a pound of duck meat must cost about $35. A pound of squirrel around $20, dove meat $45, a pound of quail $45, and a deer steak costs somewhere between $60 and $100 depending on whether you paid hunting camp dues or killed him in the National Forest.
Hope you guys never put cows on your agenda...I like beef prices the way they are.
Krogers--I know you like Wicker. Heck, you sound like you're sleeping with the guy, but with all the important stuff going on right now in our country...a Hunting Heritage Protection Act? A BI-PARTISAN act, at that! I'm surprised a second amendment plea wasn't included.
Why can't he get that bi-partisan feeling when we're talking about providing health care for our nation? We can spend $2.3 million dollars a day (in Mississippi alone--think times 50 states) going to the woods to kill defenseless animals with high powered weapons, but actually doing a Christian thing by helping out our less fortunate neighbors is cause for argument and partisanship? No, it is about entitlements...the entitlements our politicians have come to expect from the corporate lobbyists to promote their general welfare and greed. And it's not one party or the other, it's which one is on top at the moment and these lobbyists are able to so fluidly slide from party to party and spread their influential money.
Funny, we don't have any legislation at the moment to prevent or even limit the access these palm greasers have to our lawmakers, but we're hard at work to recognize the heritage of hunting in America and provide opportunities for continued hunting on federal public land in the future.
AND, still no health care for poor children!! What has happened to our priorities?
--mojo
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mojo, I ain't got a 4-wheeler since I prefer to walk, feel the earth beneath my feet and enjoy the quiet. I hunt with a rifle I bought used for $70 almost 30 years ago. I average 1 bullet per deer and I haven't had to buy any for some years now. I hunt on my own land so I often "forget" to buy a license. And yes, since I am not a headhunter, I hunt only to put food in the freezer. I also cut it up and wrap it up myself. I find it extremely economical.
:)
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 10:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
realtalker---how is taking your grandsons to the woods and teaching them to kill animals going to prevent them from standing on the corner with their pants hanging off their butts and getting in trouble?
You can't keep them in the woods indefintely. They will have some time for hanging around, and whatever fashion is "in" at the moment is what they'll be doing. Most of the hunters I knew in school had Beatle haircuts and stood around on the corners wearing Gant shirts, Corbin slacks, and Bass Weejuns...now the kids have Buzz cuts or that silly looking thing where their hair curls up all around their baseball cap, baggy pants, and Nike's or flip-flops.
Dads and Grandads can still connect with their kids without the fellowship of the forest. Take your kid to church, teach them to love each other and take care of each other. You can still take them hunting and fishing. I have nothing against that, it's just simply not the only way to create a bond of trust with your kids. Toss a baseball around or a football, do something or go somewhere with them they want to do or go. All the kids want is some of your time and attention. They don't want advice, just guidance.
Have any of ya'll been to Wicker's website at senate.gov? Check it out and look at the fascinating work being done by your appointed Senator. ...Right to life bills, Amtrak passengers to transport firearms, water pollution bills...all good bills, but for the life of me I can't understand why he's worried about how Russians treat their criminals. He's co-sponsoring some really heavy resolutions, too....like World Malaria Day, A resolution to designate a "National Data Privacy Day", a resolution to designate a "National Association of Junior Auxiliaries Day", and so on and so on and so on, busy guy.
And I'm not complaining about Wicker alone, they are all like that...535 of the most arrogant, self-important, good for nothing, over paid, over compensated, vote for sale, BS artists....talk about a metaphor---standing around in $2500 suits, $400 haircuts, and comb overs, $200 ties, $600 shoes, and $60 underwear hanging off their butts and getting into trouble....look at the record of the people to which we entrust our government:
* 29 members of Congress have been accused of spousal abuse.
* 7 have been arrested for fraud.
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks.
* 117 have bankrupted at least two businesses.
* 3 have been arrested for assault.
* 71 have credit reports so bad they can't qualify for a
credit card.
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges.
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting.
* 21 are current defendants in lawsuits.
* And in 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving, but released after they claimed Congressional immunity.
It's no wonder our country is in such a mess...
VOTE AGAINST THE INCUMBENTS!!
--mojo
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OldGranDad---you're great........and I'm glad there are still some people out there like my Grandpa. And I'd venture to say there are plenty more out there just like you...
But think about it...somebody's supporting that $863 million dollar a year industry in MS, right?
--mojo
Posted by southernwoman (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We need campaign finance reform, NOW!
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
mojo, I know that others spend much much more on hunting. I just tend to pride myself on how little I spend since my reason for hunting is to put food in the freezer. Others pursue hunting for different reasons, sport, trophies, bragging rights, etc. But most of the guys that pursue hunting for reasons like my own tend to not stand around and talk about it for 6 months of the year since it would be like conversing about the price of eggs at Walmart.
:)
Posted by southernwoman (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 12:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I like the idea of humans being able to enter public lands without fear of being shot by hunters.
Posted by SableSkye (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 2:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My family hunts strictly for food. We garden for our vegetables, and hunt for our meat. I don't eat beef at all. IMO if they cut out hunting they should quit selling beef and chicken as well.
Posted by crackbaby (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 7:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Its amazing to me how MOJO can infuse the health care debate into Senator Wickers efforts to protect our states hunting heritage. MOJO basically says "all this hoop-lah over hunting rights" yet "still no health care for poor children". MOJO will you please send a list to the Natchez Democrat, including the name of all the poor children you know, who are denied health care. I will be the first to volunteer my time and effort into helping find out, why these children have not been signed up on Medicaid. I thank Senator Wicker for his efforts to protect the tradition of hunting in our state. Currently every sport or practice in America that involves injury, death, or distress to animals, are under attack due to advertisement, political pressures and lobbying by well funding groups, such as PETA and the Humane Society. While millions of people gather in public funded sports stadiums to watch juvenile children engage in sports, that knowingly result in pain and injury. Organizations such as PETA and the Humane Society spend loads of money and man hours lobbying and campaigning against such things as Rodeos, due to the stress and potential of injury of the animals involved. Thanks Senator Wickers, for seeing the assault on our traditions and working towards safe guarding it being one of your many priorities. lol
Posted by crackbaby (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 9:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If anyone thinks Senator Wickers actions are not warranted, or doubts the power of the animal rights organizations consider these two undeniable facts. No.1; After unprecedented human struggle and countless sacrifice, in 1964 and 1965 our legislatures passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. This was followed in 1966 by the Animal Welfare Act, which was amended in 1976 to include criminal and civil penalties. That simply means, before countless fellow citizens and minorities in this country were guaranteed their rights, people were already at work striving for legislation concerning animal rights. That is a fact and that's incredible to imagine??? WOW
Fact number 2; Michael Vick served 18 MONTHS of his 23 MONTH sentence for his participation in dog fighting. Donte' Stallworth served 24 DAYS of his 30 DAY sentence for fatally injuring a man waiting to catch a bus to work, in a DWI INCIDENT. Incredible, huh??
Consider these two facts. Then consider thanking Senator Wicker in his efforts to protect the hunting sports in our State. lol
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 7:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
crackbaby---I'm glad you're indebted to Wickers for his work to save the hunting industry. All I'm trying to point out is it has less to do with hunting and fishing than it has to do with selling the stuff to hunt and fish with...
Our politicians, these noble dudes, could care less about your heritage. This is yet another device to pay back the boys funding his re-election committee.
Wake up and vote these "bought and paid for" corrupt people out of office.
As for the list, well, it's a little long for inclusion here, there are over 47 million people in our country who currently have no health insurance. But then I guess that figure pales when considered next to the number of hunters roaming the federal parks armed for war with Bambi.
As far as Vick and Stallworth, I don't agree with that either, but just because I think that was a farce, I don't think I'll thank Wickers. The boys at Bass Pro Shops, and Cabela's have done more than enough to cover my share.
--mojo
Posted by crackbaby (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 9:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey my friend MOJO, forget the California Bambi rhetoric, it doesn't fly here. Great of you to point out that Senator Wickers not only is protecting our hunting heritage but also protecting a valuable wage and revenue industry in our fine State. Being you still insist on interjecting the health care issue, I notice you dropped the rhetoric of poor children with no health care, in favor of 47 million uninsured people. I didn't think you could name a poverty stricken local child not able to receive health care when needed! While you choose to pit the uninsured of this country against the hunters and outdoor industry of our State, I will continue to just deal will fact.
I might add my friend, I don't hunt!!!! LOL
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on September 2, 2009 at 6:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OK, c-baby.........I give!
It's not that I'm against hunters or hunting and fishing, I'm against politicians. When there are so many other pressing issues these silly fools need to be dealing with, they're writing laws and resolutions to pad their pockets. Why can't they remember we're the ones who are paying their salaries and will end up supporting them after their party is out of favor, and for the rest of their lives and work to solve some of the real problems we have in this country? "Hunting Hearitage Act", bulls--t!
In Wickers own wording he becomes a walking billboard for the INDUSTRY of hunting and fishing, not OGD's hunting for meat....which is what true hunters are or should be.
You don't hunt. Well, that explains the fact you've never been in the National Forest early in the morning during deer season...I used to work in the Homochitto Forest, and it was nothing to hear high powered ammo whizzing through the trees, and wonder what kind of deer were up in the trees?
--mojo
Posted by crackbaby (anonymous) on September 2, 2009 at 8:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hey me friend MOJO, we've probably got way more common ground than you think. Our biggest difference on the matter is basically how we view it. When you say Hunting Heritage Act, BULL DOOKY! I understand where your coming from, seeing this legislation as a waste of time. All eyes on health care. I just look at things a tad different because I research and understand the animal rights agenda, who work diligently 24/7 to incrementally lobby legislation to do away with all hunting and animal sports venues. We can work on the big national issues while securing safe guards in our home states as well, can't we? Come on, you know we've got common ground there.
I know you're not against the hunters. True enough we have our share of bad hunters. Every sub culture of life has its bad share of participants, whether it be sports, religion, politicians, etc.... Yet we are blessed in our area to also have some wonderful outdoors men who take time with our youth, teaching respect for nature, safety, habitat protection, etc... I would love to see areas of the National Forest set aside for guided youth hunts. I was blessed with a loving father that took me hunting most of my youth. He always stressed ethics and safety. True I don't hunt anymore, but I stay active in the hunting community. My wife and I volunteer every year for the guided youth hunts in the MS/LOU areas. We guys guide the child hunter, along with his onlooking parent, with total devotion towards respect for game laws, nature, and fire arms safety. My wife and the ladies usually have fun preparing our after hunt meals.
With that said, if an elected official will take time to place safe guards towards protecting these memorable activities, against organizations dedicated to their elimination, I'll take time to thank him for doing so. You know we should have some common ground there, regardless of our dislike for the politician. LOL
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