Thanks Bob for your letter. If you haven't read Bob's letter, you might want to. I think he brings up a number of good points to consider. I don't hunt and I never will, but I do believe that hunter's do provide a service that some of us would find that we might agree with, but couldn't pursue, ourselves. The hunters that break the laws, will hunt on Sunday whether the law says they can or not. It's the responsible hunters that care whether the law allows them to hunt or not, and these hunters are generally those who don't fire on humans because they take the time to identify their targets. If we feel the hunters in a certain area are being irresponsible, we need to call in the authorities. Many of the F&W and DNR folks are responsible hunters themselves, and don't take law-breakers lightly. One of the most dedicated wildlife conservationists I know, works for DNREC as a wildlife biologist, and spends much of his weekend time donating his time to finishing his projects. He is also involved in the WHSRN shorebird expeditions. He doesn't always have a Saturday to hunt. I'm sure he would like to be able to pursue his passion on his "day off" just as we all would. Many of us eat meet daily, and we never have to actually kill anything. Hunter's spend a great deal of time and money to simply bring one or two animals home to their freezer. I dare say that a little over a century ago, we probably wouldn't even think of hunting as a problem, but as a necessity. Hunter's are simply facing the reality of acquiring meat. As long as what these hunters are shooting at, are not negatively affected by the hunting as far as their overall population health is concerned, I personally don't have a problem with them. Like I said, I would never hunt, I'm too squeamish. If I had to kill my own food, I'd be a vegetarian. Its taken me a long time to come to these conclusions, and I'd like to have a logical reason to be against hunting in general, but I can't. One more point - If you want to claim that you have as much right to a National Wildlife Refuge as a hunter, buy a duck stamp. More than 90% of each stamp goes to buying new NWR lands. Christine Taylor National Ocean Service NOAA