Ridecamp: Re: [RC] [RC] [RC] Hunting Season

At 10:38 AM 11/17/02, Nancy Mitts wrote:
>  Although I suspect the hunters probably pay as much in federal taxes as 
> any other users, on top of hunting licenses. So, they would want a tax 
> refund for the times of year THEY can't hunt.

See, this is the problem.  Ranchers pay fees for grazing rights - they have 
the right to graze livestock on the grass.  Loggers pay fees for lumber 
rights - they have the right to cut down trees.  Hunters pay fees for 
hunting rights - they have the right to hunt for elk or deer or 
whatever.  There's other things, such as mining, that users of public land 
must pay for.  Why?  Because all of them are *buying* something that could 
be (in theory at least) purchased elsewhere.  They are buying the right to 
remove something from the public lands - grass, trees, critters, ore, 
whatever.  John and Jane Q Public - you and me - own the lands and these 
kinds of *special* users are paying for  a tangible, marketable, countable 
and concrete commodity.

If a hunter can't or doesn't want to hunt, he doesn't have to pay his fees 
- he doesn't have to "buy" that chance to get a deer or elk or 
whatever.  He's not entitled to a refund just because he isn't going to 
hunt any more than I'm entitled to a refund from Safeway because I didn't 
go to the store.  But....

> Each individual would consider it no more your land than theirs.

As an ordinary citizen, you bet.  It's all our land.  And it's our deer and 
our elk and our trees and ore and grass.  But just because it's all ours, 
it doesn't mean we all can go chopping down trees any time we want, or put 
our horses out in the National Forest to graze for a season, or dig some 
holes in a mountainside looking for gold, or knocking off a good looking 
deer for the freeze - the price we pay for pooling resources, as you 
say.  Nope, we apply for the right and then pay for those things if we want 
them.  The people who pay for them are paying us, the public.

But recreational users aren't in the same category of public land 
user.  They aren't taking anything away.  There is nothing to pay for 
(except perhaps services rendered, such as use of toilets, camp grounds, 
other improvements).  In fact, they really should just be considered as The 
Owners and Landlords, come to pay a visit!  And I guess it's my feeling 
that the owners shouldn't find themselves at risk, better off not being on 
public lands for many months a year, when they want to visit during hunting 
season, whether it's on horseback, on foot or whatever.

       _________________________________________________
           Lif Strand * Quemado NM USA * www.fasterhorses.com
                               ** You speak, I listen, We talk  **


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