CONTENTS
MESSAGE
WHAT’S INSIDE
FROM THE
PRESIDENT
I
4
7
The Fight over
Sportsmen’s Rights
How Animal-Rights organizations
score at the ballot box
2 President’s Message 11 Legislative Block
The key players on
both sides of the issues
Status of alliancebacked legislation
A word from Evan
Heusinkveld
3 News
HEadlines from around
the country
13 Alliance Partners
Garmin and Ellett
Brothers renew
hope you enjoy this month’s look into the playbook of
the anti-hunting movement. Over the past four decades,
the Sportsmen’s Alliance has fought hard against these
tactics. During that time, trends have emerged that
indicate where the next attack will come.
In the Maine bear campaign of 2013-14, for example, the
Humane Society of the United States hoped to capitalize
on their 2012 victory to ban bear hunting with dogs in
California. They turned their sights to the east coast. Maine
stands out as a major hunting destination, but southern
Maine has slowly become a de facto suburb of Boston –
and HSUS thought they could exploit the influx of people
from Massachusetts to steal hunting rights from all Mainers.
First they tried to pass a bill to ban bear hunting.
Fortunately, the legislature saw through the emotional
rhetoric and sided with science. Following their game
plan, HSUS turned their attention to the public; launching
a public-relations campaign followed by a petition drive to
place the issue before voters.
After spending nearly $3 million to ban bear hunting,
it became clear that HSUS would not win. So they
filed a lawsuit to try to force our campaign’s television
advertisements off the air.
This is straight from their playbook: try to convince
unsuspecting legislators to pass their radical agenda, and
when that fails, take
the case to court or
try to buy an election.
The ground-work
for the next round of
battles is being laid
out West right now.
These organizations
are in the early
stages of pushing
a PR campaign on
mountain lions –
hoping to capitalize on the “Cecil” the lion fervor – and
have released a propaganda-filled “report” identifying
five states in their sights.
They’re probing state wildlife agencies with Freedom
of Information Requests looking for weak spots.
Next, I bet they’ll take this campaign to Western state
legislatures, the courts and eventually the ballot box. After
all, that’s their game plan.
Evan Heusinkveld | President and CEO
Social media
What’s trending?
Sportsmen’s Alliance
463 like this
117 shares
Sportsmen’s Alliance
Sportsmen’s Alliance
74 like this
63 shares
242 like this
follow us!
FACEBOOK.COM/SPORTSMENSALLIANCE
1
SPORTSMEN’S MONTHLY
May | 2016
TWITTER.COM/SPORTSMENSALL
INSTAGRAM.COM/SPORTSMENSALL
May | 2016
SPORTSMEN’S MONTHLY
2