Hello Daryl and Last Dollar:
I'm actually not behind this proposed change to the upland bird regs., though I do sympathize with it.
I've spent the last six months or so putting my father in his grave and otherwise trying to keep home and family together.
I did get the rare chance with surprisingly mild weather in Montana yesterday to swing a nice sidelock and Parker at clays yesterday, broke most of them, and left four pounds of lead on the skeet field where it belongs.
I'll try and find out more this week about where the proposal did come from.
Riding towards the sound of cannon,
Ben
Know that Ben Deeble is not "riding to the sound of cannon", for he actually
is the "cannon" when using his position as an upland bird biologist with the National Wildlife Federation (Missoula office) to influence other state agencies and organizations. And I even suspect that NWF applauds his efforts for doing so, in that it meshes with their broader agenda.
If you doubt this, review his archived posts from July and August of 2008 wherein he used the Big Sky Upland Bird Assoc. (BSUBA) and the Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) to front his proposal to study the removal of lead from the upland equation.
Fortunately, that one failed when literally hundreds of sportsmen and women from both Montana and nationwide responded with comment. The only downside to their collective effort then was that some of these folks actually got lectured by the phone receptionist at MWF as to how their lead shot was costing us bald eagles and other raptors through their thoughtlessness.
Should it ever be needed, I believe there could be a future for Ben at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) out of East Anglia....where more junk science is always welcomed. Meanwhile, 'Ride on', Ben .....as the rest of us express our concerns for ever receiving objective work/data from our various government agencies.
Rob Harris
Conner, MT
