6 >BOWHUNTER APRIL/MAY 2015Editorial
CURT WELLS, EDITORESA - Threat to Hunting?
Pay attention because the antihunters are using the
courts to take your hunting away from you.
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HERE WAS A TIME when many believed the antihunting movement would
end all hunting in North America. Some scofed, others joined the fght against
those who would make your frearm or bow obsolete. Fortunately, the antihunters,
or “squirrel squeezers” as I call them, severely mismanaged their hypocrisy-satu-
rated movement, engaging in behavior that caused the non-hunting public to dis-
regard them as “whackos.” Tat perception is still strong today. And well-earned.
In recent years, however, what was once perceived as a diminishing threat is now
re-energized. Antihunting organizations, ofen defly disguised as “conservation”
or “environmental” groups, have spent the last decade or so perfecting their two
most dangerous weapons — the use and abuse of both the U.S. Court System, and
the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Tey are becoming masters of the court injunc-
tion, and in fnding judges sympathetic to their cause.
One need only look at the latest court ruling regarding the gray wolf. In February
2014, the Humane Society of the United States (the Mother of all squirrel-squeezer
groups) fled suit to place the wolf back on the Endangered List. In December, U.S.
District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the wolf should be immediately returned to
the list. Her ruling was based on the inexplicable logic that wolves are still endan-
gered in the remaining Lower 48 states. Huh? How does someone with such a colos-
sal misperception of reality become a federal judge?
Another example is the Greater sage-grouse. Te details are too complex to cover
in this space, but sufce it to say that antihunting elements are working to get the sage-
grouse listed as threatened. Te real concern is for a subspecies called the Gunnison sage-
grouse in Colorado and Utah, but it is feared that any designation by the ESA would
include all sage-grouse, of which there are a half-million scattered across 11 states.
Why should you care? Well, if the antis can coerce another Judge Howell to clas-
sify sage-grouse as threatened, that could adversely afect your access to millions
of acres of public land. It’s not known if the hunting of antelope, mule deer and elk,
which share sage-grouse habitat, would still be allowed on those lands, but if the
antis have their way, it won’t. Tat is their end game, and it always will be.
Fortunately, there are watchdog groups like Big Game Forever (biggameforever.org)
that are closely monitoring these abuses of our courts and the ESA. Tey deserve your
support, as do other hunting organizations like the Pope and Young Club, the Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation, the Mule
Deer Foundation, and others who stay
on top of these threats. Outdoorsmen
and women are notoriously apathetic,
but once an alert is issued to take action,
pick up a phone and call your legislators.
A single phone call carries a multiplier
of 10,000, meaning if a legislator gets
one call, they estimate 10,000 others feel
the same way. Tat’s real power.
You may not care about sage-
grouse, or even gray wolves, but you
should care about the insidious ma-
nipulation of the ESA. Get involved.
Take action when called upon. The
squirrel squeezers cannot put an end
to your treasured days in the feld —
unless you allow it to happen. ❮❮❮This map shows both sage grouse and wolf
habitat and how much of the West that could be
affected by poorly conceived ESA designations.