Maybe you are ready to throw in the towel...but I am not...and neither are the majority of older muzzleloading hunters. If you want to quit...please do. Me, I will fight ridiculous muzzleloader regulations until every muzzleloading hunter in the U.S. can hunt with what it takes to be able to enjoy the muzzleloader seasons. And if it takes filing lawsuits against the b.s. muzzleloader hunting regulations still enforced by a few backward state wildlife agencies (like the CO Division of Wildlife)...so be it. I enjoy the battle...and the victories are so sweet.
Toby Bridges
NORTH AMERICAN
MUZZLELOADER HUNTING
I see the problem here. You are focused on the "rights" of older hunters such as yourself, and you're spending your time and energy filing lawsuits against our state game management agencies, the ones with limited budgets to manage our resources. Great job.
And you do this under the guise of "protecting" our sport when in reality, "older hunters" (although I love 'em) when you use them to fight your battles like this are just another special interest group.
I've got news for you, like it or not, regardless of the percentage of hunters in the "older" bracket, older hunters are hunting's past. If you really want to do something to advance or protect our sport, you should concentrate on its future, not its past, and do something to protect its future.
You want to tell me I'm throwing in the towel and you know not one thing about what I do to protect or advance our sport. Yet you want to beat your chest about filing lawsuits so that older guys can use scopes in the special early seasons, when they can already use 'em in the general firearms season. Yup, a regular Teddy Roosevelt you are.
The way I see it, the problems confronting our sport are not what kinds of equipment that older guys can use, so that's not where I focus my energy. The way I see it, the main problems we all need to work on are:
1) Low recruitment of young hunters, and
2) Loss of habitat and places to hunt.
So that's where I focus my efforts. I'm a volunteer for RMEF, and a lifetime member ($1,500 one-time contribution). I've volunteered my time and helped with fundraising banquets and habitat conservation projects. I'm also a member of Trout Unlimited. And I've volunteered with organizations that build and maintain trails in the backcountry. That's what I do for problem number 2.
For problem number 1, I have three sons and I take them and their friends hunting, fishing, and shooting every chance I get. My youngest has a ranching for wildlife cow tag this year so we're gonna get him his first elk, (hopefully). I also volunteer my time and teach the Hunter Education course that's required of all young hunters here in Colorado. Four nights each month throughout the summer. We have a surprising number of women in the classes too. I've just gotten started but I figure I've helped around 150 new hunters in Colorado get their cards.
That's where I put my time and efforts. File your lawsuits if that's what floats your boat; personally, I think it's like re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Or for all the good it does our sport, teats on a boar.
