NRA is probably the only membership organization out there that can be called self-supporting, or funded mostly by the grassroots Average Joe.. Most environmental groups, and BHA is no exception, depend on a small set of major donors that in turn set the real agenda because they are signing the staff checks. Trout Unlimited and National Wildlife Federation are also dependent on mostly-anonymous megadonors rather than their grassroots members, or membership dues. TRCP was created by large environmental foundations to p1mp an alternative narrative, try to fill a messaging gap the NRA pretty much left open. NRA is a sportsmen's leader mainly by default, gun people often hunt, and want to protect both hunting and gun rights, with the guns first, the hunting second. Whether or not a "sportsmens" group will ever form? No, I don't think so. Conservatives are cheap, not interested that much in political activism, so even conservative billionaires aren't spending the money, at least not yet, like the left has been doing. I mean, I joined NRA because I like it, but I donate because I feel I have to, not because I like giving away money for something I shouldn't have to, eh? So, when it comes to a public lands group, that would speak for real sportsmen, well, there's another thing. Most hunters are species specific, Elk Foundation. Mule Deer Foundation. Whitetails Forever. Pheasants Forever. Ducks Unlimited. Or they are regional and local, not national, in outlook. There's no National Association of Mutually Supporting and Amazingly Loyal Hook and Bulleteers. And, have you ever been at Fish and Game meetings where the various factions fight each other over their chunk of the harvest pie? Primitive versus modern archers versus blackpowder versus inline versus scopes versus centerfires? And that's just one issue? It's ridiculous, yet the nature of the beast. The funders, creators, and agenda-setters of BHA, TRCP and whatever other "hunter and angler" groups have popped up since 2001 recognize this insularism, the fractionalization of "sport," and have invested millions in order to take advantage of the sick reality that sportspeople are already divided and therefore relatively easy to conquer. That sound familiar? Sure, it's the same lying narrative you hear from "gun owners who support gun safety" -- I own a gun but I want other gun owners locked up -- I hunt, but I support only hunting MY way. There is more than one kind of Fudd.
Up hills slow, Down hills fast Tonnage first and Safety last.
