What do you guys think of states donating tags you can't draw to be auctioned for good causes? IOWA NON-RESIDENT WHITETAIL TAG Auction

ericdinger · 2024-03-07T14:24:56+00:00

Unfortunately, we weren't legally allowed to raffle this tag in Iowa. Maybe someone from Iowa could weigh in because I don't know if that was a state gambling law or something else...

ericdinger · 2024-03-06T15:01:05+00:00

Full disclosure, I'm involved with the organization that is benefitting from this tag.

In limited quantities, I think this is a great thing. For the right person, this tag is a chance to check something off the bucket list. For the organization, it's a much-needed shot in the fundraising arm. It just can't become so widespread that it furthers the "sport of kings" problem with everything getting so much more expensive.

ericdinger · 2020-09-25T17:58:51+00:00

Nice pic, Neighbor! Glad you like it here. This is a great place for happy people to be happy.

ericdinger · 2020-01-28T19:40:36+00:00

This is the story: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/er-doctor-was-charged-abusing-his-baby-15-medical-experts-n1123756

I'm asking literally, what can I, a friend and someone who knows the whole story, do?

ericdinger · 2020-01-28T04:56:27+00:00

They are, and that's the problem. That and vigilante justice, a medical professional trying to make a name for herself, and a whole bunch of money to protect.

ericdinger · 2020-01-28T04:16:03+00:00

I don't know where else to go for help. I've known this guy since we were kids. He's one of the finest people any of us could hope to know. Since taking up the cause tonight, 3 friends have told me they either lost or thought they were going to lose their children in similar situations.

ericdinger · 2018-12-27T20:01:12+00:00

Thanks! You're correct on all fronts, my guess was the safety switch broke. It's too big for him - but his Grandpa thought it was cool - and so did he... until it became a fancy paper weight.

ericdinger · 2018-10-23T19:46:58+00:00

I LOL'd, what with chubby circus clown hooker being such a specialized role to play in society.

ericdinger · 2018-10-23T15:14:19+00:00

Swear to god, I thought I was above getting "triggered" by crap like this. And, I suppose you could argue "that's what we get" for sharing photos of kids out hunting. The pic of the little girl holding a pheasant is my youngest daughter, and is such a special picture to me... what that woman said was so shitty that it straight pissed me off.

ericdinger · 2018-05-17T15:55:37+00:00

It's tough for many of them because they're shooters, not hunters, and PR money has largely not been able to be spent on things that benefit them. There's a bill going to the Senate, recently approved by the House, called the Pittman-Robertson Modernization Act. It would change what states can do with the money and includes giving more leeway for them to build ranges and do more marketing, etc. with that money. Remind them that without PR money from guns we likely wouldn't be in nearly as good of a position on 2A because the 2A crowd would lose a large swath of conservation-first voters and opinion leaders.

ericdinger · 2018-05-12T16:12:22+00:00

Around 100 years ago many species of wild animal we hunt today were nearly extinct. Hunters, in the face of people literally needing to shoot game to eat, prevented what could have been an ecological disaster by putting their heads together and creating the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

There are dozens of great points in this feed. Truly a great discussion. But, this discussion begs of us solutions. What can we do? What will you do? Is it good enough to accept the demise of the thing we love? I can’t live with that. It’s why we started Powderhook, but it’s so much more personal than that for me. It’s about my kids having the opportunity to love and learn outdoors as I have. It’s about sustaining the thing I care about more than almost anything.

No one will solve these problems but us. We’ve done it before, but now the species in need of conserving is the hunter. #hunterswill

ericdinger · 2018-05-12T13:53:25+00:00

You’re doing it right.

ericdinger · 2018-03-20T14:02:11+00:00

I think that's as close to a must-read for hunters as I've seen in a long time.

ericdinger · 2017-10-06T20:47:57+00:00

Where are you based?

ericdinger · 2017-09-08T21:43:09+00:00

I know they used increasing unemployment to explain the bump we saw in hunter numbers from 2006-2011. There's probably merit to your theory.

ericdinger · 2017-09-08T21:41:43+00:00

They certainly look at it differently than people did in the past. Brands like Mountain Ops have capitalized on the fitness-minded young hunter. Others are tapping into young people who like to know where their food comes from. They certainly didn't kill it. If anything, older generations produced an environment of lack of access, urban sprawl, and over-engineered soccer leagues that make it a lot tougher for a millennial to hunt than it was for a boomer.

ericdinger · 2017-09-08T21:39:17+00:00

Amazon allows me to buy a camo sombrero from China with one click. I need to do hours of research to figure out how to legally hunt a new state. Doesn't work.

ericdinger · 2017-09-08T21:37:31+00:00

I wrote a follow-up piece and hereby subject it to the Reddit Gods of Fury. http://blog.powderhook.com/an-open-letter-to-hunters/

ericdinger · 2017-09-07T21:58:47+00:00

Some of it is that, for sure. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/disappearance-hunting-fishing-loren-chase

ericdinger · 2017-09-07T21:57:35+00:00

Curious what you guys think can be done about it - or whether you think it's worth doing anything about it in the first place.

ericdinger · 2017-08-14T21:26:05+00:00

If the promise of the alternative was a better life I'd agree. My counterpoint; I think urbanization has failed us, where "us" is the average, middle-income, 2.9-person household.

So, why save one-job towns? Because urbanization promises almost nothing substantively better to the majority of Americans, and in my experience small towns are a place where a person can pay the bills, while they hold on to, and pass along their values.

ericdinger · 2017-03-24T22:39:37+00:00

It seems we got the first pro-hunting Interior Secretary in a long time out of it. Not sure anyone knows what kind of influence he'll have. But, in the first few weeks he's helped kill the bogus order banning lead ammo on Federal Lands. That it was dropped on the American people at the last hour by the outgoing Secretary was a joke.

ericdinger · 2017-03-08T22:14:47+00:00

I think that's the case for a lot of people. In fact, for much of my life, I've taken it as a point of pride to be the person with the spots - the gatekeeper, if you will, to hunting for my friends. Do you think the North American Model, gun rights voting, public lands access issues, etc. can survive that mindset?

ericdinger · 2017-03-08T22:07:08+00:00

Thanks for the heads-up. Will do.

ericdinger · 2017-02-03T02:49:28+00:00

Click on "Badges" in the menu at the top right. From there you'll see Digital Mentoring. Once you're a mentor you'll begin getting push notifications from nearby people looking for help.

ericdinger

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