If I would not have been lucky to be born into a “privileged” family I likely wound never hunt. When I came to North America I was very impressed with the hunting tradition that made it possible for everybody, regardless of income and social status, to pick up a gun or bow and go hunting.

In my opinion inventing more ludicrous and mandatory money grab programs and obligations will make hunting unaffordable for the average income person.

In a time where we struggle to maintain hunter numbers and to gain young hunters into our ranks the access to hunting should be made easier and more affordable not more expensive and complicated.

A note to David. More education and does not put hunters in a better light. Animal rights do not care one way or another they want us all gone. Regardless of what we do the antis never will approve of hunting, they always will portray us as trigger-happy-beer-swigging-morons in public. Changing how the antis and non-hunters preserve us is one of the great delusions of hunter education. Ethics, another delusion, cannot be taught to a kid at age 12 in a 48-hour hunting course. Ethics are taught at home from the day of birth.

What you describe in your comment is exactly how it works in Europe where a hunter apprentice is assigned a master hunter. As I said at the beginning of my comment, it’s the first step of creating an elite. I agree with Tom in that I support basic hunter education but not all the other nonsense that comes down the pipe and will do nothing but damage our great hunting heritage by driving hunters away.
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Without sounding like a total jerk, which I’m sure I will come across as, what you have described above is an elitist program that not all people can or would necessarily want to be a part of.

Once again, I support all programs that educate hunters and especially those that help in improving the image of the hunter but I can’t support the fact that you HAVE to be a “Master Hunter” in order to get one of these permits.

I appreciate your input and I think that overall we are on the same page just the part about being able to get the permits.

The problem I see in the above article is not necessarily the opportunity to hunt, and not necessarily the program in and of itself. I see the motive behind the organization as something that needs to be double checked. Whether or not somebody mis-spoke is always a possibility but looking at what is quoted by Mr Wisner as good intentions but, if true, is not something I would support.

Read the quote a couple times again. I missed it the first time but reread it a few more since this blog article come some attention. If you read that quote for a minute it really begins to stand out.

The Masters program is cool and something I would support. I think having people “above the cut” is an interesting concept and probably worth rewarding them for hard work and dedication. But Mr Wisner clarifies and tries to make sure we understand that they are “to conduct themselves in a very ethical manner.”

I guess I am not sure who he is trying to convince.

I frequently hunt on a military base here in Virginia. The base is loaded with deer and the opportunity to hunt there is open to the entire public. All you have to do is take a class and pay 20.00 for your yearly license. The military gets first opportunity for any hunting slots as they should, then there is a group of people who if they volunteer for 40 hours of conservation work on the base get the next opportunity and then civilians like myself who do not volunteer on base get the last opportunity to hunt. (I would love to volunteer on the base but with my other conservation work, I never seem to find time.)

The state of Washington is basically running a plan that says if these people go out and volunteer and improve the environment for all hunters in our state by volunteering for conservation programs then lets reward them by running a couple of great hunts for them. We all know that the states do not have enough money or manpower to do the little things that improve habitat for our wildlife. We don’t always have to agree but I am all for hearing about more people out there doing great conservation work and creating great stories about what hunters are doing to for habitat conservation and wildlife.