The Great Outdoors
Dr. Alt’s Divide and conquer strategy The average person has difficulty comprehending the ruthlessness by which the environmental community will operate to achieve their goals. Most of us live our lives rather complacently assuming radical agendas will not gain a foothold due to the sheer number of people involved in the issues. Few truly realize that a handful of people in strategic positions can alter the future of an entire state and the civil liberties of millions of its citizens.
With the demise of our deer herd we can now unequivocally see the environmentalists’ game plan for hunting in this great state and the future rights of our private landowners and citizens. It is not a pretty picture.
You should be fully aware by now that Dr. Gary Alt’s QDM/antler restriction program was nothing more than the old “divide and conquer” strategy. It was always intended to drive deer populations into the ground and pit hunter against hunter. It was designed to push hunters into retirement and destroy the political clout of the hunting lobby. Reduce hunters to a few hundred thousand and the anti’s and environmental extremists will control hunting in this state.
An unspoken additional consequence of deer eradication is the possible destruction of our gun lobby. Fewer hunters mean fewer voices to fight repressive gun laws. Destroy the deer herds in our forests and you can facilitate the human depopulation of our rural areas. Our rural residents and landowners are hunters. The stage is now set for the reintroduction of mountain lions and timber wolves. The environmental agenda should be coming through loud and clear.
Some of you have expressed support for antler restrictions, but you despise herd reduction. I have bad news for you. Neither Gary Alt nor DCNR will allow one without the other. The game plan is herd reduction and antler restrictions is the tool. You need to accept or reject both. Remember that it was never about having plenty of bigger-racked deer. It was always about having fewer deer.
A filthy sidebar to all of this is that hunters are splintering into two new groups. We now have those who brag they only shoot trophies and those who brag about how many deer they kill each season. Neither is good for our tradition or our future. With a million hunters it is almost impossible to sustain both egos. However, there are policies we can put into place to help our bucks survive longer without antler restrictions. It will require wiping the board clean and adopting all new deer management policies. Personally, I still believe “Citizen Task Forces” is the deer management of the future. Take the PGC and DCNR right out of the decision-making process.
Let us not forget the elk program is deeply intertwined in the anti-deer, anti-hunting, anti-private property environmental agenda. Did you ever ask yourself why we are killing deer on a grand scale when the habitat is allegedly degraded and then reintroduce elk in the precise areas where deer were once living? To regain control of this fight the elk program must fade into obscurity with antler restrictions and herd reduction. It is all interconnected and these programs are the cores of the environmental, special interest agenda. Their headquarters is DCNR.
I sense most of you are finally ready to fight back. I urge you to contact your legislators and express your feelings in no uncertain terms. It is time to demand legislative hearings and the closure of the doe season. I am sorry, but politics is confrontational. Do not be afraid to use the “V” word (vote).
Now is time to rid the woodpile of all the skunks. The PGC’s Dr. Gary Alt, Dr. Brett Wallingford, Vern Ross are the obvious causalities, but we must go farther. Commissioners’ Russ Schleiden, Roxane Palone and John Riley must be dismissed. They sold their souls to our enemies. DCNR’s Mike DeBernardinis, Richard Sprenkle, Rick Carlson, Cindy Dunn, James Grace and Byron Shissler all need tickets to oblivion. If we do not clean house, they will come back at us again as our deer herd recovers. Furthermore, some of these people are agents for merger.
A great injustice has been done. Our $5 billion hunting industry and our 100-year deer hunting tradition have almost been destroyed.
On the upside these people have made a major strategic error. They have awakened the “Sleeping Giant”. The 1 million strong hunting lobby of this great state is up, ripping mad and hunting for skunks.
At the end of this story the Giant will not need to divide to conquer. He will just raise his mighty voice and conquer.
Jim Slinsky is the host and producer of the “Sportsman’s Connection”, a nationally syndicated, outdoor-talk radio program. For a station near you or to contact Jim, visit his website at www.outdoortalknetwork.com