The American Beagler Forum

I doubt that many of you missed this great pro-hunting news. What you may not know is that Bev's American Beagler Magazine filed excellent comments opposing this anti-dog hunting measure. Thanks, Bev!
Bob Kane

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Kane
To: Undisclosed Recipient List
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 9:00 PM
Subject: Hunters Win Milestone Victory!!


Dear Fellow Sportsmen,

Today was a milestone in the fight to protect hunters' rights. The California Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife voted 10-4 to reject Assemblyman Paul Koretz's (D-42) AB 342. This legislation would have banned all mammal hunting with dogs. Shortly before the vote, in an effort to mute opposition to the original bill, its author revised the language so it applied only bears and bobcats, dropping rabbits, fox, raccoons, et al.

Another anti-hunting bill, Assemblyman Joe Nation's (D-6) AB 1190, banning all dove hunting in the state, was scheduled to be heard by the same committee today. Nation pulled his bill last week, in the face of heavy hunter opposition.

Normally, the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) and its animal rightist (AR) anti-hunting allies confine themselves to attacking hunting's fringe areas, such as blocking new or expanded seasons. Very rarely have they attacked hunters so directly, attempting to ban existing hunting through legislation. Wayne Pacelle, HSUS senior vice president and one of the AR bill sponsors, personally testified in Sacramento, reaffirming his underlying strategy "... We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state." (Interviewed for Full Cry, "America's leading tree hound publication," October 1990)

It was critical that both of these efforts be defeated. The Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA) and virtually every national sportsman’s advocacy group were deeply committed to that task. The breadth of opposition was nothing short of amazing. Every sportsmen group in California was involved, waterfowlers, bird hunters, houndsmen, big game hunters, shooters, anglers, supported by farmers, dog registries and others. I saw activity from 150 San Francisco area dachshund owners, as well as from many dog owner groups and hunt clubs throughout the country. Our opposition communications outnumbered those from animal rightists by 40:1. If sportsmen can defeat such legislation in California, they can do it anywhere!

This just wasn't a California hunters' fight or victory. Yes, the entire national sportsmen's lobby from the NRA to CWA to tiny SAOVA was involved, but we also had others' support.

From farmers

California Cattlemen's Association
California Wool Growers Association
California Farm Bureau Federation
Fresno County Farm Bureau

Labor Unions
Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council
Ironworkers Local 155

Four Dog Registries, non-traditional hunting dog groups, a dog food company, several animal owner advocacy groups

Sportsmen Groups from
Connecticut
Indiana
Kentucky
Maine
Michigan
New York
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia to name a partial list.

Over 4300 comments were filed opposing AB 342, totally overwhelming the system. I'm so certain of this because my own comment is missing from the committee's tabulation, along with those of four more organizations that sent me copies of theirs.

Ours was a total victory. April 8, 2003 was special day for hunting sportsmen, not only in California, but across America. The unity of purpose and perseverance demonstrated in defeating these two animal rightist bills mark a turning point. No longer will outdoorsmen be apathetic and uninvolved when their sport is threatened.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Bob Kane
Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance
http://saova.org

Forwarding and cross posting encouraged

Bob, thanks for the kind words. I was told that Better Beagling likewise sent comments of opposition. Kudos to Bob and Pearl!

go get em bev . i was at a trapping site and one mans signature line was
" if we see a bear mauling an animal activist shall we interfere or let nature take its course." this has actually happened in california only it was a lion. pete

sheeeesh to hear em tell the story the sportsmans alliance did that single handed....lol

as i understand it the bill had gotten watered down and stripped of most of its language by the time it got to committee because the sponsor of the bill and others had already caught so much flack from all the groups bob named. the final bill that got defeated was banning using dogs for tracking two animals. bears and big cats comes to mind.


when this defeat of the antis first aired a few weeks back i sent a copy to john davis, indiana dnr deputy director, with a short note that this could be indiana if they continue to push for a 100% ban on dog running on state land in the spring. it was also explained to him that some of the beaglers are so unhappy about indiana dnr's stance that they are considering getting a permit and walking around the statehouse with signs opposing the ban, and leading their beagles........ indiana dnr has backed off the immediate change idea and are going the route of using the upcoming june open houses to try to muster support from non dog running factions to bolster their chances. this is the time for beaglers to polorize on efforts to block dnr's actions. every beagler and rabbit hunter needs to be at the open house meetings in june, and forge alliances with other hunting groups to express overwhelming dissatisfaction with indiana dnr's effort to stop us from running our dogs on state land in the spring.

jackrabbit

The open houses are scheduled from 2 pm to 8 pm at the following locations


Tuesday, June 3

Atterbury FWA
Indianapolis-Pike Township Public Library
Mitchell Office
Peru Office
Willow Slough FWA

Wednesday, June 4

Ft Wayne Law Enforcement District Headquarters
Jasper-Pulaski FWA
Kankakee FWA
Lasalle FWA
Minnehaha FWA

Thursday, June 5

Crosley FWA





Kingsbury FWA
Tri-County FWA

Tuesday, June 10

Glendale FWA
Hovey Lake FWA
Pigeon River FWA
Sugar Ridge FWA
Winamac FWA

Wednesday, June 11

Wilbur Wright FWA

now is the time to begin to spread the word about these meetings. these open houses are administravtive rule change open houses. indiana dnr will decide which rules and laws to enact in the future from the outcome of these meetings.

I will be there at some of the open houses to support our right to run and train our hunting dogs on OUR state managed dnr properties. I am hoping some other Indiana beaglers and houndsmen will join express there support

thats a great idea don.... as you can see from the updated list of meeting places indiana dnr is determined to make an issue of our dogs. they cant show any research or evidence that the presence of our dogs has any negative effects what so ever. but they are banking on some of the bird doggers and bird watchers being on their side. and if they did their research they would find that even the song bird research doesnt indicate dogs are a problem. but since our dnr feels that the state land belongs to them since we pay them to manage it......... what we have to say about must be a mandate by all beaglers and rabbit hunters. hopefully we will have more interested and concerned beaglers do the same as you don.

maybe some of the clubs could get their members together and have a couple of beaglers at each meeting thru the whole process. they could talk to folks as they come in and explain the facts to them. NOW IS THE TIME FOR EVERY SPORTSMAN TO SUPPORT THE INDIANA BEAGLER. those meetings are going to be critical to our future.

jackrabbit

Got my front row ticket early, this should be some show. A couple of friends of mine visit the BIG HOUSE quite often, think I'll give them an invite also ...Patch