Paul Phillips co-chairman of Conservation Policy at Boone and Crockett Club, Rebecca A. Humphries CEO of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Gray Thornton CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation penned this opinion piece in The Hill titled “National monuments are not always good for sportsmen and wildlife.”
For full disclosure, I am not read up on this issue beyond the headlines and a rudimentary understanding of the situation. Being an advocate of government at its lowest level and being a staunch supporter of protecting wild resources, public access, and increasing lands protected by governments, my question is as follows: Why does it have to be Washington DC or some Beltway snowflake pushing for the protection of these lands and resources? Why doesn’t the state, tribe, local government step in and protect these areas?
Never been a fan of B&C club. Advocating paying thousands of dollars so that you can kill a deer with horns big enough to put your name in a silly book to impress your friends is idiotic and counterproductive to what hunting should be, food for your table and management. I am by no means anti hunting, I hunted for years before Alpha Gal, I am just against killing for the sake of getting your name in a book. It does not surprise me at all that this “club” would back big government and the almighty dollar.
Like Christopher above, I’m no fan of trophy hunting. But just because I dislike the concept behind the B&C organization, does not mean one should immediately dismiss any position they take on access to public land. Knee-jerk reactions like this unfortunately are the norm among self-proclaimed environmental activists, and result in skepticism about the environmental movement in general among more thoughtful outdoorsmen. For myself, I welcome review of the last-second regulations added as the last administration went out the door. Certainly, local citizens should have as much input in these decisions as some political appointee bureaucrat inside the beltway.