League Of Kentucky Sportsmen

A Message from your President…

Often times, the KY Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources is exemplified as a model for other such agencies around the United States.

The KDFWR was purposefully created, by the KY Legislature and the League of KY Sportsmen, in a manner designed to keep politics out of wildlife.

Charged with the oversight and custodial responsibility of our wildlife, nine District Commissioners, each representing the sportsmen of their District, review wildlife data, discuss and vote as a body.

Until now, this well-crafted system has worked quite well overall.

The sportsmen and women of the Commonwealth are now faced with a dilemma never encountered, at least in recent memory, in the history of the KDFWR.

At present, three out of nine District Commissioner seats are vacant waiting appointments from the Governor.

Without a doubt the six seated Commissioners will be mindful that they are now representing sportsmen from outside their home Districts. Nevertheless, if you are a sportsman or woman of the 2nd, 7th or 9th Districts, you have no voice at the table.

The statute addressing the issue of Commissioner Appointments is very clear, concise and specific to the KDFWR; after all it has worked for over fifty years. Read for yourself…. http://www.lrc.ky.gov/krs/150-00/022.PDF

The KDFWR has captained the required elections and provided the necessary lists, from each District, as required by law, to the Governor, yet the seats remain vacate without any timely filling on the horizon.

Specifically with regard to the 2nd District, a second election is in the works to create a new list of nominees. This second election is being held regardless of the fact that the statute is clear with regard to vacancies of unexpired terms. “In the event of vacancies other than by expiration, the Governor shall fill the vacancy for the unexpired part of the term from the names remaining on the list previously submitted for the district from which the vacancy arose.”

The situation that exists in the 7th and 9th Districts is just as cut and dried. With the pending terms of these Commissioners set to expire, the KDFWR held elections and submitted the required lists to the Governor as deemed by statute, yet the seats remain empty. “The Governor shall appoint a successor to the member whose term is about to expire within sixty (60) days following the submission to him of the list referred to in this subsection, and in no event later than August 13.”

While the KDFWR will continue to operate, and those sitting Commissioners will certainly prove to be stalwart in their decisions, the fact remains that the sportsmen and women of the 2nd, 7th & 9th Districts deserve equitable representation. One might argue that this is a form of taxation without representation…after all, one has to pay for a hunting or fishing license, is that not a form of taxation?

It’s time to respect the sportsmen and women of the Commonwealth and give them their Commissioners…after all it’s the law.

Mark Nethery

President

League of KY Sportsmen

“United We Stand, Divided We Fall”, you don’t have to be a native Kentuckian to understand these words. In fact, these same words are used around the globe as a call to action.

Now is the time for the sportsmen/women of Kentucky to take these words to heart…you’re under attack and you don’t even see it coming.

After years of research, by numerous state and federal agencies, the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources has proposed a season for sandhill cranes. Although in development for some time, I was first made aware of a proposed sandhill crane season from a Courier Journal article that ran in January of 2011. Next, it was made the focal point by members of the KY Coalition For Sandhill Cranes at a KDFWR Town Hall Meeting held in the 3rd Wildlife District and again in the 6th Wildlife District.

The KDFWR Sandhill Crane Proposal is not a race to see which state can have the first season, as some would have you believe. It’s not about misdirecting the public with faulty information, as some would have you believe. It’s not about generating revenue for the KDFWR, as some would have you believe.

Most certainly, the KDFWR Sandhill Crane Season Proposal is not about destroying a natural resource. In fact, every species of animal that has come under the careful control of managed hunting has not just survived, they have thrived.

A Sandhill Crane Season is not the pipe dream of the KDFWR. The premise for such a season was fostered by the United States Fish & Wildlife Services, the same agency that has protected this avian resource for decades, protecting and bringing it back from near extinction. This is the same agency that governs all migratory birds within the borders of the United States, while coordinating with agencies of our bordering countries.

Only after careful consideration, of habitat, population growth, natural mortality and migration patterns, the USFWS concluded that those states in the Eastern Flyways could submit a Sandhill Crane Season Proposal for consideration. The KDFWR proposal, conservative by design, was approved by the USFWS.

Our KDFWR Wildlife Commissioners have unanimously passed the Sandhill Crane Season Proposal. Soon it will be resting in the laps of our Commonwealth’s Legislative Review Committee.

By now, the voice of those opposed to a Sandhill Crane Season has been heard loud and clear.

Where is the voice of the sportsmen and women of the Commonwealth? How loud are you letting your opinions and wants be heard?

Unfortunately, this turmoil has now evolved into a bigger issue than sandhill cranes. It’s now an issue of sportsmen’s rights. A defeated Sandhill Crane Season is a win for those that don’t understand or value the contributions to conservation that hunters and anglers have provided, and continue to provide. This win for the “anti-hunting crane groups is the first foothold needed to begin systematically stripping away all your rights of hunting, fishing and trapping.

Sportsmen and women of the Commonwealth…you must let your opinions be heard, contact your Legislators today. Whatever you do, don’t sit idle and watch your hunting heritage be taken away.

“United We Stand, Divided We Fall”, remember those words.

Will you stand shoulder to shoulder with a loud and united voice? Or will you remain quietly sidelined, scattered to the wind, becoming increasingly irrelevant?

Who’s My Legislator

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm

KY Dept of Fish & Wildlife Resources Sandhill Crane Proposal

http://fw.ky.gov/navigation.aspx?cid=886&navpath=C117

Sincerely,

Mark Nethery

President

League of KY Sportsmen

• Sen. Joe Bowen Co Chair

702 Capitol Ave.

Annex Rm. 228

Frankfort, Ky. 40601