Re: Sunday hunting - a different perspective
Frederick Fallon (fwfallon@mnsinc.com)
Mon, 1 Mar 1999 18:19:23 -0500 (EST)
Ospreyers -
Bob Mumford has raised some valid points, but they seem to me
only tangential to the issue at hand - which is not the value of hunting
and hunters but a proposal to *extend* hunting to Sunday.
For hundreds of years in Maryland, following the tradition in
Europe (cf Franck's "Le Chasseur Maudit"), Sunday has been reserved as a
non-hunting day. Birders in Maryland have learned to work within this
convention. For example, many field trips are scheduled for Sunday during
hunting season. And notice that nearly all the CBC's have been shifted to
Sunday because the threat from hunters on Saturdays has become
intolerable in recent years (ask any CBC compiler). Now the very
existence of the MD CBC's would be jeopardized.
Unfortunately, many of our best birding areas are not only open
to hunters but are barred to non-hunters during the season. The PWRC
Norht Tract is an example.
As habitat shrinks, the hunters are getting crowded and their
opportunities are reduced - hence this new demand.
I appreciate as well as anyone the problem posed by excessive
deer populations and have long argued (thru MD Partners in Flight) for
more control. But studies seem to show that hunting itself provides
little reduction in deer numbers (as Bob Mumford acknowledges). I notice
too that the proposed extension applies to Grouse and Wild Turkey as
well - hardly an over-population problem! Incredibly, DNR still permits
hunting of the rapidly-vanishing Bob-white - so what back-bone will they
put up if Sunday hunting is extended to that species?
No, birders willhave to oppose this one and vigorously.
Fred Fallon
fwfallon@mnsinc.com
Bowie MD
On Mon, 1 Mar 1999 Gyrfal@aol.com wrote:
> Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 13:48:50 EST
> From: Gyrfal@aol.com
> To: mdosprey@ARI.Net
> Subject: Re: Sunday hunting - a different perspective
>
> I have a different perspective on birders opposing the Sunday hunting
> proposal. I recognize full well that many, if not most, birders have a
> visceral distaste for hunters and hunting. I have not hunted in fifteen
> years, although there was a time when I was as fanatic in that hobby as I am
> now into birding. So I think I can see the other side perhaps better than
> many birders.
>
> It seems to me that birders and hunters have far more in common than either
> group likes to acknowledge, and far more than they have differences. Both
> groups enjoy the outdoors, most people in both groups participate mainly on
> weekends and most now pursue their interests on public land. Certainly on
> issues of land use and conservation our interests are mainly mutual. Would we
> rather have a wildlife management area open to hunting or a housing
> development or a golf course?
>
> Before we birders pick an ill-conceived fight with hunters, perhaps we might
> want to consider the following:
>
> 1. Far sighted hunters led the fight for conservation in the thirties, not
> birders. Were it not for the incredible efforts of Ding Darling, among
> others, there would not be hundreds of thousands of acres of public land
> available for birder's use. Most of the National Wildlife Refuges are open to
> birders 365 days of the year and protect the entire ecosystem, not just
> waterfowl. We birders ought to be thanking our maker daily for the likes of
> Ding Darling and his hunting compatriots.
>
> 2. Where is the conflict? Most, of the places where we Marylanders bird are
> in other jurisdictions or will never be open to hunting. State, local and
> national parks have never been hunting areas. These include, of course, the
> towpath of the C&O canal, Point Lookout and Sandy Point. The CBBT islands are
> not huntable and are in Virginia anyway. There are many essentially private
> spots, like where our famous Kelp Gull resides, that will never permit
> hunting. While Bombay Hook is open now for hunting, it is in Delaware. I
> don't think there has ever been hunting at Blackwater. Nobody is proposing to
> hunt on the breakwaters at Ocean City or the 4th Street flats. Has anyone
> ever seen a hunter at Conowingo Dam?
>
> 3. Where there is a potential conflict are in state wildlife management areas
> like McKee Beshers, which we birders like to call Hughes Hollow. Hunters and
> hunter's political clout caused this area to be set aside and managed by the
> DNR. Who are we to say that it can't be used seven days a week by the folks
> who caused it's protection? Where are the spots that birders have purchased,
> protect and manage in Maryland? We birders ought to be very thankful that
> this area is available to watch the spring migration and the summer breeders
> without the "interference" of people with different interests.
>
> 4. Which brings me to the next point: How would we birders feel if another
> interest group (like hunters or golfers) was trying to stop us from exercising
> our passion one day each weekend? Wouldn't we be outraged? I don't think we
> would feel much like supporting them when a political issue arose where they
> had a major interest.
>
> 5. One of the main objects of hunting in Maryland is deer. Anything that
> substantially reduces the deer herd in suburban and exurban areas, like around
> DC, should be welcomed by birders. Deer have substantially degraded the
> habitat in many areas, adversely affecting such ground nesting birds as
> Kentucky Warblers and Ovenbirds. Deer are out of control in many areas and
> there is no feasible way of reducing their numbers except by hunting, despite
> emotional appeals from certain groups.
>
> 6. As far as safety is concerned, well, one is safer being in the woods with
> hunters than one is driving the Rockville Pike, not to mention Route 95 and
> the Beltway.
>
> 7. Well regulated hunting does not adversely affect the environment or
> wildlife numbers. Many studies have concluded that with or without hunting,
> wildlife numbers are about the same at the end of each summer. Other factors
> DO affect bird numbers, the most common causes have been historically
> pesticides and land use. Both hunters and birders have an interest in
> determining the cause of the severe downward trend in Bobwhite Quail numbers
> in Maryland.
>
> 8. There are outlaw hunters who damage the environment, just like there are
> outlaw birders. We ought to vigorously oppose both lawless groups wherever
> and whenever possible.
>
> In summary, we probably ought to think twice before publicly opposing a
> natural (albeit unacknowledged) ally. We ought to be building alliances and
> friendships with outdoor oriented interest groups, not making enemies.
-> Successful politics revolves around stressing mutuality and minimizing
> differences. There are plenty of fights to be fought in the environmental
> area, and we ought to pick those where our interests are substantially
> threatened. Sunday hunting, it does not seem to me, is one of the latter.
>
> Bob Mumford
> Darnestown
>