Subject: Re: Nisqually haying vs. birds
Date: Jul 11 13:20:56 1996
From: Don Baccus - donb at Rational.COM


>My "anything for a buck" theory is once again substantiated by fact.

Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with that statement.

>Their success was so good, in fact, that last year they lengthened the duck
>hunting season to 90 days and added a second goose season.

The goose season, at least, was extended because they'd not taken their
quota of dusky canada geese. Efforts to keep this population up has
caused the take of other, much more numerous subspecies to drop far
below numbers taken before dusky conservation efforts took place (after
the Alaskan quake of '64). This has caused population levels of these
other subspecies to rise to the point where valley farmers have been
complaining bitterly to the state.

So, the extended goose season happened because of pressure from farmers,
not hunters. Whatever you may think of hunters, please restrict your
criticism for those things for which they're actually responsible.

And remember - hunters bought these refuges to begin with.

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at http://www.xxxpdx.com/~dhogaza