Legislative block
Status of pending laws
The Blurry Line
When does habitat management become baiting? Ohio Legislature Approves non-
resident hunting, fishing Fee Increases
W I
hile animal-rights organizations expectedly and
out of hand condemn the practice of baiting as
unethical, what’s more alarming are the number of
hunters (deer hunters, specifically) who condemn the
management practice as well.
Denouncing baiting for predators (such as bears),
where a hunter repeatedly places food in the same spot
in order to attract an animal, opens the philosophical
door to question all methods of manipulating game
behavior. Once an ethical method has been called into
question, animal-rights organizations can apply the
same misplaced logic to other methods to achieve their
ultimate goal of ending hunting by any means necessary.
When the voices of hunters join the cacophony of
anti- and non-hunter declarations pertaining to the
evils of baiting, they’re placing nearly every commonly
accepted practice of habitat management at risk. For
where does habitat management end and baiting and
luring begin?
Deer, elk, upland bird, waterfowl and even rabbit
hunters could all be accused of unfairly (in the eyes of
animal-rights activists) baiting and luring their quarry.
Food plots, mineral licks, brush piles and artificial
water sources all manipulate travel patterns of animals
or hold them in an area. Even timber, plant and fire
management practices could theoretically be argued
as artificially affecting animal behavior, reproduction
and survivability for the benefit of the sportsman.
Hunting in or close to agriculture fields could be
argued as an unfair advantage. Blurring the line
further, the use of decoys lure waterfowl and big game
within range under false pretenses of safety. Going to
the extreme, the same misguided reasoning can be
applied to fishing lures and bait.
It’s a never-ending false progression; one where
anti-hunting organizations are never satisfied. Instead,
they will seek to take more and more tools away
from wildlife managers and sportsmen until scientific
management and hunting cease to exist.
Animal-rights zealots don’t care about logic nor
management of any kind. Their only goal is to muddy
the waters surrounding both with emotional, circular
arguments that blur subjective, and personal, ethical
lines in order to piecemeal together victories that
advance their agenda. In their world, facts don’t matter
and science is only important when it can be skewed to
fit their radical world view.
Southwick Associates, which designs and conducts
the surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com
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July | August 2017
and AnglerSurvey.com, recently polled sportsmen on
managing and attracting wildlife on the land where they
hunt. Roughly three out of 10 hunters participated in
some sort of practice, with approximately 80 percent
creating food plots.
The top-five management practices as revealed
by the survey include, food plots (81 percent),
mineral sites (49 percent), timber management (45
percent), plant management (42 percent), feeders
(39 percent), man-made water sources (17 percent),
controlled burns (15 percent) and maintaining water
level or flow (11 percent).
“This survey shows that food plots and other
means of attracting and holding game in an area or
on a particular property are important management
tools among a third of
today’s hunters,” said
Rob Southwick, president
of Southwick Associates.
When hunters cast
stones for the methods
and means other hunters
use, they need to take
a long, hard look in the
mirror. Few hunters today
use a wholly natural
landscape to pursue their
game animal choice, and
every unnatural element
can, and eventually will,
be blurred by animal-
rights activists as
unethical to the eyes of
non-hunters, all in their
effort to abolish hunting.
n a move that will help address the looming funding
crisis facing Ohio’s fish and wildlife management
agency, the Ohio General Assembly sent a two-year
budget to Gov. John Kasich that includes increases
in non-resident hunting and fishing license fees. The
increases, which will be phased in over three years, are
estimated to produce $4 million per year in funding for
the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
The Division of Wildlife, which oversees hunting,
fishing, trapping, endangered species work and habitat
management throughout the state, is projected to need
$220 million over the next ten years to meet its current
obligations. The increases contained in Ohio’s Biennial
Budget Bill (House Bill 49) will produce approximately
$35 to $40 million toward that need.
“We are very pleased that the both the House and
the Senate have taken the first step to addressing the
challenge facing natural resource funding in Ohio,”
said Evan Heusinkveld, president and CEO of the
Sportsmen’s Alliance, which coordinated the efforts of
41 hunting and fishing groups that favored hunting and
fishing license fee increases on both residents and non-
residents. “While the legislature did not tackle resident
license fees, this gives us a great start toward securing a
future for our fish and wildlife resources.”
Earlier this spring, the Sportsmen’s Alliance and
its partners expressed growing alarm over the lack of
adequate wildlife law enforcement, shooting range
development, fish stocking and habitat conservation
work that was a result of the financial crunch. The groups
are commit ted to continuing discussions with the Ohio
General Assembly and Gov. Kasich’s office about how to
address the funding challenge moving forward.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance acknowledges and
thanks the 41 organizations that supported this effort.
As in the past, these organizations recognized the
need for sportsmen to “pay our own way” when
it comes to conservation. The 41 organizations
include: the Sportsmen’s Alliance, Ohio Conservation
Federation, Ohio Chapter National Wild Turkey
Federation, Ducks Unlimited Ohio, Pheasants Forever,
Central Ohio Hunters and Anglers, National Wild
Turkey Federation, Ohio Wildlife Council, Buckeye
Big Buck Club, Ohio State Trappers Association,
Buckeye Firearms Association, Greene County Fish
and Game Association, League of Ohio Sportsmen,
Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, Ohio Bowhunters
Association, Ohio Bass Federation, Ohio Husky Musky
Club, Trout Unlimited, Ruffed Grouse Society, Rocky
Brands, National Wildlife Federation, Gallia County
Conservation Club, Quail Forever, Turn-In-Poacher,
SW Ohio Chapter, Safari Club International, Northern
Ohio Chapter Safari Club International, Stark County
Federation of Conservation Clubs, Scio Sportsman’s
Club, Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders, Richwood
Gun and Game Club, Pickaway County Sportsmen,
Lansing Sportsmen’s Club, Fulton County Sportsmen,
Auglaize County Pheasants Forever, Moulton Gun
Club, Ashland County Pheasants Forever, Richland
County Conservation Association, Ashland County
Conservation League, Steel T Precision, Central Ohio
Coon Hunters Association, Black Swamp Bucks.
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