Perhaps this is where the MDNR found the 20,000,000 dollars. They have litterally stripped thousands of acres of forest, removing all cover and food for the game species.

Art

Amen brother.

I also write and have written a couple of articles detailing the MUCC debacle and the NRA’s involvement in the process here in MI.

It’s funny how much our writings are similar in tone and subject. I would be happy to send you copies. Or, contact Darin Goens in the ILA. He has copies.

I am so happy the NRA is involved in this subject. The power and influence of the NRA is evident when sitting in these meetings between the Michigan Legislators and MUCC. In fact, I was not a member until I witnessed the NRA in action. I was impressed!

I have got to run. The MUCC is about to step in something stinky and I want to be there to see it.

Doug

P S Lets see now, where did I leave that $20,000,000???

Regardless, all things I believe are relative and when there are substantial changes as you describe, we have to look for, recognized and understand what has caused these changes.

I have to agree with your comment on the PC/Enviro-antis. This is the trend which is being caused by two things in my opinion. One is the growing entities, some well endowed with money, fighting for animal rights and opposing hunting. Most DNRs/fish and game a scared of these groups and opt to give them what they want than fight for what is right. Which brings me to the second reason.

More and more of our DNR officials, including the wildlife biologists are growing up and being too strongly influenced by the liberal education systems that promote anti-hunting and animal rights. In short, many of the people within the DNRs are themselves against killing animals and hunting. It’s sad.

I believe the only way this trend is going to get broken is for hunters and those who understand and support hunting to begin speaking up. After all, this is science backed.

Some of the points you bring up are telling what I’ve been saying and writing to the DNR about for the past couple of years. I was born and raised in Michigan, moved away for awhile and then moved back. My family still lives in Clare County and my dad, brother and I have property in the UP. I currently live just across the line in Ohio but have always opted to hunt in Michigan during deer season. I have seen the herds increase from my early hunting days to what I consider a poor level now. The DNR answered one of my letters and informed me that current habitat could not sustain the herd levels of the late 80′s and early 90′s. Their issuing of block permits and many multiple licenses have decimated the herd and Michigan will lose many dollars as hunters find fewer chances to see let alone take a whitetail.
Let me paint the picture I’ve seen over the four seasons prior to 2007. We usually hunt the first week in the UP and where we use to at least see deer each morning and evening (usually does) we weren’t seeing any. Then in the 2006 season we may have gotten the reason. My nephew was at our cabin for the opener of rifle season. He hung a scent strip and climbed into his blind. Less than twenty minutes passed and he had a large timberwolf below the strip. Six were counted during the 2007 season. Where there are wolves, an abundance of coyotes and more black bears there are fewer deer. I had intended on hunting at my parents place in Clare County in 2006 but on opening day I took my dad for a doctors appointment at the VA in Saginaw. After the appointment, we drove all the way back to Cadillac to pickup a log splitter he had ordered and then back home. The US 10 / M-115 highways I traveled that day have always afforded us multiple opportunities to see many deer in years past but on that day we counted a total of six deer in the fields. We saw many orange figures, which normally keep the deer moving but we also didn’t see any of the normal signs of success, that being deer on/in cars, trucks or buck poles. I did manage to get out during the next week but didn’t even see one deer. This had become the norm over those past four years so in 2007 I decided not to use my vacation time and to save the several hundred dollars I would normally spend for gas, food and the out of state tag.
I have seen very little if any habitat improvement for the whitetail, so why shouldn’t the DNR see a surplus in funds. They are forsaking the hunters and sportsmen/women who provide most of the funding for their agency so they can join the PC/Enviro-anti’s to re-establish a wolf population that we didn’t need or want. I’m sure that the insurance industry will also appreciate a smaller deer herd as well, but if hunters find that they stand very little chance of seeing let alone harvesting a whitetail deer in Michigan, they will not be so eager to spend the money that so many businesses in the rural areas depend on.