Hunting, fishing: Right or privilege?
The days of youngsters learning to hunt and fish at the sides of their fathers and grandfathers appeared to be coming to a halt a generation ago.
For many reasons – the growth of youth sports, activism by anti-hunting and fishing groups, changing views of wildlife, the increase in posted land – the number of hunters and anglers began declining in the 1980s.
But that has changed.
The latest five-year study by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service revealed that 13.7 million people hunted and 33.1 million fished in 2011. About 90 million participated in some form of wildlife recreation, up 3 percent from the last survey in 2006.
Still, hunting and fishing advocates feel their recreational pursuits are threatened. Seventeen states have constitutional amendments guaranteeing the right to hunt and fish, and eight others, including New York, have similar legislation pending.
Whether the New York amendment is needed is an open question, and whether anyone ever gets a chance to vote on it is another.
“Something that would strengthen the right to hunt would be great,” said Tim Collver of New Hartford, who has been hunting for the better part of four decades. “There has been a lack of funding for hunting projects. Even with firearms, they say they are not going after the hunters, but they make it more and more expensive. I’m for anything that strengthens hunters’ rights.”
Others aren’t sure if a push for such an amendment is a wise thing at the moment.
“The bill (the latest versions S03049 in the Senate, A01704 in the Assembly) has been sitting there for years,” said Scott Faulkner of Vernon Center, president of the Federated Sportsmen’s Clubs of Oneida County. “It never goes anywhere because of opposition from downstate.”
Faulkner would like to see an amendment – “Right now it is a privilege,” he said. “They can take it away. An amendment would make it a right.” – but he feels there are other battles to fight that have higher priorities.
“It’s about where you want to spend your time and money,” he said.
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming have hunters rights amendments in their constitutions, all adopted since 1996, and so does Vermont, which has had such a guarantee for 200 or more years.
Linda DeStefano, president of People for Animals Rights, based in Syracuse, said her organization is opposed to sport hunting and any amendment or bill that would promote it.
“Sport hunters already wield influence far beyond their numbers in New York state,” she said. “Their agenda is followed by the Department of Environment Conservation as well as most politicians. It is the non-hunting majority which needs some rights. During hunting season, we take our lives in our hands when we want to enjoy meadows and woods. It is also the victim animals who need rights as they are wounded and killed for pleasure.”
The New York bill originally was introduced in 2002 by former Assemblyman Dick Smith of Hamburg. The present version was introduced by Sen. James Seward, R-Oneonta. It passed the Senate in 2011 but never came to a vote in the Assembly.
Bill Gibson, legislative vice president of the New York State Conservation Council, which represents thousands of members of sportsmen’s clubs around the state, doesn’t see the bill coming to a vote again anytime soon.
“It’s happening in other states, mostly as a reaction to the anti-hunting movement,” he said.
More than 1.7 million hunting, fishing and trapping licenses were sold in New York in 2010-11, and the DEC says that nearly 700,000 state residents and more than 50,000 nonresidents have hunted in the state in recent years.
Seward said he introduced the legislation because the sporting tradition has deep roots in Upstate New York, and because hunting, fishing and trapping are economically important. He feels groups that are opposed to those activities, and some legislators who share their views, could at some point take them away.
“It is important to have those rights protected by the state Constitution,” he said. “I want to protect those rights for generations to come. It also is important to maintain it because it is big business in New York state. The impact in terms of jobs and sales tax revenues is tremendous. It’s part of our tradition and it also is big business in New York state. We’ll keep pushing for it.”
Hunters in New York State: Nearly 700,000.
Non resident hunters: More than 50,000.
Hunters in the United States: 13.7 million (89 percent male, 11 percent female).
Hunting-related retail sales in N.Y.: $2,252,489,306.
Hunting-related state and local taxes in New York: $289,887,302.