Here is an excellent video from the Boone & Crockett Club on the Public Trust Doctrine. Historically the doctrine has been an important aspect of Orion's programmatic efforts: "Orion provides a forum to facilitate innovation and ideas and
takes action to promote fair chase ethical hunting and address other
hunting related issues; and through vigilance and advocacy to ensure
the people's wildlife remain in the public trust."
I recommend that you take a few minutes to watch this important video and recommend it to your friends.
Boone and Crockett Country - The Public Trust Doctrine from Boone and Crockett Club on Vimeo.
the narrator seems a bit full of himself.
ReplyDeleteif the public trust doctrine protects "game" for all people, why doesn't it protect "game" for nonhunters? seems to me the HSUS should make a point of suing to stop hunting on this basis--who says it is okay to give hunters the right to own the animals they kill. I want to own the animals to let them live.
Annon 12/12 - I suggest you watch to the video again.
ReplyDeleteAll citizens in the US own all wildlife collectively. Our governments are the trustees of this wildlife. As trustees they are obligated to ensure the welfare of our wildlife for us now and for future generations.
I gather you don't think this is going well, but the fact is we have more wildlife (game and non-game) than anywhere else in the world. Could we be be doing better - yes. Our prime problem is with non-game, because it has no dedicated funding source like endangered species or game species. Unfortunately groups like HSUS and the Center for Biological Diversity drain money from the system through feel good lawsuits that do nothing to help our wildlife and wild places.
As for private ownership of wildlife - you are correct that wildlife can only be owned after they are legally taken through hunting, trapping or fishing. Live animals cannot be legally owned except under special situations and by specially licensed people. The genius of the North American Model is it values live wildlife more than dead wildlife. I gather you also feel this way. It may surprise you but so do ethical hunters.
well Mr Nuse you say all citizens in the US own all wildlife collectively, and wildlife can only be owned after they are legally taken through hunting, trapping or fishing. which is it?
Deleteit is both - native and naturalized animals are collectively owned by us all in their wild state. Once they are harvested legally they are owned by the individual.
DeleteI didn't care for the narrator either. Didn't get through the whole thing because of it. It's not coincidence that the public trust doctrine is convenient for consumptive users.
ReplyDeleteI assume you mean a convenient truth vs. an inconvenient truth?
Deleteexcellent point. I think the reason wildlife agency types are puffing the public trust topic now is because deer farming has them scared. They're pissed because they won't make the same amount of profits from hunting licenses which ultimately pays their salaries. The self-interest of state employee biologists on this topic is obscene in this way.
ReplyDeleteThe backlash against deer farming is mostly a trophy issue. Bragging rights are at stake. CWD is real, but should not be a problem if farms are properly run.
DeleteWorth noting there are two types of deer farms. Ones that raise deer to sell meat at a market and ones that sell an experience. There is no reason to ban those that sell meat. The growing population needs meat. Deer farming has less impact on the landscape. Imagine if every person who wanted to eat venison took up hunting. If anything, deer farming is a good thing for everybody including hunters.
The ones that sell the experience are at odds with the hunting community over bragging rights. Some say they dislike it because of fair chase. Those claims are hypocritical given the support for shooting bears out of trees. Given the hypocrisy, there really is no reason to ban these types of farms either. But there is the trophy issue which doesn't sit well with hunters.
Most wildlife agency workers don't seek those jobs because they are looking to maximize profit. It pays less than many jobs with less responsibility. Most people enter this type of work because they love the land and wildlife on it. Yes, often they come from a consumptive use background. However, one of the primary lessons learned from hunting is that we are all consumptive users. Yes, all, lest you think the vegetables you eat came from a void that was never wild land.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for everyone, and I suspect you can't realistically claim to know the mind of any hunter. Perhaps the central lessons I learned growing up hunting was that if you take from the land you owe a debt that can never fully be repaid. You seem to think that organizations and the people behind them function on a transaction basis. That Ducks Unlimited members, for example, have conserved 120 million acres of habitat from sheer bloodlust. Fortunately for the entirety of migratory birds, both game and non-game, that is not true. It's not a coincidence that the public trust doctrine is convenient for consumptive users because they invented it and financed it.
Most biologists, I can only guess, if they have an issue with deer farming, have very real issues like chronic wasting disease. Now I'm a westerner, so we really don't have much or this here, but hunters who frequent these place are a tiny minority. Myself, I don't call it hunting, but people harvest livestock every day that led less of a good life.
Neil H
Sorry for the hashed up grammar. I meant to say "Perhaps one of the central lessons". I had something in the oven and was rushing.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Merry Christmas to all of you!
neil