LSBA Meets TPWD
 

Well I'm back home after a long day traveling to Austin and back. Tomme, Bob Wright, Brian and I met with Carter Smith (Executive Director), Clayton Wolf (Big Game Program Director) and several members of the TPW Staff regarding the extended youth season proposal. What was scheduled to be a one hour meeting turned out to be 2 1/2 hours. I felt it was very productive. Mr. Smith wanted us to pass on to the membership that bowhunters have been heard. They have been receiving hundreds of messages and just can't respond to all of them personally due to the sheer volume. That was great news to us!! I believe we have been heard but it's no time to let up. We need to continue to let our concerns be known. The meeting in January will determine if the issue moves forward in the regulatory process. I would like to see a couple hundred bowhunters at that meeting just to emphasize our passion on the issue. We offered several options for TPW to consider in promoting both bowhunting and recruiting new youth hunters. Most of them were received with some interest.

Mr. Smith acknowledged LSBAs committment and contributions to youth shoots and recruiting young bowhunters.

Since 2/3s of the Commission and most of the TPW Staff are new or have come on board since the last time we faced this issue it is believed we need to do some education on the history of bowhunting in Texas and the Archery Stamp etc.. We all agreed.

We agreed that LSBA would designate a person to act as liason with TPW on this and any future issues. I will fill that position until we can get a more formal arrangement made for a committee to work it. Brian will be a major player in this effort as well.

All in all it was a good start. Although you have made a significant impact we still have more work to do but at least I think we better understand each others positions and are willing to work for a win/win solution.

Hopefully some of the other attendees will add their comments.

Jack, Bob, etc, thanks for going. I'm glad they're willing to listen to us.

Thanks for making the trip and speaking on behalf of all of us.

Thanks for the update, and it's good to see results whether they are good or bad.

I hope you guys were able to make a major impact, and once again show how strong the LSBA is.

Thats great guy's. Thank you.

Thanks for taking the time and thanks for the dedication.

Good job men

Great job. Thank you guys.

Thank You to all that went as the voice of the Lone Star Bow Hunter"s it is a great thing you do.

Outstanding job! Thanks guys for meeting with TPWD and representing the bowhunters of Texas! I also appreciate TPWD's willingness to meet with the LSBA!

Some of you have asked for details of our recommendations. They were contained in a 4 page document that would be to long for this forum. I can boil it down to the following:

The goal here is to recruit new hunters to counteract the aging/decline in the number of hunters. The fact is bowhunters are INCREASING in this state and nationally. The LSBAs position is that the obstacle to youth hunters is not the number of youth days available to hunt but like for all Texas hunters it's the COST of hunting. Our recommendations included a youth only archery weekend the weekend before the Special Archery Season begins, expanded youth archery hunts on the weekends in state parks, and expanded youth gun hunts on the weekends in state parks (at the present time most hunts in state parks are during the week when there are no campers but the kids are in school and can't go hunting). We also recommended that they establish youth only seasons during holiday periods for the kids to optimize their chances of being in the field.

We discussed the possibilities of LSBA working with the Texas - National Archery in the Schools Program to provide a natural pathway for kids to get into bowhunting.

Dena posted up the dates of the January meeting and we will provide more information as it becomes available.

Thanks to all for you expressions of support and do like Dena says in her message above. Keep up the good work and maintain the professional, respectful approach when you deal with those who disagree with our position.

Thanks for taking the trip and the update.

I think it was a really good meeting and I think that we may well get some items passed that we have been in favor of for a long time. For example, there were no weekend archery hunts at any of the state parks. Even if they only do youth hunts, it would be a great opportunity at a low cost. If these come up we need to support them.

As Jack mentioned we need a strong show of support going into the January meeting. Hopefully the original proposal will die there. If not, we have January to March to change their minds and that will be the time unleash an avalanche of phone calls, letters, emails, etc. to everyone at Parks and Wildlife up to the Governor.

One thing that was brought up at the meeting that I think we should pass on. Carter Smith, head of Parks and Wildlife wanted to assure us that one of the commissioner's remarks (Commissioner Parker?) was misconstrued and that he was NOT against bowhunters.

I believe that statement. I also believe that when he made it, he was misguided. By misguided, he was solely focusing on the need to get more youth into the out of doors and was unaware of the harm that the proposal would do to an established season. I think LSBA and the bowhunters of this state have shown him it's a bad idea, and have also proposed some better ways to get youth involved. The ball is now back in the commissioners court, I for one will be interested in seeing what they do with it in January.

Can you please confirm the dates for the Jan meeting? I will more than likely be on the road again by then & need to be able to get back for those days.

Thanks
Kevin

Thank you for all that you do. We greatly appreciate it.