While hunting White Tail in Kansas in minus 10 below zero, with a wind chill of minus 27, it occurred to me all the above is related.

You see during this Octobers’ D13 California Deer Hunt in the Hopper mountain area a “United States Fish and Wildlife Service” employee apparently “illegally” prevented the recovery of a legally taken deer by a local hunter? The purpose was to supposedly autopsy the deer for lead contamination? The same hunter then found his dead deer in the field two weeks later, rotted? The local Sheriffs were involved several weeks later after being called to assist in removing accused hunter trespassers by the same UFWS biologist. These hunters were on United States Forest Service property, leased from the BLM by oil companies. These oil companies post private property signs and gate USFS land and roads. The local Department of Fish and Game (DFG) officer has requested to keep his comments off the record on this issue! And in California, October the weather is hot, hot, hot!

So lead bullets and Copper bullets how could they be so controversial? Heck the copper bullets I have used have worked great! Hornadys’ (www.hornady.com) GMX in a 270WSM slams Deer dead! Barnes’ (www.barnesbullets.com) 140grain TSX in a 7mm Remington Magnum does the same! (Nossler also, (www.nosler.com) has a good non lead bullet that should be tried). End of story for these two calibers and bullets. Do they work on other game? Probably so, but I have not had a chance to try them on other than Deer, so I will wait to personally confirm. Yep they cost more. Yep some rifles don’t like them in regards to accuracy; but some rifles just don’t like anything. My personal rifles shoot these bullets to ¾ inch or better at 100 yards, one of the rifles being a Ruger M77 270WSM and the other an ‘ol Remington 700 classic in 7mm Remington magnum. There is an excellent article written by Mr. John Barsness in the National Rilfe Associations’ (www.americanrifleman.org) “American Rifleman” October 09 issue on bullet accuracy and rifle barrels. I concur with Mr. Barsnes’ article given my own records and experience with firearms for over forty years. This article would be very valuable reading, as it discusses, in detail how the interior of a barrels’ “landscape” affects bullet accuracy. Ruger M70 270 WSM, w/ Barnes 110gr. TTSX at 270 yards. 2009 KS.

Defining the problem; Lead left in dead animals in the field where a California condor sees it will most likely be eaten by same Condor and it most likely will die. This is a fact confirmed by Mr. Jesse Grantham, Condor Coordinator of the USFW whom I talked to on the phone today. Jesse educated me in that a Condor will immediately begin eating right after a kill if not scarred off. Sound like the Bears on Kodiak Island! Wonder if pepper spray works on CA Condors…..hhmmmm.

The story I think to tell is this. Folks on both sides of environmental philosophies have their opinions built on “likes and dislikes”, experiences, propaganda, education, and employment. Their attitudes are shaped by the above and then exercised due their individual characters. Some folks believe that lead is a very bad element. They use convenient actual cases to support their belief. Others of us (outdoors folks) see just another request for change and or compromise that limits our abilities to have employment or pursue a sport or hobby by laws that ban lead. We accept that not everything in nature nor manmade is good for our longevity. We process risk differently, ours or someone else’s. We weigh one set of facts against another, and take the risk. Example; the next plane fight you take may kill you. You take it knowing this. So this issue is most about philosophy than anything else.

Well it is a law now in several Deer zones in California that lead free bullets are the only legal bullets to hunt with. And as Jesse and I were talking we agreed that we think eventually lead free philosophies and laws will probably slowly find their way across the USA. Mr. Grantham is a very passionate and dedicated Government employee and I feel I get “Cary grant” straight talk from him whenever we discuss the issue. He is looking into the above aforementioned incident and I feel confident he will take the appropriate actions if his investigation finds cause to keep the unfortunate mistake from happening again.

During the phone call Jesse suggested we might hold a hunter education meeting. He said “he could not see why after attending one of the “Hunter awareness” workshops thru the USFWS hosted classes; hunters wouldn’t get behind the restriction? I tried to explain it is for most of us a life time of concessions, this just being another. Closure, restriction, licenses, permits, etc… like the recently created Marine fishing preserve closures up and down the state of California. Closures that were this month expanded again, go figure they (environmentalist) didn’t get enough closures seven years ago? Its road closures on existing USFS roads every year that coincide with hunting seasons. It’s permitting private corporations to gate off the public from USFS land. Land you and I pay for. It’s the USFS making Californians buy an “Adventure Pass” to park your car in the forest that was never a law! Mountain Lion moratoriums, fish quotas, trail restriction, gear restrictions…etc.
Well unfortunately folks I don’t see the use in pursuing issues like this too seriously as we frankly don’t have the “collective horsepower”. We don’t have the money, lawyers, and lobbyist to fight for change from our side of the philosophical point of view. The environmentalists have the God awful wealth of the National Resource Defense council. These folks have the money and lawyers to finance any lawsuit they want. Their strategies, methods, illusions, and politics are used to propagandize environmental philosophies force compromise, laws and restrictions upon us. Or do we?

For every challenge there is a solution! How about this? A “National Public Access Coalition”. N.P.A.C.. Its mission statement would read like this: “We will seek legal remedies through our Nations courts to protect the right of our citizens to access all public lands and waters. We will lobby in every State in the Union our elected public servants to safeguard this right and to make laws to penalize those Government employees or Citizens that knowingly allow or cause public access to be denied”.

Think about it. Every “user group” that uses the outdoors would donate money, yes money, to finance “counter” lawsuits by our lawyers! Hang Gliders, Mountain Bikers, Hunters, Horseman, Hikers, Birdwatchers, Para Sailors, Mountain Climbers, ATV riders, Motorcyclist, Kayakers, Skiers, Spelunkers…etc. Whole lot of money isn’t it!?
And money is what works, period. If we don’t have something like this then I am afraid all the money for individual wildlife conservation groups as DU’s www.ducksunlimited), RMEF (www.rockymountainelkfoundation.com) , MDF (www.muledeerfoundation.com) UA’s (www.unitedanglers), QU’s (www.qu.org) ,and SCI’s (www.safriclubinternatioal.org) will be for naught. These honorable and needed organizations were and are a godsend for the health of wildlife, but there is one “species” they don’t protect, hunters or outdoors peoples. They aren’t supposed too.

During a discussion with Mr. Greg Tinsley of Mossy Oak on the merits of a “NPAC”, Greg came up with this terrific Idea. He said, “The world is increasingly pay to play and green… why not suggest a condor restoration levy for hunters and bird watchers entering that country? Speaking of birders… you know, there are 48 million birders in the U.S. It’s a huge sector of outdoor recreation. Why would the USFWS not look to generate incremental cash for its condor project by specially licensing hunters and… a limited number of operator outfitting extreme backcountry adventures”… Hey that’s 48 million bird watchers that need public access!!! A whole lot of dollar donations… to a NPAC-“like” activist group! See what I mean?

So let’s say the California deer hunt and hassle happened to you. What group has the money, the legal expertise, the political connection to help? None! Maybe a NPAC would? You know a couple of years ago Mr. Tred Barta Host of “The Best and Worst of Tred Barta” (www.versuscountry.com) mentioned this concept on his TV show. Unfortunately Mr. Barta is battling a serious illness at this time. I am guessing he would like this Idea. But hopefully some of you folks out there know others that may also consider its time to get the ball rolling? Let’s talk. Email me at jbfillmore@roadrunner.com.

Post Note:
Well here’s how we fixed our local problem with hunter access to USFS land and Condor concerns. Mr. Grantham (USFWS) has stated that his people, NSFWS, will not restrict legal hunting next year that are off of Hopper Mountain Wildlife refuge lands. I and many other local sportsmen believe that the Oil fields have just been “blowing smoke”. Most of us local folks don’t believe they have the right to gate the forest roads. It is a fact wheather deliberatlye or not, they have in the past posted private property signs on public USNF land. Also they have not responded to our local Ventura county sheriff’s suggestion to provide written documentation to the contrary. And we will continue to hunt these areas. And as the Los Padres national forest Ranger seems unwilling to weigh in I have to be suspicious of their part in this story. Mr. Grantham and I are looking into having a local meeting with local hunters, USFS, Bureau of Land management, and the Oil Companies. We hope to work out safe and reasonable access to legal public lands.) I would agree that I would be concerned about safety and theft to oil field folks and equipment, however I believe a timely access gate with sign in and out logs might be a reasonable compromise. A hunting season only lock could be installed and removed after hunting season.
Global warming and Condors, well minus 10 degrees in Kansas is not my idea of Global warming. And this month emails have surfaced from the global warming experts to prove that quite a few of those top scientists have been “cooking the books” on the issue. Then there is Al Gore making speeches touting the Earths core is millions of degrees hot! He’s’ the expert you know, and even invented the internet! Not true again, matter of fact, look it up, the core is estimated to be only a few thousands degrees hot. Makes me wonder about this whole lead thing? These folks have an agenda. They make a living from the issues. And don’t forget, you and I pay for it one way or another!

Why should you be concerned about our little problem? Keep in mind, unfortunately as goes California like it or not, so goes the rest of the U.S...