[Decoyer]

Guys,
We need to be telling our congressmen how we feel about this issue. I just sent a letter to all the Senators and Representatives and you would be suprised about what I have heard so far. Rural congressmen seem to show more support and simpathy than the congressmen from the "big cities."

P.S. Make sure if you send to anyone, and you are from Fargo, send to Ron Iverson of Fargo (District 27).

Here is a list of all the senators and representatives e-mail addresses:
http://www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/58-2 ... trict.html
and
http://www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/58-2 ... trict.html

 

[Dan Bueide]

NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT. Many of you probably don't know that Decoyer is a high school student who is on the horns of a dilema - in the words of The Clash: do I stay or do I go. He's decided to step up to the plate and make sure that he can look himself in the mirror in May knowing he did everything he could to preserve the ND outdoors. If he and the rest of us succeed, he'll stay, and continue to pursue his passion for the outdoors and feed the ND economy 365.

I challenge everyone on this site to grab an oar and start pulling with Decoyer. Take his lead and start now, by emailing your legislators and letting them know that in the weeks ahead you want them to support the Hunter Pressure Concept, day limitations for nonresident upland hunters and restrictions to stem the proliferation of guides and outfitters. Do it today, so they have a heads up as the bills come up.

Nice shot, Decoyer!

 

[tsodak]

Just wanted to interject something here. Email is fine as far as it goes, but I have had conversations with a couple of legislators that say the volume of email they can get leads to mcuh of it not even being read. So, write a good subject line, as that may be all they skim.

But more than that, they read ALL there paper mail. Think about that and you may understand why. It taked more time to print and actually snail mail a letter, but it could be worth 20 emails. I encourage you to put paper to pen, and at least send your local guys a personal letter. Tom

 

[Field Hunter]

I happen to know that Decoyer emailed the letter to every legislator in the state and has received a response from nearly half of them. I also know that he received at least a couple of phone calls from legistalators that were very interested in what he has to say. I was surprised myself with the response he has generated up to this point. Positive as well as negative. Write, email, and phone every legislator TODAY! The idea of the freelance hunters, that happen to be NRs, emailing is a great idea! I can tell you your fellow big $$$ non-residents are lobbying big time in ND to keep things going in the direction they have been going in the last 5 years or so. Do you NR's really need to be guided in ND by outfitters who want to use out of state guides. If not, you NEED to contact the reps.

I believe the hunter pressure concept and bills like it come up in approximately 2 weeks. Let the legis. know that you support managing the resource, that you don't want to arrive in the state for a GREAT duck hunt only to find more hunters that the resource can handle. If there are many wetlands as in the last 5-6 years, then the Resident sportsmen will welcome more NR's, if there are less, as is he trend now, then less people need to be in the field to ensure quality hunting. I was around in the last drought period of the late 80's and early 90's. For those of you that hunt the South Central area of ND for instance who know the tremendous resource of waterfowl we've had in this last wet period, you need to know also that during the last drought period, 5-6 years at least, there were literally NO ducks in most of that area. Do you want to spend the time and money on a trip to ND only to find that the resource is drastically depleted when you arrive. Also during the drought period MANY resident waterfowlers hung up their guns, many permanently, never to return to the sport. During this dry period that has started and continues many resident and NRs will not return making the HPC even better.
Support of the Hunter Pressure Concept will ensure a great experience with a great resource for all concerned.

 

[KEN W]

To add to this.Non-res contacted motels and business people the past year about not coming here if there were caps.Those business people went to the hearings during the last session.Non-res. freelancers need to contact those same business people now and tell them to go the hearings and tell the legis. to put the brakes on guides and outfitters and to support the HPC or you may not be able to come back here if you can't freelance.I guarantee that the outfitters are lining up businesses to support them.Our legislators need to hear the other side from business interests.

 

[Miller]

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