Is any wildlife association good?

[Reagan]

We all know the opinions of most members when it comes to a certain deer organization. There is also a recent thread on the P&Y Club. I thought it would be good to start a positive thread.

Is there any national organization that you support? In my lifetime I have belonged to and supported the QDMA, NRA, NWTF, RMEF, DU and Delta Waterfowl. There are probably others that I forgotten. Most of my memberships have expired and some groups I refuse to support anymore. But i still support these:

NRA
Yes I get sick of there emails and junk mail but I still am a member. No other group does more to defend your right to own a gun.

RMEF
This is the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for those of you who may not know. Elk are big animals that need a lot of room to roam. As the west continues to get subdivided into ranch-ettes, elk will have problems. If you hunt elk you should belong. If you don't hunt elk but believe in maintaining wild wilderness ground, your should join. Their magazine, Bugle, is one of the best hunting mags published.

Delta Watefowl
I duck hunt. Over the years, I have become unhappy with DU. Their pussified arguments against predator control were one of the many reasons I dropped them. About 10 years ago I helped a friend start the first Delta Waterfowl chapter in SW Ohio. We put on a banquet and raised about $16,000 in one night. One of Delta's regional guys was a great to work with. He slept on my buddies couch instead of wasting money on a hotel when he was in town. The Delta people were a really great group. A very large percentage of their money goes to boots on the ground projects to produce Ducks. Fund raising for the chapter was nearly a full time job. The second year of my chapter I chose not to continue since having babies and small children was more important use of my time. I do still the the group.

I turkey hunt and used to support the NWTF. Now there are turkeys everywhere so I feel it is best to spend my money on elk, guns and ducks. I have not belonged to NWTF for many years.



So I ask, who do you support? Maybe there is a group that I overlooked that is worth spending a few dollars on.

 

[SD51555]

Don't believe in them anymore. I've been in MDHA, NRA (still am due to paid up life membership), QDMA, and political do-good outfits. All have been failures because they're susceptible to politics and bureaucracy. I used to believe, but have witnessed failure after failure and can't shove my head in the sand far enough to convince myself this is the way to fight the fight.

I'm with Stu, I'm a conservation organization of 1.

Edit: I will partner with those close by that want to accomplish something. Coop, MDDI, friends, family, neighbors.

 

[biglakeba$$]

I have been a member of many. And the only tangible return on my investment has been magazines.....

Many probably have some intangible affects that I dont personally get to see or utilize. I am sure its not all bad.
I am stuck in the sense that I want tangible results in MN..... Here at home. I want to see and feel organizations really making a difference on our turf.

Coots Unlimited is one I have not been a member of yet. Maybe I should try that. :)

 

[sandbur]

I'm a life member of the NRA and also of Muskies, Inc.

My interest in muskies has decreased, but we are very lucky to have the NRA. I don't like everything they do, but we would be in far worse shape without them on the gun control issues. That might not qualify them as a wildlife group, tho....

 

[sandbur]

I have been a member of many. And the only tangible return on my investment has been magazines.....

Many probably have some intangible affects that I dont personally get to see or utilize. I am sure its not all bad.
I am stuck in the sense that I want tangible results in MN..... Here at home. I want to see and feel organizations really making a difference on our turf.

Coots Unlimited is one I have not been a member of yet. Maybe I should try that. :)

Old Coots Unlimited???

 

[phil@thesidehill]

All my memberships have lapsed....most likely won't renew. I can find better use of my dollars. If an actual local group with local impact popped up I'd be all over it. I used to be a board member and branch officer for a local QDMA chapter and we hustled our asses off and put in serious work on local game lands....then we all got busy with our real lives and things started to become painfully obvious national didn't care to support local causes so we dissolved the branch and went on our merry ways. We have had some discussion amongst the core group that we may some day band together and start a boots on the ground local collective that only did work locally....all money coming in would be spent locally and not funneled back to "the brand".

 

[dipper]

The only dues I pay is to Iml. Improve my land. I'll be a life member until I sell and move somewhere warm. That is the best investment to protecting wild life $ could buy.

 

[foggy]

Wow. Sad to hear so many dis-enchanted folks. I DO understand tho. Have been a member of DU, Pheasants Forever, MDHA, NRA, Isaac Walton League, Mule Deer, Elk, North American Hunter, NSSF, Varmint Hunters Assn, a host of shooting clubs, and a few more. They all have a cause....and they all have some good points......as well as human difficulties and politics.

Sooner or later the club seems to support the officers more than it supports the members. I can subscribe to better magazines for a lower cost than belonging to clubs that don't do so well at supporting my interests. Just saying.

OH.....and MDDI.

 

[leexrayshady]

Pheasants forever completely disappointed me, for an org that stresses habitat, their mag offers none. Almost no food plot info or tips on plants etc.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I agree that state organizations tend to be more productive. I am a member of the Nebraska Bowhunters Assoc. and generally our state trappers assoc. though my membership has currently expired.

 

[Reagan]

Clearly MDDI is doing good things. It just doesnt apply to us out of staters.

I should have phrased my question better. The NRA is not a wildlife organization but they are imptortant to the national gun debate. I expected more people to belong to the nra and not so much on the wild life groups. We are a jaded bunch on this site.

People in OHio bitch about DU and Delta not doing enough in Ohio. Most ducks are not produced in Ohio so I am fine with money going to the nesting grounds. Same goes for elk.

 

[sandbur]

You would be welcome now or in the future.

If nothing else, come down and look at the habitat, just to see how the deer can live in such little cover and so much ag......It is something to see. I have more cover in our area at home and only 1/10th the deer for some reason.

Yup, I have the cover and the ag. Maybe a small handful of fawns and one doe on the farm. Thank you, Mn. DNR!

 

[NWWI]

The small local level clubs seem to be the best by us. They can't do much for deer hunting other than sponsor public sight in days, youth shooting activities or disabled hunts. They have done good things improving the local lakes. They have sunk hundreds of cribs and built shoreline structure using the tops of oak trees and tying them off so the don't get dislodged.
The cooperatives everyone talks about on here would be the best 'organization' for the deer guy to support.

 

[wiscwhip]

If you like supporting a group that is huge into youth involvement, Whitetails Unlimited is highly regarded in that arena. They, like "those that should not be named", will not help with anything even mildly politically related to managing deer or making changes to game laws, unless it affects opportunities for kids. They donate to a ton of High School shooting teams and the National Archery in the Schools program. I really never figured out the whole "whitetails" part of their name, should be more like "Getting Youth Involved in the Outdoors Unlimited", but I suppose the "whitetails" thing sells memberships. Oh yeah, I am not a member of their or any other organization.

 

[SD51555]

Maybe it's just the life cycle of organizations and movements. They arise out of need, score wins and grow, the mission makes progress and complacency later sets in and passion and focus begin to wane and devolve into ineffectiveness or outright failure. Maybe some of these orgs need to die off and resprout and reorganize to more pure purposes.

 

[foggy]

At one time about the only "sportsman's clubs" in MN were all chapters of the Isaac Walton League. Lots of the DNR regional employees were members at my chapter and we worked side by side. Motto was "woods - water - wildlife". I was a longtime member. Lots of trap and shooting ranges were built and lots of kids were sent to camp.....and lots of good was done on a local level(s) and state levels. Lots of active chapters around MN. Seemed to me that these clubs all thrived up to about the 80's. Now, you seldom hear anything about the Ikes. The group had allot of influence on the DNR. It seems they hold little sway with the DNR or the public these days. Makes me wonder why??

 

[wiscwhip]

Why? I think a lot of it has to do with bunny hugging desk jockey management of our resources that are now being managed by folks who get out of college with an agenda, instead of looking at the greater good of the habitat as a whole. I worked with many FWS/DNR guys up on the Necedah NWR back in my high school forestry/wildlife management/ecology classes, and the guys they had working then were all around hands-on managers and sportsmen themselves, they were in it for the greater good. The new wave of folks taking these jobs have liberal personal agendas that they let get in the way of every decision they make.

 

[j-bird]

I even looked into state based orgs and what I found wasn't any better. Everyone claimed to be "the voice" yet I found out they are all invited to the meetings with our DNR, but they essentially have no power to influence policies. All they can do is complain like the rest of us. I truly think the DNR invites these groups more as a "show" and then do what they want anyway. So I have essentially decided to put my effort into my place and encouraging others to do what is right by them and promote co-op's.

 

[SD51555]

Why would any wildlife agency take seriously an organization that isn't willing to call them out on anything? Not even worthy of being called a paper tiger.

 

[homegrownbucks]

I just joined northern nut growers, not exactly on topic but was curious if any others are involved with them?