Sportsmen's Monthly 2016 May | Page 12

Small ball: Death by 1,000 cuts
Animal-rights organizations don’ t try
Eliminating mountain lion or bear hunting
to score a touchdown on every play.
with bait, hounds or traps in one state
Instead, they’ re content to spread the
sets a precedent to stop the practice in
field, use the clock to their advantage
other states. By dividing sportsmen, their
and pick up first downs; a small advance
offense picks up one small victory and
on the East coast and a bigger play on
then another before going for all three
the West coast eventually add up to a
in another state or returning to original
winning strategy and advancing their
states to take practices not covered in
agenda by preying on the ignorance of
their first offensive attack. Urbanization,
urban voters and sportsmen’ s apathy.
time and money are on their side.
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2004 2014
1996
1996
1996: Fighting a Mult-Front Offensive With approximately a $ 150 million average yearly budget, HSUS can afford to self-fund ballot-box campaigns while sportsmen must cobble together grassroots support. In 1996, HSUS simultaneously pushed bear initiatives in four states. At $ 2-5 million per campaign, an issue is easily lost due to the inability to purchase PR airtime.
Map Legend
Best Defense: teamwork & Preparation Anticipating exactly when, where and how the animal-rights movement will attack hunting, fishing and trapping is tricky. We often know which states or court rulings they’ ll target, but when exactly they’ ll make a play and on what grounds is often ambiguous. To counter their offensive tactics, sportsmen need to:
Work as a team: An attack on trapping, hounding or bait hunting is an attack on general hunting, including deer hunting – don’ t let their offensive play of division by method of take or species slowly conquer all of us. Defend methods of take at the ballot box even if you don’ t participate in them.
Mountain Lion Initiatives Black Bear Initiatives Rejected Initiatives
Collect funding now: Sportsmen in every state need to create a fund now for the impending end-around play coming from HSUS and other groups in the future.
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Potential Initiative
May | 2016
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