Lone Star Outdoor Show Lone Star Outdoor Show

Our old friend and Safari Club International VP of Government Affairs Ben Cassidy makes his return to the program. We talk about the concerning trend of wildlife agencies abandoning their foundational principle of sustainable use and the North American Model of Conservation. It’s happening all around us from Texas to Colorado to Washington state and everywhere in between. What can w do as a community of sportsmen and women to try correct this gross misstep in wildlife management philosophy?

Ben also describes the scene last week when President Trump unexpectedly stopped by the SCI Hunter’s Embassy on Capitol Hill last week. Love him or hate him, the reality is he had a positive impact for hunting and conservation during his term. We’ve only lost under the current administration and that trend will only continue as they plan to rape BLM land by selling it off to green energy companies who will put solar and wind farms on our public land.

We then talk about an exciting event at the end of this month when SCI celebrates moving their membership and administrative headquarters to San Antonio, Texas. Stop by the party on June 27th! All SCI members are invited.

 

 

My good friend Will Cooper of GSM Outdoors joins this show this week. We catch up on the latest innovation from Stealth Cam and hit on the following topics:



* Hill Country velvet racked axis deer

* Turkish teenagers hack a 100,000 follower Instagram page and META declines to help

* Stealth Cam’s new Revolver 360 trail cam

* Brining back the flash with the Flashback

* Improved Deceptor line

* What the hell is Biden doing

* Lets go duck hunting

* Trail cam giveaway!

Anyone that listens to this show knows I’m no fan of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. I tried it and it wasn’t for me based off beliefs of the individuals that were at the helm of BHA national.  However, I’ve never been critical of the state chapter model and believe they can and do accomplish positive things for sportsmen and conservation. And when I saw what the Montana Chapter recently accomplished, I knew it was only fair to have them on the show to discuss a new way to raise conservation dollars by replacing a Governor’s Tag with a public raffle.

Joining me on this episode are Montana BHA’s John Sullivan III and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Jeff Burrows. We dig into the shift in philosophy from pay to play (Governor’s Tag)  to the highest bidder to the raffle where anyone can throw their hat in the ring. Montana BHA and Commissioner Burrows worked hand in hand on this raffle and we discuss whether this could be a recipe for future wildlife fundraising.

Then we shift gears and check in with one of our oldest friends when Mossberg’s Linda Powell makes her return to the show. We talk recent African Safaris & spring bear hunting in Canada before moving onto other conversation points that include:



* What does the recent political witch hunt and fraudulent conviction against former President Trump mean for firearm sales leading up to the November election?

* Cable’s .22 confession

* Over/Under shotguns for waterfowl and turkey hunting

* New stock design on Patriot LR Hunter rifles

* Optic ready shotguns and red dots

* Biden’s latest attempt to circumvent the 2nd Amendment





(new Monte Carlo stock on the Patriot LR Hunter)

Why aren’t more sportsmen up in arms regarding the way TPWD changed mountain lion regulatory policy without any science to support a need for change? Pandering to the anti hunters is a new step (in the wrong direction) for Texas Parks and Wildlife, and one that gives me a great deal of concern. The advancement of anti hunting ideologies infiltrating TPWD finally caused former Texas state trapper Caleb Hill to come forward and share his personal experience dealing with the agency and mountain lions.

I did not seek Caleb out for the record, he reached out to me and said he wanted to share. So I handed him a microphone and said ‘lets do it’. Full disclosure: what you hear during this conversation might piss you off. Maybe it should. Either way, TPWD is headed down the wrong road. The anti hunters and animal rights activist groups like Texans For Mountain Lions celebrated a huge victory with the founder of Texans for Mountain Lions claiming “this was one of the most important days of my life”.  It’s the beginning of the end of our rich Texas hunting tradition unless we stand up as a united group of hunters and say that enough is enough.

 

Can hunting a species actually save it? It’s a thought provoking question to the non hunting community (like 95% of America), a question that on face value would likely lead one to the conclusion that killing an animal would be counter productive if the goal is to save it. However,  hunters know that if an animal has a monetary value, it remains worth protecting and worth saving. Take the value away and the wildlife loses every time. Where you once saw thriving herds of native game, you will find clear cut pastures for cattle or agriculture.

Sporting Classics  Chris Dorsey’s career in the hunting space is as storied as it is varied. From hosting and producing various outdoor television entities, to writing books and articles and public speaking on behalf of our community. After reading his recent Forbes article: Recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ruling Sparks Debate Over Elephant Hunting, I knew I wanted to explore things further with Chris. During this episode we hit on quite a few issues but the underlying theme is the reality that the USFWS has abandoned it’s core foundation that strictly adheres to the model of sustainable use hunting and conservation. Their shift in focus thus delivering a substantial blow to the sustainable take of African elephants by American hunters.

Other important notes for the discussion include:



* Recent Saskatchewan bear hunt

* Should hunting NGO’s like DU, RMEF etc be eligible for Pittman Robertson dollars?

* Africa’s elephant population in comparison to the number of elephants taken annually by hunters

* What did the USFWS ruling affect?

* If the USFWS (and the politicians that oversee it) actually cared about elephants wouldn’t they try to influence the countries most responsible for the black market trade of poached elephant parts?

* What happens to an elephant once a hunter shoots it? Where does the meat go? Who benefits?

* Botswana’s President takes shot at German policy regarding elephants

* human/wildlife conflict

* If it can happen in Colorado, it can happen anywhere.

* Where do we go from here as a hunting community? What should our message be and how do we deliver it to the public?





(Photo Courtesy Sporting Classics)

We kick things off with an outdoor quick hit segment focusing on Grizzly reintroduction in Washington State, Peacock Network’s new “Queer Planet” documentary and Pennsylvania finally will allow Sunday hunting. You won’t believe the “Queer Planet” stuff by they way, it’s pure insanity.



Then we take an in depth look at how wildlife conservation is funded in North America when our old friend Mark Oliva of the NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) drops by. Some of the highlights from our talk include:



* the recreational shooter’s impact on wildlife conservation

* what are the most popular calibers among recreational shooters?

* Biden’s latest attempt to circumvent the Constitution and attack the 2A by creating new laws

* Cable would be a x2 felon (just in the past 3 months) under the new laws

* Weaponization of the ATF and Department of the Interior impact on Sportsmen

* Axis deer are Mark’s “white whale”

* Annual financial contribution of Pittman Robertson funding

* hunter replacement theory