South Dakota Hunters Have A New Voice In Politics

Below is information and a press release about a newly formed organization in South Dakota, South Dakota Hunting Rights Advocacy, aimed at fighting to protect the hunting heritage of South Dakotans. As I looked over the site, I found this.

SDHRA was founded by a group of outdoor enthusiasts who strongly believe that hunting is a sacred, inalienable right; a basic tenet of our existence that teaches the intelligence, beauty and power of nature, while engendering respect for all life, responsibility to society, social authority, and spiritual power. In concert with that belief, SDHRA is actively engaged in legislative, administrative, and limited legal advocacy to protect and enhance the rights of South Dakota residents to lawfully hunt on publicly and privately owned land within the state…..

From the information I have been able to gather from their website and the press release below, it appears that we have a winner. This group actually seems interested in protecting hunting for everyone and not geared to some select special interest other than hunting.

They’ll certainly have my support if they hold true to their pledge.

Here’s the press release:

South Dakota Hunters Have a New Voice in Politics

The South Dakota Hunting Rights Advocacy (SDHRA) is a newly formed nonprofit group committed to enhancing the stature of the state’s resident hunters. The organization, based in the State’s capitol, was created to proactively monitor proposed legislation and administrative rule changes that impact hunting and explore ways to make the sport more available to casual resident hunters.

According to Board Chairman, Lennard Hopper, “The organization is really the culmination of years of discussion about the need stand up for the rights of the ‘average’ South Dakota hunter. A lot of casual hunters are being squeezed by commercial ‘pay to hunt’ operations; public land is often miss-posted by adjacent property owners attempting to retain game populations for “paying” customers. The irony is that the game they’re trying to contain is managed with public tax dollars by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks for the benefit of all residents of the state.” Hopper states that the organization is “not opposed to game farms and
‘canned’ hunts, they’re great for the State’s economy. Its just that we want to make sure that all public hunting areas are both accessible and clearly posted and that administrative rules do not place the interests of nonresidents ahead of resident hunters.”

Another issue Hopper sees is that South Dakota law has functionally disenfranchised parents from effectively sharing the tradition of hunting with their children. According to Hopper, age restrictions, established in the name of safety, circumvent the knowledge that parents naturally have regarding when a young son or daughter is ready to get started hunting. “We’ve been supporting a bill right now in the legislature to get youth out sooner, as well as some ideas to include youth that may otherwise be overlooked.” The organization is presently assembling a plan to provide hunting opportunities to boys and girls in single parent and non-hunting families, who have an interest in hunting.

The organization is funded entirely by donation. Additional information is available at the organization’s website at http://www.sdhunting.org.

February 26, 2008

Pierre, South Dakota

Issued by: South Dakota Hunting Rights Advocacy

125 Norbeck Dr.

Pierre, SD 57501

Tom Remington