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NH Bobcat Season
- Thread starter snd1t
- Start date
I disagree. This is not about weight of "law"......it is about management of wildlife. Are you aware of the bear hunting "fight" that Maine residents dealt with last year? The NH JLCAR......if it listens to the soccer moms and twatwaffles too much would cancel all hunting. Just food for thought.
strangenh
NES Member
jpk - while I agree that administrative agencies must be limited by the legislature, in this instance it really is a soccer-mom argument going on. I personally think they are opening the bobcat season a few years too soon given our serious vermin (and thus tick) problem from reducing our predator population over the decades, but getting into F&G's day-to-day business when they've actually followed the legislature's mandate and the rules set on them, and justified their decision, is not good policy. It's just an invitation to set wildlife management by feelings, and we'll end up like CT on that score. I know there's little love lost on F&G here because of their repeated opposition to removing the ban on hunting with suppressors and having loaded long guns in/on vehicles, but in this instance they really were doing their job as specified by the legislature.
And they'll stick by those comments regardless. Right up until fluffy or fido start disappearing because of overpopulation and lack of natural food.
Another self-focused FUDD :
I've been a hunter for 50 years and I've never shot anything that didn't feed my family. I'm happy with this decision. More people should go into the woods and smell the fresh air, listen to the stillness and bring along a camera instead of a gun. Appreciate that first.
Agree that wildlife management via public opinion is idiotic. If there's an adequate population to enable hunting, why not. I do agree that they should not be trapped since there is no way to prevent trapping the endangered lynx. I'm not against trapping per se- I ran traps as a kid.
I've been a hunter for 50 years and I've never shot anything that didn't feed my family. I'm happy with this decision. More people should go into the woods and smell the fresh air, listen to the stillness and bring along a camera instead of a gun. Appreciate that first.
Agree that wildlife management via public opinion is idiotic. If there's an adequate population to enable hunting, why not. I do agree that they should not be trapped since there is no way to prevent trapping the endangered lynx. I'm not against trapping per se- I ran traps as a kid.
Hmm, can you eat Bob cat?
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
Problem here is not all elected officials have all of the people that they represents interests in mind.......they are elected officials after all.......and pander toward the votes. This case in point is they will listen to the soccer moms and twatwaffles and only consider their negative opinion on bobcat hunting and trapping to stay on the up and up with that voting block. Sound familiar? you know.....2A rights infringement comes to mind here.
There are a great deal of hunters in our ranks that believe in "food only" for the ethical reason for taking game......many reared their heads in the comment section of that article. That is a problem. Utilization goes beyond food only.
strangenh
NES Member
And the game's utility shouldn't even enter into the reasons we have seasons, etc. It's wildlife management - the real-world admission that people are part of "the environment" and not an alien intruder to some NH Eden. Seasons, day/bag limits, and so on for private trapping/hunting is the cheapest way to do it, plus people get something out of both doing the hunting/trapping and the animal meat/fur/etc.
Utility is a draw to people to hunt/trap - not the reason for a season. I would hunt down groundhogs whether or not they're edible. Not enough predators here to keep their population down, so I need to do my part or I'll suffer the consequences. Though, since the bobcats showed up around here, groundhogs've been much more scarce. (As you can probably tell, I support hunting/trapping but believe the bobcat season is premature. We really crushed the varmint predator population in NH over a few hundred years, and bobcats are pretty much the least troublesome of the ones to get back.) If deer were overpopulating despite a broad season, we'd be paying people to hunt them. Again, look at the mess CT made of this stuff.
Speaking of which, has anyone been reading or hearing the sympathetic coyote coverage? UGH.
Utility is a draw to people to hunt/trap - not the reason for a season. I would hunt down groundhogs whether or not they're edible. Not enough predators here to keep their population down, so I need to do my part or I'll suffer the consequences. Though, since the bobcats showed up around here, groundhogs've been much more scarce. (As you can probably tell, I support hunting/trapping but believe the bobcat season is premature. We really crushed the varmint predator population in NH over a few hundred years, and bobcats are pretty much the least troublesome of the ones to get back.) If deer were overpopulating despite a broad season, we'd be paying people to hunt them. Again, look at the mess CT made of this stuff.
Speaking of which, has anyone been reading or hearing the sympathetic coyote coverage? UGH.
I wrote a bunch and deleted it - you both should just let it go.
The legislation dropped the ball based on constituents not science. The science really drives the legislation in this case, not "feelings" and "impressions" of non-qualified constituents (votes). They all need to be fish-slapped, including the voters.
I won't come back into this thread - get on the same team or just let it go.
The legislation dropped the ball based on constituents not science. The science really drives the legislation in this case, not "feelings" and "impressions" of non-qualified constituents (votes). They all need to be fish-slapped, including the voters.
I won't come back into this thread - get on the same team or just let it go.
Holy shit guys, you really blew out this thread.
Strangenh: from what I recall there's concerns about the bobcats cutting into the turkey population. Hence why they wanted to start now. (But granted I haven't followed too closely). I don't think it was too drastic an increase either, but yes it did get caught up by the bleeding hearts. Once that happens any "conservation increase" change is basically a non-starter until their puppies and poodles start getting eaten.
If I am remembering the reasoning correctly, it'll mean turkey quotas might start getting cut back over the upcoming seasons.
Strangenh: from what I recall there's concerns about the bobcats cutting into the turkey population. Hence why they wanted to start now. (But granted I haven't followed too closely). I don't think it was too drastic an increase either, but yes it did get caught up by the bleeding hearts. Once that happens any "conservation increase" change is basically a non-starter until their puppies and poodles start getting eaten.
If I am remembering the reasoning correctly, it'll mean turkey quotas might start getting cut back over the upcoming seasons.
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strangenh
NES Member
Yeah, I recall reading about that. I've personally come across no evidence that actually take turkeys (we have both all around here) - and every wildlife expert I've talked with says the bobcats are way more into rodents and small birds. As I mentioned, there are several bobcats around here, and I know (from tracking the birds) where the larger flocks of turkeys roost. We've not seen any sign that the bobs here go after turkeys (but we did used to have a large rodent population). Now, they may well go after the poults (where we wouldn't see much evidence, and which would affect the population), but we also have a ridiculously large coyote population here - they aren't native or cleaning up field mice for us, and they definitely go after turkey (and dogs, and chickens, and so on). I'd rather see some serious coyote control go into effect (I'll do my part!) and get this state back to low lyme incidence than start culling bobcats because our turkey stock might decline (it's already got the coyotes on them, let's cull those). The bobs, as I said, are the least problematic of predators, have real benefits to us (and to the health of our deer population), and coyotes don't even belong here. That all said, I personally leave it to the experts; I didn't go to Concord to "save bob" even though I mildly disagree with the timing. My personal opinions, experience, and preference shouldn't trump the team that we-the-people have asked to keep track of it all, state-wide.
That's awesome - I've participated in a fish study like that, all volunteers.
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There are a few recipes on the internet... supposedly a mild meat.
