I've come to the conclusion that the most effective means to get what we want, or at least somewhat deter the jerks from doing what we don't want, is to form a group.
Most effective=smallest waste of my time and anyone else's that is like-minded enough to get involved in said group.
What I'd be looking to do is get together a small group of guys, 15-20 would be all it'd take, to form some sort of pro-USFWS duck hunters group. The goal of this group would be to do the least amount of work possible to successfully torpedo the MWA-Concerned Duck Hunters-Wood Duck Society ilk from stopping common sense regulations and seasons from happening.
I really 'effing hate that I'm even considering this but Doug Smith's retirement got me thinking about the state of affairs for MN wildlife management and waterfowl management in particular. It was only recently I started emailing him about what he was doing and pointing out how biased his writing came across due to the select sources he chose to publish. One thing I stated was that in his writings he was letting these guys speak on behalf of all MN duck hunters when in my opinion they represented only a small minority. By effectively giving them a monopoly in the largest circulated press in the region for their thoughts and opinions unabated he had essentially allowed them to dictate popular opinion and thus policy.
Everything I talked about doing previously I followed through on and did...and am still doing. I really thought I had a smoking gun in my juxtaposition between the wolf season and teal season, and I still think I do. There are definitely a few ways the teal season decision could be challenged in the court of appeals....but who has the freaking time and conviction for that? I don't. I don't even have time to post my drivel on here anymore.
Howling For Wolves will definitely be using everything I gave them to challenge the impending wolf season whenever it happens, but when is that? I had high hopes they'd want to go after the DNR right away but why would they? The wolf season is closed and they know they have a future fight coming so why play the ace up their sleeve when they haven't even seen the flop? The bottom line is that Tom Landwehr's hypocrisy will be exposed and hopefully it will lead to a big enough win for HWF that it will make the sportsmen and the sportsmen groups in this state realize this is the future and scare them into doing something about it before it's too late.
Long story longer, in the interim we still have a bunch of jackwagons that will still be pushing against additional opportunities for duck hunters even though nothing from a scientific management standpoint should hinder them from going forward. I want to push back.
What I envision would be similar to what the tea party is to the republican party, a bunch of little shytes that stop the mainstream members from pushing their agenda unopposed. The options would be to start a new MWA chapter (not big on this option), take over a defunct chapter (probably very easy to find and do), or form a loose group with a singular message; we stand behind the USFWS and their scientific management approach. I'd set up a website to make it look somewhat official and call it something simple like "Hunters Supporting the Feds." There'd be no dues, any thought of doing volunteer work or giving back, the only goal would be to roll at least 15 deep into the waterfowl symposium to challenge whatever BS is spewed, and that'd be it. Maybe we'd meet once before that to pound a bunch of beer at a legion or vfw meeting room or out ice fishing just so we're on the same page.
Our goal would be to be present and sit in a corner and every time some guy like Jim Cox grabbed the mic to go, "This is the most ridiculous thing ever!" We'd then take our turn and ask, "Why? The science is all very sound and this has been researched extensively...do you have some peer reviewed studies to share that we aren't aware of, or are you just giving the room your uninformed opinion?"
Basically we'd be there to stop these azzclowns from perpetually putting the onus of doubt onto the wildlife departments when they have nothing to bring to the table or back their concocted opinions. We'd be there to put the onus back on them. If the MWA thinks we're shooting too many wood ducks then we're going to make it very apparent they need to use their resources to fund a peer-reviewed study to justify that opinion.