BigGameHoundsmen.com

Here's my two cent.. But before I tell you all the bad.. I should mention that I'm all for the idea....

In my experience, Hound guys would rather go Hunting than take the 5-10 minutes each week to call and email, and Actually do something besidese sit and bitch about the problem and what's happening.

The Anti's don't sit around and Bitch about something.. They put down their Dope Bongs, and get to work trying to fight our way of life. They are in the news throwing Paint on Fur, Passing out Tufo-erky Naked, and holding up signs protesting.

Secondly It's tough to raise money, we're all broke by definetion of being a Houndsmen..

Next it's always a Problem of raising money and how you spend it.


USSA??, Wouldn't Fund Oregon's Fight back when they Outlawed Hounds, Then when they finally did commit they wanted to run the campain from the east coast. With the Oregon Cougar Plan In 2005 they weren't exactly in line with Houndsmen voices Either, I tried for a month or two for them just to send out an Alert about it... they weren't fast, and they're message didn't really help us. So I'm at least not Thrilled about my Personal experience with USSA helping our fight.. They Might have won more than they've lost, but the two fights that were important to Houndsmen in Oregon, They didn't really try and we lost both times.

Everyone wants to Rally around the wagons, and Protect our Hunting rights.. We want to wait for them to Show up at our doorstep, and then we Fight like Hell to keep what we have.. when we fend them off we call it a success and we won.. .. We aren't winning anything!!.... It's not winning when your allowed to do what you did yesterday.. If the Anti's Have 10 things they try and take away,, And we fight them off for 9 of them.. We still lost somthing. and they are happy with taking away anything.. So I guess it's just what you define as "winning" battles..


So, I think what your are trying it is a Good idea.. But I think it's also going to be a Hard road to follow, and there will be some hard decisions especially around action and Money..


That's my Two cent.. Worth what you paid for. and even with my opinion I will definately Help out any and every way I can.

I discovered the same lack of participation here in Colorado when the antis tried to take away lion hunting. As for the funding, I don't think the USSA has enough to go around. The majority of funds will have to be raised from sources other than hunters themselves, such as the hunting industry as a whole. There is just not enough hunter numbers. If there are about 250,000 houndsmen at $20 each, that would only add up to $5,000,000 minus expenses. That is only 4% of the Humane Societys' $122,000,000 annual budget. This is not a case of right or wrong - it is all about who has the most money and the best lawyers.

This is why I posted the questions on local and state club support , there have been very few replies, even after I challenged them to STEP UP and explain your lack of support for the very clubs that have kept you in the woods !

Let's take a page from the NRA's playbook. They git er done. Sign me up. I'll buy a suit, head to D.C. and lobby and bribe my ass off, play their game and beat them at it. We are fighting a war against a professional, well funded group of fanatics. I'll be the first to admit hunters are a strong willed and individualistic group and getting a bunch of them together agreeably is a formidable challenge. I have first hand experience with petty club politics in California. But a national voice is a must. I hope someone catches this post. Let's get things moving. Our founding fathers, when they spoke of the pursuit of happiness, well I'm sure more than few were thinking about fox hunting and their beloved packs of hounds. Let's keep the tradition alive. Pete Meyer foxredlabmeyer@gmail.com

Yes, and I bet that with a little research, I could prove that most of the people that designed the Declaration of Independance, were houndsmen.

Times have changed and so have people I guess.

Why limit yourselves to a national HH representative body???? Hunting with hounds is as old as the hills and is patronised all over the world. The same passion and committment to improving the bloodlines and getting out and running the hounds exists globally. Maybe an international Hound Hunting Org would be a better place to start.

Why strive for less???


Hunting to me with my hounds is as important to me as it is for a catholic to go to church on sunday or for a muslim to pray 5 times a day. It is a way of life. Cultural if you like. Why should I be discriminated against because I am envolved in an activity that has origins that date as far back or further than christianity or islam??

An international approach would also enable better funding/support by sponsors and sharing of info.

What do you think??

As long as HH has a future I am happy. How we achieve this in debate. I would argue that it could be best achieved with an international approach. The same problems face us all. A vocal/passionate minority who disagree with what we do on philosophical grounds have an international approach......why shouldnt we????

That would be the ultimate result. HoundHunting in Africa is under fire also. Some of the biggest whiners are the Professional Hunters.

What animals do they hunt with hounds in africa?

The only way I see hunting and in particular hunting with a dog to be safe from attacks by the anti's is to have the lifestyle protected by legislation that cannot be changed easily.ie have hunting as a lifestyle/cultural recognised in the constitution. Other than that it is going to be a continual fight......a war if you like. And as in war, it is draining on resources and expensive and in the end the will to fight may end also.

If you look at the survival of hunting like being in a war with the anti's it then becomes a simple equation. We must win the war if we want to have a future. Simple eh? Then comes the difficult part. How do you fight the war? How do you fund the war?Who is the enemy? Strengths/weakneses. And then when we win the war what will we do......go hunting again till the anti's are again chipping away?

Very well said sambarhound. You are so right the only way to win our war is with power in numbers. We must "shock and awe" them. Now as for having our lifestyle/cultural recognized in the constitution that would be a reel fight. And being recognized globally I wouldnt even know where or how we could start that fight. I could see going before the US Supreme Court here in the US but as for globally who then. The UN is out just due to the fact they hate guns they have been pushing for a world wide gun ban for years.

Well what ever our next step might be count me in National or Global.

Not sure if shock n awe is the go. The enemy is better organized and funded at this point in time. Maybe better to chip away at the edges to begin. Take every little victory as a step in the right direction. We can do well to learn how the anti's have achieved what they have thus far. Incremental gain. Small steps. Make it harder and more expensive and more administration etc until the not so keen hunters throw the towel in.

Not sure what the solution is. Having a multi pronged attack would be the go.

Try for legislative protection of our lifestyle/cultural beliefs/activities.

Get pro hunters into govt and semi govt organizations that control hunting.

Unite and co ordinate the hunting community and have some clear goals/objectives.

Educate the rank and file on what they can do to preserve their lifestyle/culture (but do it in a language they can understand and make them want to do something).

Find out who the heads of the organizations are that run he anti's. Compile a strengths and weaknesses list. Attack(NO physical violence) them personally and professionally. Conflict of interest, illegal activities, any mud that can be found on them.

Compile a list of businesses who support the anti's. Do not buy any of their products. Write a letter to the company informing them that you will no longer use/buy their products and you will actively discourage everyone you know to do the same. Place ads in hunting/fishing magazines, on line, newspapers, tv, radio, of these companies that are anti hunting.

Explain to the hunting community how they can approach their local elected member to raise concerns when anti hunting legislation is being put forward.

Promote the fact that "conservation hunting" is actively helping the ecosystem. Helping to maintain a balance in animal populations where habitat loss has reduced the numbers that can be sustained in an area.

Obtain better funding. If the hunters can get themselves better organized they have a much better chance of getting sponsorship dollars etc.

Just a few ideas

I would have to say for the most part we are and have been doing most of that. And it has not been working not here in the USA. Now it might have more to do with poor suport from our other Sportsman?

The right to hunt laws will be a shakey way to go. they passed in Utah, but got shot down in Arizona. If we could get it ammended into the US constitution, as part of the second ammendment, it would be the Ultimate way to go. But, as long as the Obamanators are in control - forget it! Maybe after the next election. For now we have to chisel away and defend our position. I have been spending a lot of time lately studying the oposition and will eventually infiltrate their ranks. I feel by knowing as much as possible about how they acheive their goals and raise their money, we will be able to launch the most effective attack. One thing is readily apparent, and that is that we have sat by and done nothing for far too long and the anti's are way ahead of us at this point in time. In order to catch up to them and beat them once and for all, we will need a ton of money, somewhere in the neiborhood of $200 million to $300 million per year for an annual budget, just to start. Right now, in rough numbers, the total budget for anti hunting in the US is somewhere in the $500 million per year range.
As a houndsman, you have got to ask yourself "are we up to this" or will we just lay down and get run over?

liontracker I know what you mean for the first time I am looking at their sites and seeing what they are doing trying to be pro active and not reactive. I have to say to just go to there sites and see the lies makes me sick. And the funding they get with the lies. I did just find out something I didnt know today that Craigslist is tied in with PETA so I will not be using them at all and telling all other hunters to please do the same I guess I should have know that they would be into something like this they are based out of San Francisco......

I agree with having support of other outdoor users is the way to go. The anti's in Australia had a massive win with the introduction of the prevention of cruelty to animals bill. I agree that people should not be cruel to animals. But then I see that the anti's are using "science" to prove fish feel pain and thus it is cruel so it should be banned. When I tell some mates who fish but dont hunt, they laugh at me. I tell them that when the antis have hunting banned, who do you think is next in line???? But this is a weak argument. Most people dont do anything until they have lost something or have been affected by something. eg most fat people could save themselves plenty of time,money and hard work if they acted sooner. It is human nature. The question is how do you motivate hunters to be pro active to do something to help themselves???

Honestly, there needs to be an organization that involves outdoorsman, hunters, fishermen, agriculture and anyone else that deals with natural resources as the antis are against any private use of land and what it contains, be it wild animals, cattle, overgrazing or what have you, they have it in for all of us. There is strength in real numbers but how would you ever organize everyone? We are all fighting the same war just from different battles. When you only worry about one avenue of attack such as hound hunting, it allows them to get their claws in somewhere else, such as blm grazing and that involves taking away public use of land, which is another stepping stone for them. It is a huge obstacle for sure. Just my opinion. Hope I didn't ruffle any feathers, Jimmyd