organizations in indiana

I was wondering if there is any body out there knows of any organizations that support sportsman in indiana. I was looking around and the The Indiana Sportsman Roundtable web page has not been updated in quite a while. I was wondering because after reading some of the comments in the lake permit question, i believe that there is a need for a group to speak out for sportsman's rights. It seems there are advertisements for a number of political groups that advocate one position or another on tv, internet or the paper. It seems that money or political influence is king now more than ever, so wouldn't it be important to have a group advocateing our rights or goals as sportsman. A web page that i looked at said there were 450,000 licenses sold in indiana last year. If a group got half that on its membership role and charged a small membership fee, that would allow a significant amount of money to donate to specific politicians who shared the same goals as sportsman. If we do not have anybody advocating our rights than we are left to do what some politicans belive is right or do what somebody else has paid them to believe. If we do not speak up and somebody else talks, then more than likely that position will be the one that is taken.

There is such a great economic impact that sportsman deliver to local economies that i believe that politicans do not realize. In the last issue of the gad about, it talked about 2.3 million dollars to local economy for the Crappie USA tournament and how they might not come back in a few years because of the increased fees. I have no problem paying for my share of the outdoor activities, but i am afraid it will get to the point where persons are out priced of doing what they love. If it comes to that and revenues drop than where will the money come from to fill the shortcomings. It won't and there could be massive cuts in services that we may need.

If there is an up to date conservation organization group that is out there i would be glad to hear about it. If there is not does anybody know what it would take to create one. I have researched it seems to require gaining non profit status with the state and fedral government. I look forward to your response.

By sportsman are you really just referring to anglers? Reason I ask is because there are a number of sportsman's groups representing mostly (but not all) hunting interests in the state with some political clout. DU, TU, QU, PF, Steelheaders, ISR, etc.

If you are looking for a strictly all-encompassing angling group, good luck. Just peruse these boards and you'll find you can't even get two guys who fish for the same thing to agree, let alone two representing different species (LOL). This permit topic is one example; Many are for it, many are opposed as we've read. Where would this new group stand on the issue without upsetting the other half of it's constituency? What about crappie size limits? What about tighter controls on bass harvest numbers? What about senior fishing licenses? Then there is the personality issues and the between website fighting. Who has the persuasion and power to unite this group above and beyond all that?

I don't think any politician will have to worry about the angling crowd as a whole for quite a while. That said, start looking at individual angling groups and see who is actually doing something and start joining and working with those groups. Eventually, strength and support to several smaller groups might ultimately lead to a larger group effort given enough time.

-T9

When i think of sportsman, i guess i am thinking campers, fisherman, hunters, and hikers.

In regards to stances on some of the issues that are mentioned, i guess it would depend on what people would think benefits the anglers and the fisheries the most. I think this is where you would have to talk and discuss with the people and the professionals, the biologists.

Correct me if i am wrong but i believe the Division of Fish and Wildlife is mostly funded by fishing licenses sales. For every licenses sold the federal government pays a certain amount of money back to the state. I believe this comes from the "Dingle Johnson Act" which takes taxes from fishing equipment sales and gas sales. So if we had a senior license it would allow more federal funding for that division, which could be used for biologists or higher paid biologists.

I want to say that i think that i heard that the state gets back roughly 8 dollars back for each license sold. So even if the state had a coupon or paid for a 3 dollar senior license, then they are still making a 5 dollar profit on these license.

As for uniting everybody on this discussion forum, that could be a challenge. Until it gets to the point where it is impossible to fish, hunt, or camp people will continue to complain, until it is too late.

catfish