Art Eatman said:
And push the "Hold" button on emotions...
And I'd like one more chance to demonstrate to the rest of the country the problems we face in my area.
Please consider them as a
sincere explanation on this issue.
I would ask you to go to the "Opinion Section" of today's (May, 1, 2008) issue of The Wisconsin State Journal.
What you may not know is that there is a groundswell of people who justifiably feel that Wisconsin has a horrible alcohol problem. Locally we cannot even armwrestle our common cousel to even restrict the number of tavern licenses.
We lead the nation in consumption, and don't do anything about it.
One letter on our opinion page clearly states the policy here. We simply fine the drunks, little else. In fact, we don't even assign jail time or major penalties until the fifth or sixth time people drive drunk.
Many don't even comply then--they simply drive without a license.
In my entire life of 58 years I can only remember two drivers who were actually sentenced to prison--and that was after they killed somebody.
My problem is that these same "good ol' boys" also take this attitude with them into the woods
when they hunt. Many of my firends don't even hunt on public land for fear of a drunk shooting them. And I have also mentioned how one farmer paints the letters C O W on his cattle.
Now, I can understand how you might feel I am being too harsh on hunters
based on the conditions in your state. And I can assure you that conditions here differ.
I've sat behind a gun counter at 2:00PM in the afternoon and smelled booze. I have had one hunter disqualified by the Lautenburg Act try to
buy the same rifle three times. The phrase "deer camp' has come to mean "nine days without the wife playing cards."
So I entered this thread. Wisconsin cannot hold its liquor. We cannot enforce compliance on the road, and we certainly do not even stem the tide in the woods. Until hunters in my state start acting like adults I see no reason to give them another chance to abuse safety issues.
In fact, when I hear "the new great hunting story," sometimes I'm embarrassed.
That's the sincere reason I responded to this thread.