Editorial: Save the Gas!

Editorial
Save the Gas
By David King

There are a lot of issues to deal with in today’s world. Right now hunting is dealing with a lot of things from good, bad, positive and negative. We have the elections coming up as well that will play a big role in how we each are hoping the future to be. Recently the wolves have been de-listed here in the Rocky Mountains. Talk about a throw some more gas on the fire and watch people go crazy circumstance. A lot of activity and effort is going into the wolf debate from both sides of the fence. Pro-wolf advocates are rushing out in droves not only to message boards and blogs, but to local meetings and more decrying the lack of wolf protection. If we could all just go back to the 1700 or 1800’s whenever it was when wolves roamed the hills and didn’t cause any problems. I guess there was a time when man wasn’t here and therefore everything was much better. At least that is the argument that I seem to hear the most. I guess I put a little more value on man than most I guess.

We are in a day when conservation is of the upmost importance. If we want something for the future of our children, we must do something about it. Managing the wolves is a must. Letting them run wild and become the natural predator might have worked a couple of hundred or thousand years ago, but I am sure they messed with my ancestors just as much. We must keep them in check just like everything else. Just like the craze of global warming is at every corner, our ecosystem, economy, and anything else seems to be quite vulnerable. Doom and gloom isn’t necessary and often overemphasized in today’s media. So let’s hunker down and enjoy what we have and help each other manage what we have left. We have a great article in this issue on oil drilling out here in the West and how it is effecting the mule deer. Over the years Hunting Illustrated has captured the issues of what the hunting industry is going through. Whether it is about the declining mule deer, public lands, fear of hunting, Broder Buck fiasco, or recently with the craze of predator hunting and women in hunting. You have responded and we have continued to hit the issues that are hitting you.

I appreciate all of the emails and all of the great photos you ladies have emailed in to me following our Women in Hunting issue (April/May 2008). There is no question this is a topic that is really getting a lot of press and exposure. Dedicating an issue of the magazine to women hunters everywhere is a testament that there are some good things going on. Maybe hunting is going to keep going after all. Those wolf guys aren’t going to like that…

Related articles

• Editorial: Moving Up! (0)
• Editorial: Look at that hair! (0)
• Editorial: 1975…Here I Come! (0)
• ATV Test: 2008 Polaris RZR 800 EFI (0)
• The Elk of 2007 (0)