Note from Tony Dean: I wrote this column for the Fargo Forum, and it ran in the Sunday, Dec. 3 edition.
The Easy Way Out By Tony Dean
Most hunters agree; habitat is the key to wildlife abundance, and we can see that clearly here on the northern plains. But the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is apparently relegating habitat to lesser importance with the emergence of a new program called “Wingshooting USA,” wherein they tout the “convenience” of hunting at gamebird preserves.
I’m not slamming preserves. They have a place, and though they’ve numbered into the hundreds in pheasant-rich South Dakota, anyone who’s hunted areas that feature both stocked and wild birds can see the difference. Stocked birds have low survival rates, and when you see their slow, lumbering flight, you understand why.
I hunted at such a place in October. My pointing Lab, Dee, locked on a bird in waist-high grass. As I walked up, I could see the rooster, told Dee to “get it up,” and she rushed in…and caught the bird. I reached down, removed it from her jaws, and lifted it into the air. A hunter a couple dozen yards down shot it. Of the nearly three dozen cock birds killed that day, about half appeared to be strong flying wild birds. The others? Well, I guess you could say they were half-fast.
However, the NSSF justifies this effort via a national survey, where hunters identified their top issues as:
1. Not enough access to places to hunt. 2. Not enough places to hunt. 3. Work obligations 4. Poor behavior of other hunters in the field; and 5. Too many hunters in the field.
“Aside from work obligations, the remaining problems disappear when you book a customized hunt at a bird hunting preserve,” said NSSF president, Doug Painter. “With Wingshooting USA, we’re tying that all together and making it easier for hunters to get back in the field.”
Fortunately only work obligations are problems for hunters in our region. Anyone who makes the effort will find a place to hunt, whether for pheasants, grouse, ducks, geese or deer. North Dakota’s highly successful PLOTS program also provides high quality private land hunting opportunities.
Yet, it is worrisome when a national organization such as the NSSF seems to ignore habitat programs by urging hunters to take advantage of shooting preserves. I’ve been to many of them and only a handful provided a reasonable facsimile of the real thing. Wouldn’t the NSSF accomplish more by putting their considerable weight behind restoration of quality habitat, such as fighting for the renewal of the CRP program? The Wingshooting USA effort tells me they’re taking the easy way out, offering an alternative that smacks of instant success regardless of the quality of the experience. And I’ll suggest I hunt wild birds more often than anyone on their staff.
But remember, that the NSSF is funded by the shooting sports industry, and they point to research that shows hunting preserve visitors:
Tend to buy shotguns, especially high-end shotguns, at a faster rate than average bird hunters;
Tend to buy shells by the case rather than by the box;
Tend to have time and money to devote to their favorite pastimes.
I suppose “average” applies to most of us who live in the lower wage areas of America, but at least we now can see their economic motive. The NSSF defends the preserves by saying “they protect wildlife and habitat in otherwise shrinking landscapes.” There’s some truth there, just as there are many more hunters living in areas where a decent habitat base has long since vanished. And it is that group of hunters, especially those financially well-heeled, that Wingshooting USA apparently aims at.
I lived in intensively farmed and industrialized Eastern Iowa back in the 1960’s, and learned the sacrifice we make when economics force us into moving east. The pheasant and quail hunting was fair at best, while cottontail rabbits and squirrels were favorites among hunters there. Today, Iowans have virtually no quail, pheasants are scarce, and if it weren’t for the successful introduction of turkeys and resident Canada geese along with the booming deer population, Iowa hunters wouldn’t have much to hunt. In much of America, that’s what it’s coming to.
Maybe that’s why it’s so bothersome when a big, powerful organization such as the NSSF takes the easy way out by endorsing preserves instead of tackling more serious habitat issues. Looking out for their own economic interest is understandable, but sending American hunters to a preserve in order to save shooting sports is a lot like putting a bandaid on a cancer patient.
