March 2009 Updates page 3
5 March
Upland Birds
Don and Ken on one very cold mid-season hunt.
Thanks guys. Most will agree that pictures to include those of others give a bit more motivation to plan on hunts.
The Other Side
Should hunters switch to 'green' bullets?, by John D. Sutter, CNN, March 4, 2009.
Our Side
Who fights for hunters:
Arizona Kennel Bill (Click Here For More)
California Hunters Face Another Spay/Neuter Bill (Click Here For More)
PETA To Pennsylvania Governor: Ban Youth Hunting (Click Here For More)
Goose
Cass County reports continue of large flocks.
Feedback
98% of the membership feedback this year has been positive with our typically 1% bad jumping to 2% this past fall through winter.
Waterfowl hunters had an above average year in terms of more ducks bagged and bands collected than most years without any one part of the migration being especially thrilling.
Upland bird hunters were mostly happy with some expressing difficulty finding quail and pheasant abundant on most days hunted. Those having a challenging time on quail typically traveled in from non-native quail home states.
Deer hunters right from the first day of Missouri's early archery season started filling tags and that carried through late Iowa muzzleloader with the traveling hunter sending in pictures of most of the biggest racks.
In the complaint category those that voiced the most complaints did so in terms that everything but they the hunter was bad. The land, the wildlife, the MAHA staff were all bad in isolated membership experiences that when drilled down into showed a range from not having any idea what the basis for the complaint was to a landowner catching a hunter with an untagged deer while stuck in a farm field to hunters saying there were no birds to those hunting the wrong spot on the right day or the wrong day at the right spot.
What was a bit different this year is that those that did send in feedback by email sent in overwhelmingly good reports. Not a brag here, just the way it was. Those that complained did so typically after one of the MAHA partners picked up indicators something was amiss and required investigation. What was absent were the more balanced reviews that we have learned to accept as the most valued checks on operations.
This update is a long way of saying it is rare that any one hunt or season is all good or all bad. Typically a mixture occurs and those are the objective based details we seek as a check on the overall health of the organization. We seek these details in follow up telephone calls to anyone who selected not to continue their membership as well as volunteer feedback from all members. So if you have the time email us your thoughts. We want the feedback for our own use, not necessarily for publication. If one or more reviews makes a special point we may request its use for publication as a means to insure we never oversell this organization.
