Post by cambygsp on Sept 25, 2005 6:50:21 GMT -5
www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050925/SPORTS/509250480/1004/SPORTS
September 25, 2005
Ourdoors: Skip Hess
Freedom will be heard during shooting event
Members of the Sycamore Valley Gun Club, strong supporters of the Second Amendment which gives people the right to bear arms, say that they will let freedom ring today.
And if you're close enough to Freedom in Owen County this afternoon, be prepared to get some of that ringing in your ears between 1 and 5 p.m.
That's when visitors will get a chance to shoot shotguns, muzzleloading rifles, .22 caliber rifles and pistols, along with the less noisy air guns and bows and arrows, at the Freedom Range complex.
The range is located off U.S. 231 on County Road 550W just south of Freedom.
But don't bring your guns to town to shoot. The club is providing all guns and ammunition, club member Mac Moulden said.
Moulden and his fellow members are still smarting from when their old gun club range located on Indiana University property "got the boot," as Moulden puts it.
At the toe of the boot were Bloomington police and university sport shooting enthusiasts.
"But the club held together and we have a new range," said Moulden, who noted that today's event is part of a weekend celebration for Saturday's 34th annual National Hunting and Fishing Day.
But the Freedom event is more than just a reason to fire weapons. There will be information on what members of clubs such as Sycamore Valley are doing to conserve land and wildlife.
National Hunting & Fishing Day is a program of The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) in Newtown, Conn.
The foundation only has to look at its survey results to know that it's still got public relations work to do to overcome some of the anti-hunting and anti-fishing sentiment.
Its latest survey shows that 55 percent of Americans find hunting and fishing "acceptable" and another 25 percent say that the sport is "probably OK."
Those aren't exactly exciting responses, so groups like the small Sycamore Valley Gun Club and the Ducks Unlimited, National Wildlife Federation and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are trying to get their message across to the public.
Make no mistake about it. Some animals have been hunted to extinction or near extinction, giving hunters a bad name.
But it is the outdoor groups that are investing millions of dollars and doing endless hours of volunteer work to conserve habitat for the animals that they hunt.
According to the NSSF, for every dollar that taxpayers invest in wildlife conservation, sportsmen contribute $9 through license fees and equipment taxes.
Although there has been a 3.6 percent drop in hunting licenses sold in the nation in the past decade, the NSSF says that license sales increased in the top 10 hunting states where about half the licenses are sold.
The NSSF says that the public needs to know that sportsmen have contributed to what it calls "un-endangered" species.
According to the foundation, hunters and anglers contribute about $30 billion to the U.S. economy each year. Money that sportsmen spend on licenses, stamps, tags, permits and taxes results in billions of dollars going to state fish and wildlife agencies, which is used to increase wildlife populations and habitat.
What's interesting is that while this money is being used to save endangered species, it's also contributing to a population explosion of some wildlife.
Again, using NSSF statistics, in 1900 there were fewer than 500,000 white-tailed deer in the U.S. Today, there are about 19 million.
We need only to look at our urban retention ponds to know what has happened to the Canada goose population. In the 1940s, the nation's goose population was 1.1 million. That has increased to 3.7 million.
Trumpeter swans could be counted easily in 1935, when there were 73. Now, the NSSF says the U.S. population is more than 16,000.
The elk population has gone from 41,000 in 1907 to 800,000 today, and the pronghorn antelope population has soared from 12,000 to 1 million in the past century.
Indiana residents notice what's going on around them in October to see what has happened to the wild turkey population.
The state is having its first fall turkey season. Archery season begins Saturday and ends Oct. 23. Firearms season is Oct. 19-23.
A Hoosier fall season was unheard of 100 years ago, when the nation's wild turkey population was about 100,000.
With the support of clubs like the Sycamore Valley Gun Club working to restore turkey habitat, the nation's bird's population is estimated at 4.5 million.
September 25, 2005
Ourdoors: Skip Hess
Freedom will be heard during shooting event
Members of the Sycamore Valley Gun Club, strong supporters of the Second Amendment which gives people the right to bear arms, say that they will let freedom ring today.
And if you're close enough to Freedom in Owen County this afternoon, be prepared to get some of that ringing in your ears between 1 and 5 p.m.
That's when visitors will get a chance to shoot shotguns, muzzleloading rifles, .22 caliber rifles and pistols, along with the less noisy air guns and bows and arrows, at the Freedom Range complex.
The range is located off U.S. 231 on County Road 550W just south of Freedom.
But don't bring your guns to town to shoot. The club is providing all guns and ammunition, club member Mac Moulden said.
Moulden and his fellow members are still smarting from when their old gun club range located on Indiana University property "got the boot," as Moulden puts it.
At the toe of the boot were Bloomington police and university sport shooting enthusiasts.
"But the club held together and we have a new range," said Moulden, who noted that today's event is part of a weekend celebration for Saturday's 34th annual National Hunting and Fishing Day.
But the Freedom event is more than just a reason to fire weapons. There will be information on what members of clubs such as Sycamore Valley are doing to conserve land and wildlife.
National Hunting & Fishing Day is a program of The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) in Newtown, Conn.
The foundation only has to look at its survey results to know that it's still got public relations work to do to overcome some of the anti-hunting and anti-fishing sentiment.
Its latest survey shows that 55 percent of Americans find hunting and fishing "acceptable" and another 25 percent say that the sport is "probably OK."
Those aren't exactly exciting responses, so groups like the small Sycamore Valley Gun Club and the Ducks Unlimited, National Wildlife Federation and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are trying to get their message across to the public.
Make no mistake about it. Some animals have been hunted to extinction or near extinction, giving hunters a bad name.
But it is the outdoor groups that are investing millions of dollars and doing endless hours of volunteer work to conserve habitat for the animals that they hunt.
According to the NSSF, for every dollar that taxpayers invest in wildlife conservation, sportsmen contribute $9 through license fees and equipment taxes.
Although there has been a 3.6 percent drop in hunting licenses sold in the nation in the past decade, the NSSF says that license sales increased in the top 10 hunting states where about half the licenses are sold.
The NSSF says that the public needs to know that sportsmen have contributed to what it calls "un-endangered" species.
According to the foundation, hunters and anglers contribute about $30 billion to the U.S. economy each year. Money that sportsmen spend on licenses, stamps, tags, permits and taxes results in billions of dollars going to state fish and wildlife agencies, which is used to increase wildlife populations and habitat.
What's interesting is that while this money is being used to save endangered species, it's also contributing to a population explosion of some wildlife.
Again, using NSSF statistics, in 1900 there were fewer than 500,000 white-tailed deer in the U.S. Today, there are about 19 million.
We need only to look at our urban retention ponds to know what has happened to the Canada goose population. In the 1940s, the nation's goose population was 1.1 million. That has increased to 3.7 million.
Trumpeter swans could be counted easily in 1935, when there were 73. Now, the NSSF says the U.S. population is more than 16,000.
The elk population has gone from 41,000 in 1907 to 800,000 today, and the pronghorn antelope population has soared from 12,000 to 1 million in the past century.
Indiana residents notice what's going on around them in October to see what has happened to the wild turkey population.
The state is having its first fall turkey season. Archery season begins Saturday and ends Oct. 23. Firearms season is Oct. 19-23.
A Hoosier fall season was unheard of 100 years ago, when the nation's wild turkey population was about 100,000.
With the support of clubs like the Sycamore Valley Gun Club working to restore turkey habitat, the nation's bird's population is estimated at 4.5 million.
