Here is the letter to the editor that the Maryland Bowhunters Society has sent to the Baltimore Sun and a number of other papers. We decided it was best to not attack Dr. Lamp but to use the opportunity to educate the general public about the tactics that the ARAs and anti's use.
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Stop Maryland’s Season of Mis-Information: An Open Letter to the Citizens of Maryland
The September 12, 2007 edition of the Baltimore Sun ran an opinion piece by Dr. E. Joseph Lamp entitled “Stop Maryland’s season of cruelty: fall bowhunting”. The citizens of Maryland will likely see more letters of this type as now is the time of year when the folks who call themselves “animal rights activists” again try to make their case to the American public through the use of partial or misrepresented statistics, open ended questions, and emotional pleas and imagery. In Dr. Lamps letter to the editor it was about hunting with the bow and arrow. Mr. Lamps doctorate, by the way, has nothing to do with biology or wildlife management, he teaches English at a local community college.
In an effort to give you “the rest of the story”, and to help you form an informed opinion about hunting, the Maryland Bowhunters Society wants to provide the following information that you might not have known. We also urge you to not accept the first thing you hear on the subject of hunting but to speak with people on both sides of the question and to think through what you hear and read. If people make claims, ask them where you can get a copy of the facts they are using. Their answer to your request might be interesting. If you want more facts about bowhunting you can visit our website at
www.marylandbowhunterssociety.org or email us at
[email protected] to ask whatever question you might have.
In his letter, Dr. Lamp paints a vivid mental picture of deer running through the woods, never to be recovered and dying a painful death days later. This demonstrates either a complete misunderstanding of bowhunting, an intentionally inaccurate presentation of the facts, or both. Bowhunters take game using razor sharp broadheads that are just as effective as the bullet from a gun but don’t hurt any more than cutting yourself shaving in the morning; they just don’t knock the deer over. If the shot was not fatal the wound normally heals and the animal lives on without any impairment. They don’t go through the lingering death that Dr. Lamp painted for us.
Hunting by Maryland outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen is an integral part of the MD DNR’s overall strategy for managing the balance between what the people of our state want, what the land can support, and what the numerous species of wildlife that live in our state need. Now that wolves and mountain lions no longer are present in Maryland to do their part in maintaining Nature’s balance hunters are the only large predators left in the ecosystem.
The members of the animal rights movement would prefer that the DNR use non-lethal methods that are both expensive and ineffective like inoculating female deer with birth control drugs every year or so throughout the state or putting up deer proof fencing around your neighborhood. They do not however want to help pay for it, that will have to come out of the governments pocket or yours and mine. Hunters on the other hand actually pay for the privilege to hunt in Maryland. The license fees and special excise taxes we pay on our equipment provides the large portion of the funding for wildlife management in our state. We also contribute to organizations that help create and maintain wildlife habitat across the state and the nation.
Dr. Lamp also complained about the “political clout” that bowhunters and other hunters in Maryland have in Annapolis. He paints the image of high priced lobbyists influencing your legislators. The reality of it is that sportsmen are in the main represented by volunteers who take time off of work to talk with legislators and testify at committee meetings. Our “clout” comes from the strategy we employ, we give our legislators facts instead of feelings and for that reason they listen to us. The animal rights organizations on the other hand have had to resort to spending thousands and thousands of dollars for lobbyists, legal attacks and expensive ad campaigns to try to get their way. Surprisingly, none of that money seems to find its way into programs that actually help the animals by building habitat or supporting other wildlife management ac tivities.
So, to Dr. Lamp and other animal rights activists I have to commend you for your convictions but I also have to pity you for your to even consider the possibility that what you have been told or read is wrong. You may be well educated but you are not well informed.
Larry Schwartz
President
Maryland Bowhunters Society
Topic: Published Archery Opinion in the Baltimore Sun (Read 1429 times)
