Quote Originally Posted by imajigger2 View Post
Well I'm not sure what page your on there Fish Taxi but i've done a little hunting in my day and it was always nice to do some research while looking fo some new spots to hunt. That area hadn't seen a milo field for the last 15 years, it just isn't in the crop rotation in that area anymore. Am very familiar with the general area just not that particular field thus the "research". I had to go back in my post to see where I said the WHIA program was no good. Couldn't find it. Only referenced that field and wondered how many more were like it which you verified as a few really crappy ones. Fact, I think WHIA programs CRP programs and anything resembling them are fantastic for Hunters and I support continued use of those programs even though I quit hunting not only because of the habitat that I encountered but because my choice of hunting is upland birds, Quail in particular. The area I am speaking of no longer supports viable quail populations thus the desire to hunt is no longer their. Facts also tell me that a few crappy ones is not something I want to spend my money on, however I support your right to do that.
I thought you meant that the entire WIHA program was an "example of government waste", but you just meant a very small portion of it. We're on the same page now.

If hunters take the time to report the consistently crappy WIHAs, they can be removed from the program or the landowner can receive a reduced payment or even no payment if the fields are bad enough, or it appears that the fields have been deliberately altered to keep away hunters. We just have to do our part and report the bad ones. But I honestly haven't ever seen one that was so bad I would call it in. The ones that I call "crappy" would be more appropriately called "always marginal". But even those serve a purpose. They are usually close to a big town, and they get used a lot more than you might think.

Anyway, it all seems to boil down to whether or not you believe that KDWP(T) is filled with good, honest people who are doing the best they can with what they have, or you believe that they are a bunch of greedy fat cats. I believe they are good folks, and do the best they can for us. Some on here obviously don't. I agree that they need to be held accountable for their spending, but I suspect that our license fees are currently put to good use. I certainly wouldn't point at one bad WIHA field from ??? years ago and say, "KDWP can't be trusted!"

I think they should have transparency, as you suggested. And they should be held accountable for their spending, as you suggested. But I also think that they are providing a tremendous service to all of us who love the outdoors. And yes, I do "trust" them. When they make an announcement that says something logical like, "we can't afford the loss of license sales to the baby boomer generation because they make up a huge proportion of our license sales", I believe that they are telling the truth. It is consistent with what they have been telling us all along, which is that X and Y aren't buying fishing licenses. I believe that's true too.