It's clear my use of the term 'waterfowl management' is too broad and needs to be narrowed. get-n-birdy made a lot of excellent points about problems with waterfowl management and I didn't even consider that take on this. The distinction I shouldn't have assumed is that those issues are thought of more as habitat issues or habitat management.
I also shouldn't have assumed there'd be familiarity and understanding of the nature and atmosphere of the symposium. It really has absolutely nothing to do with habitat. There's talk of it, mention of projects and success stores, lots of complaining on loss and quality of what remains, but in the end nothing 'on the ground' is effected.
from the MWA website wrote:This program is designed to bring together hunters and professional resource managers to discuss important waterfowl issues.
If you have any questions about this wonderful educational program, please contact the State Office
It's meant as an educational gathering but it ends up being political---I.E. a certain group of people sways government to get the policies they approve of to become law.
The goal of the group I want to put together is to counter that. The only goal of the group would be to hopefully impact what we see printed in the regulation booklets.
I like to huff and puff on here and talk big but I'm not an idiot, if I am not only going to spend my valuable time in the real world on this but ask others to spend their valuable time as well I'd want it to be worth doing. Meaning I'd put full effort into ensuring it gets taken seriously. I'm not going to stand up and get in a public shouting match over who's right and who's wrong with Cox, Zentner or anyone else. I'm simply going to politely ask the questions "Why?"
"A teal season is a terrible idea. It'd put too much pressure on our local ducks!"
"Hear Hear!!!"
[Hand raised]
"Why? Why would it put too much pressure on the local ducks? i don't get it. In WI, MI and IA they haven't had any issues with the teal season putting negative pressure on their 'local' ducks and either causing them to migrate out en masse or worse, show a detrimental effect to the breeding population the next year. I'm certainly very worried by these concerns you raise and would like to know more so I too can pass them along and raise awareness. Can you or any of the professional resource managers present please explain in greater detail what ways teal seasons put adverse pressure on local ducks? Please point me in the direction of the research or other documentation or findings that illustrate your point because i'd really like to read them too for an even greater understanding.
I can't wait to hand the mic back because I'm really excited to hear your answers but first I just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who made this wonderful educational program possible. It's so nice to have a resource like this for people to attend and learn the science behind this stuff instead of listening to a bunch of biased hunters shouting their unfounded opinions over one another. OK, I'll shut up and listen now...Thanks again!"
You get the drift and can probably guess where things might go after that....
Then again they might actually cite a bunch of legit research and wipe the shit eatin' grin off my face and force me to pull of pretending like I had been sincere or look like a total dipshit. It wouldn't be the first time I made an azz out of myself in a large public setting...definitely in the realm of possibility.