There are over 6500 members on THF. How many even voted in the last state or national election? I don't have that answer but I would be willing to be the percentage is not any higher than any other group.

Next question, how many comments or opinions are written on here daily? Again I don't have the answer but I will say it is a heck of a lot. Now how many of these same people have written their representatives in Washington and Austin in the last year? I bet you a $10 bill to a donut it is less than 10% of the members.

I write a letter to my clowns in Austin and Washington so much that I could almost use bulk rate mail service. Do they listen, yes, but they listen a lot more when there are a 1000 letters on the same subject than when there is only 10 or even a 100.

If everyone wants to stop Austin from doing some of the stupid things they do, you all have to get involved not just the 10% or even 20%. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, that is one of the reasons outfits like PETA Sierra Club get what they want, They do something besides sitting around and complaining amongst themselves.

My dimes worth.

Have you sent a letter about any of your concerns to your representative? No? Then DO IT.

No problem PK Are you going to hunt our neck of the woods this year??? Or????

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QUILTY

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I thought that was something our aunts and grandmothers did so they could exchange gossip.

Wait, maybe I was thinking about Quilting.

Unless you grow cotton, there ain't too much to raise in Texas unless you are in a specific market like grapes or peanuts. We grow cattle and horns. Land in Texas has gone because they are not making any more and recreational value.

Duckman, if your statement were true Texas would be in sad shape. Cotton is not the only thing that grows well in Texas! Lets touch on wheat, rye, oats, corn, and what about soy beans? Then you have maize and sudan and coastal grasses and I could go on. Texas is an agricultural state along with some really fine minerals and oil and gas.

Yes my statement was naive to leave out the other crops. But cotton is the #1 cash crop in Texas bringing in more money than any other. But Texas rural land is about 60% rangeland for ranching and hunting. 11 is pasture of grasses. Only 18% is actually cropland.

Other states in the midwest is mainly crop land where most of their economy is crops. I didn't mean to leave out soybeans and corn. Just south of Dallas it is mainly corn but there hasn't been a crop for a while until this year. If you look at land prices, cropland is less per acre than rangeland which is used for hunting. Sad but true.

This seems to be taken a theme closed to the post, “Where does the average guy get to hunt?”

Bottom line, is that hunting has changed and is continuing to change. The question is where is it going, seems that there are less people taking up hunting, which gives hunters less of a political vote.

I asked was there any organization that only represented hunters, the list is as follows:

ASA053 Archery Shooters Association

BM0052 Buckmasters

CSF001 Christian Sportsmen's Fellowship

DU0076 Ducks Unlimited

FWIS58 Foundation for North American Wild Sheep

HSSH93 Hunting & Shooting Sports Heritage Fund

ITA059 International Archery Federation

IBO060 International Bowhunting Organization

MDF001 Mule Deer Foundation

NAA062 National Archery Association

NHA032 National Hunters Association

NRA064 National Rifle Association

NSSF65 National Shooting Sports Foundation

NWTF66 National Wild Turkey Federation

NAB069 North American Bowhunters

PF0070 Pheasants Forever

PBHS01 Professional Bowhunters Society

QU0073 Quail Unlimited

RMBS01 Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society

RMEF74 Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

SCI075 Safari Club International

TRGS33 The Ruffed Grouse Society

USSA03 U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance

WTU078 Whitetails Unlimited



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Does anyone know if these organization work with one another and do they focus there efforts?

I haven’t decided which one to join, but DU and SCI are on my top two. While this state does make a lot of money on the Deer Business, it comes down to who has the loudest voice that will determine the future of hunting.

Remember folks, you boil a frog by turning the heat up slowly.

Just my .02 worth.

1st. Find out how many registered voters there are in Texas.

2nd. Find out how many resident hunting license were sold in 2006.

3rd. See what the % difference there is between license buying hunters and registered voter numbers.


This why we need to get as many kids as we can in the fields and on the water and pass on what was passed on to us. Get them interested in the outdoors and away from game boys, TV, computers as much as possible before they are too influenced by non-hunters/tree huggers and we end up loosing a complete generation. A lot of people are in the dark as to what hunters and hunting organizations actually do to help the wild life and the land just because they are not informed by our groups but you better believe they see and hear the other groups side of the story. Back when my daughter was in college she had to write a story on a controversial subject. She came home and asked me if I had any ideals. Well, yes as a matter of fact. So I suggested that she write about the argument between hunters and non-hunters, about what hunters and hunting organizations actually do to improve the land and wildlife compared to what the non’s do and say against outdoors people. Now She is a fact’s not opinion type person, if you are going to get in a discussion and try to prove a point to her let me tell you, you better be armed with facts and not opinions. Ha Ha. She went to work, She borrowed my hunting mag’s, did research, complied all of her info about what the different organizations do such as Ducks Unlimited, Elk Foundation Etc., where our tax dollars are supposed to be directed and wrote her story. Long story short, her professor was so impressed that she kept her after class and wanted to know more, that She never knew or even heard that side of the facts and had a total change of heart and mind about hunters/fishers. So I guess I said all of this to say, we need as a group to teach the young ones and to let our voices be heard. Speak with facts and proof to back up what we say. Quit fighting amongst us and back each and every hunter whether they hunt low fence, high fence, feeders or game trails, pigs, quail, or ducks, hunt with a gun or with a bow, with a in-line or traditional. We have or work cut out for us if we are going to save a tradition! OK, excuse me as I step down off soapbox. JMHO!