Originally Posted By: FursniperOriginally Posted By: ThomCI am amazed at the numbers of hunters that dont care if contests are banned. As many have stated it is just a stepping stone for the antis. And they are stepping all over your rights to hunt.
We have no rights to hunt in AZ.
There are 22 states that have passed legislation to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right. If your state has passed this legislation, it is more insulated from anti hunting organizations to stop hunting and fishing. If not, hunting and fishing in your state is decided at the ballot box. Here is a link to see where your state stands.
States Where Hunting and Fishing is a Constitutional Right
In 2010, AZ voters FAILED to pass this legislation (Proposition 109). This means that hunting and fishing is not a right in AZ and is decided at the ballot box. The majority of voters in AZ do not hunt and fish, they are easily swayed by the anti's, and they decide if hunting and fishing is allowed and what methods can be used, not what science and traditional methods support.
You guys from states adjacent to AZ (CA, NV, UT, CO, NM) are in a similar position. Your states have not passed legislation to establish rights to hunt and fish. Except for CA that has fishing as a constitutional right.
Here is an example of what can happen when hunting, fishing, and trapping is not a constitutional right.
Leg hold traps were banned in AZ by a voter proposition. It did not matter that leg hold traps were the most effective tool to control predator populations. The anti's convinced the voters that trapping was barbaric, cruel, made public lands unsafe, and was not an acceptable way to take wildlife in today's society. The anti's convinced the voters by making a media event out of any conflict someone had with a leg hold trap on public land. The news media catered to the antis and supported their opinions. When the time was right, the anti's drafted a law in their own words to ban trapping on public lands in AZ. The voters passed the anti's law in a ballot proposition. The AZ Game and Fish Commission cannot reverse what the voters decide.
I believe we are falling into the anti's playbook by protecting hunting contests. When a predator contest is conducted, the anti's are making a media event out of it to put predator hunting in a negative light. The media is catering to the anti's position and fanning the flames for them. A good example of that was the media coverage for the 2015 PM Convention in Tucson. Even though PM was not conducting a predator contest, the anti's used fraud and deception to say that we were to put predator contests in the limelight and get public opposition to predator hunting AND the PM Convention.
If the anti's can convince the voters that the only reason people hunt predators is to participate in contests, the anti's may propose their own law in their wording to ban ALL predator hunting by a voter proposition. Just like they did to ban leg hold traps. It is doubtful the anti's would propose a law to only ban predator contests. They have already tried to ban hunting on bobcats and lions this year.
The AGF Commission is helping to protect predator hunting by getting out in front of this issue. Banning contests now prevents the anti's from using predator contests as justification to ban all predator hunting in a voter proposition later. There is no way to convince the voters that contests are necessary. To say they help control predator populations will not work. That concept was used to try and save leg hold traps and failed.
If hunting was a right in AZ, I would be trying to protect predator contests, but hunting is not a right. We can lose hunting and fishing at the ballot box if the voters do not support it.
Are you freaking kidding me? So let's all of us hunters agree that killing coyotes in a contest is not ok, but regular hunting and killing them is necessary? That's your argument for voter support ? How do you explain that? You just put the first nail in the coffin. Where do you draw the line and say enough is enough. If not to defend contest then when ? Hand calls only? No Ar15's ? As if the media can't go to a fur buyer in the winter and see a truck load of dead coyotes. Or still go to the pm convention and find things to pick at or support thier adjenda. Rolling over to be politically correct will never get you anywhere. It will only weaken your position. This doesn't mean we have to be rude or over the top and have a "can't tell me what to do " attitude either. But just explain it like it is.
Hunting is hunting. Seccessful hunters kill a lot. Contest or not. Some hunters are unethical, contest or not.
Telling a non hunter you are against contest hunting, but a big advocate of hunting predators is not going to gain you anything. Only a bunch of uneducated confused voters.
