Was that at the Cambridge, Mn. meeting for Block 4?
Made those DNR reps squirm a bit Brooks. LOL good for you. Uh-oh, cat out of the proverbial bag! What was the audiences response to that portion of your presentation? I hope many had questions about it for you afterwards.In 1.5 years I have heard the term 'certified forest' twice. Leslie on Tuesday and Merchant on Wednesday. Guy in the audience said folks from DNR were visibly distraut when I gave my forestry connection speech on Thursday.
What was the audiences response to that portion of your presentation?
I was thinking the same thing. I bet SFI and FSC are bankrolling the whole hippie wolf hugging crowd.Is it just a coincidence that putting wolves back on the endangered list has anything to do with forest certification?
Maybe, but that is a whole 'nother group of "huggers". I think they like to fly solo so they can brag they are the ones saving the world.Is it just a coincidence that putting wolves back on the endangered list has anything to do with forest certification?
Yup, but the public land hunter is left with nothing.Breaking my "silence" to say that "you are all scr#w#d is totally accurate. I'm sure the forest certification requires all kinds of lengthy paperwork signed by all kinds of muckety mucks and that paperwork is legally binding. If the State agreed to manage for a certain density...then they must do so to keep that certification. If they don't, they likely are looking at losing the certification and quite possibly a monetary fine as well.
IMHO the only options people (who want more deer around anyway) have are:
Refuse to ever shoot a doe again
Require those who hunt on your land to never shoot a doe again
Do as many habitat improvements on your land as you possibly can to increase your ability to carry higher numbers of deer who use your place as "home base"
Join together with others who think the way you do
Back to silence
Then sooner or later the public land hunter(of which I am one) will either adapt and lower his expectations of harvesting multiple deer, or face the reality that one MUST own land to have quality deer hunting in the future. The alternative is to quit hunting deer and hunt other game such as waterfowl or upland birds, which are mostly hunted on public lands or private lands that a person can gain permission to access for the purpose of strictly hunting birds. Or simply quit hunting altogether, which would be a tragedy for our future generations.Yup, but the public land hunter is left with nothing.
Unless we can change hunter's ideas to only shooting one deer and looking at the real deer numbers on a piece of ground. that is hard for a non-local hutner of public land to do. For years he has trusted the DNR.
Your only hope may lie in Post #60. If the Forestry Certification Audits call for keeping the herd numbers at a given level to promote regeneration of woody species, your threshold should then be something just south of that number. .