Hunters have been Americas #1 conservationists for over 100 years. The turtle in this video dining in my food plot is a little bit of hard-shelled proof. In 1900 only 41,000 elk, 500,000 whitetail deer, 100,000 wild turkeys, and few ducks remained in North America. Mostly thanks to the money and hard work invested by hunters to restore and conserve habitat, today there are more than 1 million elk, over 32 million whitetail deer, more than 7 million wild turkeys, and well over 44 million ducks everyone can enjoy whether you are a hunter or not. The sale of hunting licenses, tags, and stamps generates around $800,000,000.00 (yes, nearly a billion dollars) a year and is the primary source of funding for most state wildlife conservation efforts. Simply put, most if not all of the Division of Natural Resources in all states would not exist without the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and stamps. These are the biologists and law enforcement folks who make sure that our fish, fowl, animals, and habitats are properly managed, regulated, and protected. Through Federal excise taxes requested by hunters as a self imposed tax on hunting equipment since 1937 over $7,000,000,000.00 (yes, with a B) has been generated for wildlife conservation programs that benefit both hunted and non-hunted species. Every year an additional few hundred million dollars are generated through this tax alone. Hunters also generate revenue in the billions every year that is distributed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, State agencies, and conservation clubs to support wildlife management programs, purchase of lands that support hunted and non-hunted wildlife and waterfowl species, and protect and restore wildlife habitat. No one gives more to the conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat than hunters. There are also many side benefits hunters provide to the public. Various Hunters Feeding the Hungry programs provide millions of pounds of meat to the less fortunate. Bowhunters have become a great resource helping with controlling the deer populations in urban sprawl residential areas where deer flourish from lack of hunting leading them to destroying peoples property. Hunters are also a major help in highway safety. Hunters kill six deer for every single deer hit by a motorist. This is very valuable to personal property in West Virginia as we lead the nation in vehicle-to-deer collisions. Nationally, these type of collisions kill 200 motorists and cost $10,000,000,000.00 a year. Multiply that number by the number of deer taken by hunters and we are looking at 1,200 lives saved and $60,000,000,000.00 a year in damage prevented in vehicle-to-deer collisions alone. Digressing back to the little turtle...I built this food plot mostly for the deer on my hunting lease. The work and money I have committed has been considerable. I did this in order to create an additional food source to help my local deer herd better survive winters, grow large bodies, have healthy fawns, and grow large antlers. However, as shown in this 40-second, stop-motion video that spans about 30 minutes, many other critters have benefited from the half acre. All of the money and hours of hard work I have spent has not been wasted if you ask the little turtle. Not only have deer, turkeys, and bears enjoyed a meal here, so have song birds, and of course turtles. I have seen skunks, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, hawks, and toads hunting for meals in the plot as well. Even as a hunter, the goal of a kill always comes with sadness. If I am ever fortunate enough to kill a mature buck in this plot and you see my smiling face in a photograph on facebook, please remember the turtle and smile for the uncountable other critters that have benefited and will continue to benefit from my efforts as a hunter but also as a conservationist. Also, please remember this when you see any proud hunter with an animal he or she kills this fall. Remember what I have written and be thankful of what that hunter provides beyond a full freezer for their family or a hungry neighbor. Look past the scene of the harvested animal and see the big picture. Thank that hunter for their role in conservation by helping to restore and protect habitat, and helping control and promote healthy wildlife populations. Appreciate the time, effort, and expense they went through to do their little part in wildlife conservation so that we all can enjoy nature at its fullest. It may only be thirty minutes in a turtles life, but if one multiplies it by all the efforts in conservation across America being performed by hunters time and money, it turns into 1 million elk, 32 million whitetail deer, 7 million wild turkeys, and 44 million ducks for everyone to enjoy. Now, pat yourself on the back for hanging with me to the end. :)
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 23:44:04 +0000
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