Ateention Mark Rogers!

[Xtreme]

I enjoyed your article in the LOKS news letter. Very well written and MANY good points.

My congratulations to you sir......even if you are a democrat:D

[grouseguy]

Thanks, Rick. I've not got the paper yet, so I can't comment on how the final product came out.

[GSP]

Mark, I read the article. IT WAS PERFECT!

[Highbow]

Haven't got mine either??

[turk2di]

Taint got mine neither, lookin 4ward to it tho!

[handgunner]

Very well written and informative article.

[Birdman]

Sounded good on this end. Looking for another one next month. ;)

[ril7572]

I never did receive this issue:confused:

[Highbow]

Mark, great article , got to read it and the rest of the articles this weekend while sitting in the hospital with MOM, sorry I missed the meeting and dinner Saturday night.

[turk2di]

I agree, very insightfull article.

[elkguy]

Mark,

I liked your comments about partnering with a critter group to leverage resources for wildlife conservation and hunting opportunities in KY. I agree with you.

With that said, here we are! Jump on board the RMEF band wagon. Our entire focus is on your part of the state and we are gaining momentum every day.

Today, I am off to our RMEF convention in Portland, Oregon. Be back next week.

David Ledford
davidrmef@alltel.net
RMEF
London, KY

[grouseguy]

I'm sorry David, but the KDFWR/RMEF partnership is the type of arrangement that I was NOT talking about.

I'm a small game guy, and while I enjoy turkey hunting and participate in deer season, I would be foolish to not recognize the negative impacts that the reintroduction of these two species have had on small game hunting. We now have "Posted" signs, leases, proposed tresspassing legislation, and a complete lack of focus on small game by the KDFWR as a result of the success of deer and turkey. IMHO, Elk will only multiply these problems exponentially in the eastern part of the state. I have stated my opinion before, and if I had a magic wand, I'd gladly send the elk back from whence they came.

The article was about the KDFWR leveraging their "PR Capital" for the benefit of the resource and the sportsmen of KY as a whole, not for the benefit of a selected few elk hunters and certain commissioners, and to the detriment of the remaining sportsmen of eastern KY. I would gladly live WITHOUT the "support" of the RMEF, and all of the "negatives" that come with it, but I am a realist, and as that, fully realize that your species and organization are the "golden haired chosen ones" in KY at present. So enjoy your status, while the rest of us simply "endure" the mismanagement of our resources.

With that said, I'd also like to acknowledge that you and I have spoken, but never met, and people that I know and respect speak very well of you personally. So don't take my comments as a personal insult...I understand that you have a job to do and are giving it your best shot. The fact that you are held in such high regard by these people gives me hope that your efforts will be a benefit to the resources and sportsmen of eastern KY. However, long before you arrived in KY, based on the BS we were fed by the KDFWR and certain representatives of the RMEF, and the continuing flow of misinformation, I have formed a very negative opinion of the elk program as a whole that is not likely to change until I can see a tangible benefit to the non-elk hunting resources and sportsmen.

Some of you may have noticed that I've not been posting much recently, and it has been because of stuff like this. I have simply realized that I am beating my head against a wall for nothing...it is difficult, if not impossible, for a part-time activist to have any meaningful impact when dealing with full-time politicians in a corrupt environment. Therefore, I'll offer my opinion (and that's all the above is...its just my opinion of the situation) occassionally, when I feel moved to do so, but in large part, I'm very content to spend my time with my dogs, family and friends, and leave the "head banging" to others.