David Farbman is a Detroit-area real-estate developer who has developed a new way to show hunting on television. The World Hunting Association is modeled after professional fishing tours that command big TV audiences, huge cash prizes and devoted fans. And like professional bass tournaments:
Article: Ways to attract young hunters are off target
Whose side are they on, really?
Two groups have come up with schemes to attract new generations of hunters to our fields and forests.
One, the Michigan Legislature, believes taking kids hunting before they're old enough to know better is the answer to recruiting and retaining new hunters.
The second, the World Hunting Association, hopes to do the same thing by showing them what they're missing.
They both miss the mark.
State lawmakers appear to be on the verge of passing the so-called "Families Afield" act, which would create an "apprentice" hunting license. An apprentice hunter would be allowed to hunt under the direct supervision of a licensed adult hunter before the apprentice has completed hunter-safety training.
The bill has serious backing from a variety of respected state and national conservation groups.
The apprentice hunter bill has become tied to the legislation that would lower the minimum age young hunters could pursue big game in Michigan. The minimum age change at least still would require the 12-year-olds to get hunter-safety training.
Michigan is among the safest states to hunt in. It also has some of the most stringent hunter-education standards in the nation. And yes, those two statements are related.
Look at the incident reports. The dangerous hunters are those who haven't had hunter-safety training. In Michigan, that's only the old-timers who were grandfathered in before safety training became mandatory.
I'm not saying veteran hunters are unsafe. I am saying trained hunters are safer.
That's not who the bill calls a good mentor - to share your bad habits with a 10-year-old, you need only be a licensed adult.
Maybe it will help recruit new hunters. It seems like an unnecessarily dangerous way to do it.
And then there's the commercial way.
David Farbman is a Detroit-area real-estate developer who has developed a new way to show hunting on television. The World Hunting Association is modeled after professional fishing tours that command big TV audiences, huge cash prizes and devoted fans. And like professional bass tournaments, WHA events would be catch-and-release.
Competitors would use tranquilizer guns to subdue big game animals that later would be released.
It wouldn't exactly be the true essence of hunting. Unlike professional bass fishermen, who have to find the fish where they live, WHA competitors would be "hunting" inside fences. So it wouldn't exactly be catch-and-release.
The U.S. Sportsman's Alliance, a national group that successfully has lobbied in several states for the passage of apprentice hunting bills, says it "will have no part" of Farbman's venture. It's worried about all the drugs involved, it says, and has concerns about a "competition that treats wildlife solely as a commercial commodity."
Too bad it doesn't have such concerns about hunter safety.
Contact Michael Eckert at 989-6264 or at meckert@gannett.com.
Article: Ways to attract young hunters are off target
Whose side are they on, really?
Two groups have come up with schemes to attract new generations of hunters to our fields and forests.
One, the Michigan Legislature, believes taking kids hunting before they're old enough to know better is the answer to recruiting and retaining new hunters.
The second, the World Hunting Association, hopes to do the same thing by showing them what they're missing.
They both miss the mark.
State lawmakers appear to be on the verge of passing the so-called "Families Afield" act, which would create an "apprentice" hunting license. An apprentice hunter would be allowed to hunt under the direct supervision of a licensed adult hunter before the apprentice has completed hunter-safety training.
The bill has serious backing from a variety of respected state and national conservation groups.
The apprentice hunter bill has become tied to the legislation that would lower the minimum age young hunters could pursue big game in Michigan. The minimum age change at least still would require the 12-year-olds to get hunter-safety training.
Michigan is among the safest states to hunt in. It also has some of the most stringent hunter-education standards in the nation. And yes, those two statements are related.
Look at the incident reports. The dangerous hunters are those who haven't had hunter-safety training. In Michigan, that's only the old-timers who were grandfathered in before safety training became mandatory.
I'm not saying veteran hunters are unsafe. I am saying trained hunters are safer.
That's not who the bill calls a good mentor - to share your bad habits with a 10-year-old, you need only be a licensed adult.
Maybe it will help recruit new hunters. It seems like an unnecessarily dangerous way to do it.
And then there's the commercial way.
David Farbman is a Detroit-area real-estate developer who has developed a new way to show hunting on television. The World Hunting Association is modeled after professional fishing tours that command big TV audiences, huge cash prizes and devoted fans. And like professional bass tournaments, WHA events would be catch-and-release.
Competitors would use tranquilizer guns to subdue big game animals that later would be released.
It wouldn't exactly be the true essence of hunting. Unlike professional bass fishermen, who have to find the fish where they live, WHA competitors would be "hunting" inside fences. So it wouldn't exactly be catch-and-release.
The U.S. Sportsman's Alliance, a national group that successfully has lobbied in several states for the passage of apprentice hunting bills, says it "will have no part" of Farbman's venture. It's worried about all the drugs involved, it says, and has concerns about a "competition that treats wildlife solely as a commercial commodity."
Too bad it doesn't have such concerns about hunter safety.
Contact Michael Eckert at 989-6264 or at meckert@gannett.com.
posted by Ralph Marcus (Mark) Maupin | 5:19 AM
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