WSJ: Some Hunters Plan to Desert Bush

[question everything]

Outdoorsmen Are Among One-Issue Voting Blocs That May Prove Crucial

By JIM CARLTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 22, 2004; Page A7

CIMARRON, N.M. -- Larry Dwyer, Oscar Simpson and Alan Lackey are lifelong Republicans who voted for President Bush in 2000. They agree with many of the president's policies. But they won't be voting for Mr. Bush this year, they say. All three are elk hunters who spend much of the year anticipating outdoors vacations in New Mexico and Colorado. They argue that the administration has bad conservation and wildlife policies that threaten what is dearest to them: public hunting grounds.

(snip)

Bush aides say they are confident that some Republicans who criticize Mr. Bush over land-use policies now will nonetheless support him on Nov. 2. "The president himself is an outdoorsman," says Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the president's chief environmental adviser. Referring to Mr. Bush's conservation work on his Texas ranch, he adds: "The president practices what he preaches." Some outdoor enthusiasts don't see it the same way. At the Outdoor Adventures Hunting and Fishing Show in Albuquerque last February, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation asked 600 sportsmen about their election choice in 2000 and their plans for November. Nearly half said they wouldn't vote for Mr. Bush in 2004, even though most said they had done so in 2000.

In Florida, some Republicans disagreed with Bush administration efforts to allow oil drilling off the state coast; the plan was abandoned after public outcry. In the West, some complain about the proliferation of natural-gas drilling rigs on grazing lands they lease from the federal government.

(snip)

In New Mexico, one of the top concerns for some outdoorsmen is the administration's push for more drilling for natural gas on postcard-pretty lands. In the northwestern corner of the state, for example, thousands of new wells have sprung up in the public lands of the San Juan Basin since 2000, stirring conflict with local ranchers who have government leases to graze their cattle on the public lands.

So far, the drill bits haven't dug into the Valle Vidal, where Mr. Dwyer and his hunting buddies took their recent ride. About two years ago, El Paso Corp., of Houston, filed a request with federal officials to explore coalbed-methane drilling in the Valle Vidal, which was donated by the former Pennzoil Corp. to the Carson National Forest 20 years ago. When local hunters learned the forest service was assessing the valley for drilling, they joined with local business and environmental groups to try and fight it. An El Paso spokeswoman says if the company is allowed to drill in the area, it will do so in an environmentally sensitive way.

Write to Jim Carlton at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109840297987552741,00.html

[grannylib]

1. They should...without a clean environment and the correct habitat,

hunters' guns/arrows will do them no good, if hunting is really what they want to do.
Never have understood how hunters can think only of the hardware.
If it were not for women who like to hunt, I'd say it was a case of substituting guns for penises. Hmmm. Will have to figure this one out.

[DAGDA56]

2. OK, so it doesn't work for me, but...

...maybe a Friday morning hunting trip in Ohio may have been just the thing to bring in some "non-traditional" Kerry supporters. Every vote counts (generally speaking) so there's nothing wrong with welcoming hunters...while we're at it, let's see if we can't draw a few Bikers as well.

[amandabeech]

3. I grew up in the rural Midwest, and my Dad and two uncles

loved to hunt deer. They were responsible hunters, and did not try to lure the deer in with carrot or apples, nor did they try to drive the deer toward one or two of them with guns.

Frankly, the deer population has exploded in the past 20-30 years, even in traditionally rural areas like ours. The deer have generally lost much of their fear of humans, except during hunting season, and have discovered which crops and landscaping plants suit their tastes. With no predators except cars and trucks, the deer really inflict considerable damage on their preferred crops. Green beans! Yum, yum!

When you grow up with hunting in a rural setting, it's easier to accept hunting as a part of we humans' relationship with nature, which is not always pretty. After all, the American Indians engaged in hunting, as well.

Indeed, with the poor economic performance of the Bush regime, many more families look on venison and other game as a source of inexpensive, high quality protein to help tide them over until the Kerry administration improves the economy.

By not condemning responsible hunting, we Democrats might be able to bring a few more people under our big tent.

[Kolesar]

5. the real story is that the gop chases hunters from the democrats' camp

They, through their perverted messaging machine the NRA, tell lies and make gun owners unnecessarily paranoid about Democratic leaders' positions on gun control.

[Skittles]

4. people who think it is fun to shoot elks

:puke:

[DaveSZ]

6. It's true that hunters are often the best conservationists

This is where Dems could pick up many votes as long as they respect hunters gun rights and help the cause of wilderness preservation.

Kerry will defo help in the cause of wilderness protection.

[hansolsen]

7. No hunter I know thinks killing an animal is "fun." Taking wild game by

serious hunters is in many ways a "spiritual" act, a connection with our collective past, an extension of a deep family tradition, and an act totally devoid of humor. It is a serious act that can encompass joy, but also respect.

If you are not a hunter and are not familiar with long standing hunting traditions, please do not assume you understand the people who do hunt. And please, do not sit in judgement of us, as you did in this post.

[hansolsen]

8. By the way, the plural of elk is elk. N/T

[hansolsen]

9. If Carl Rove made your post into a billboard on every highway in

Wisconsin and Minnesota and Iowa, and could tie it to the Kerry campaign, Kerry would lose all three states by 10%, IMHO.

This is the image Kerry is now working very hard to overcome. Please help us win.