Free Republic

A SAOVA message to sportsmen, pet owners and farmers concerned about protecting their traditions, avocations and livelihoods from anti-hunting, anti-breeding, animal guardianship advocates. Forwarding and cross posting, with attribution, encouraged. 2008 Election Updates 11/01/08 Dear Friends, I am writing again to remind everyone of what is at stake in this election - the very real possibility of a 60 seat, filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate. Supported by left-wing congressmen, HSUS and other activists will have a field day passing anti-hunter and pet “protection” legislation. Without moderate balance in the Senate it will be difficult, if not impossible, to stop...

A survey has found that John McCain holds a considerable lead over Barack Obama in the race to become president — among hunters and fishermen. Given that there are an estimated 40 million hunters and fishermen of voting age in the United States, there’s some significance to their thinking and it may have helped the current president win two terms. We all know what happened during the second term: the vice president, on one of his hunting trips, accidentally filled a fellow hunter full of birdshot. But that’s beside the point. The point is, many Americans consider hunting and fishing...

The survey, conducted by Braun Research, polled 1,009 sportsmen of which 45% said they’d vote for McCain, while 31% tilted toward Obama. Asked whom they’d rather hunt with, 49% said McCain, 27% answered Obama. As a fishing partner, 44% favored McCain over Obama (31%). “They’re just not sure how much fun Barack Obama would be in a duck blind,” said Steve Sanetti

The mayor (already finished and out of sight by the time I arrived from Jacksonville) had spoken beneath the protruding head of a titanic 14-point elk. His audience was comprised of some 130 members of the Safari Club International, North Florida Chapter. Big game hunters. "But I also enjoy duck hunting," stipulated Tyrie Boyer, 83, a former judge. "I've taken everything from an elephant to a squirrel." He said he liked Giuliani's position on guns, small government and taxes, and "just about became convinced tonight." A quick reconnaissance suggested that the club members are characters straight out of Tom Wolfe's...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 14 — Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee has received the endorsement of "America's Outdoor Icon" Ray Scott. Scott founded the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) in 1968, which became the world's largest fishing organization with over 500,000 members. The company was bought in 2001 by ESPN. He is also the founder of the Whitetail Institute of North America. "I am pleased to have received the endorsement of Ray Scott - a legendary outdoorsman and conservationist. We share a passion for the outdoors and I was proud to be honored along with him recently...

Republican Mike Huckabee took his presidential campaign for a quick pheasant-hunting expedition in Iowa on Wednesday, and at one point, a reporter asked why he hadn’t invited sporting enthusiast Dick Cheney along. "Because I want to survive all the way through this," Huckabee replied, in a chuckling dig at the vice president’s accidental shooting of a quail-hunting partner last year. Any good sportsman, though, couldn’t miss a distinctly Cheneyesque moment in the press accounts of the former Arkansas governor’s morning hunt: At one point, Huckabee’s party turned toward a cluster of reporters and cameramen and, when they kicked up a...

Republican Mike Huckabee took his presidential campaign for a quick pheasant-hunting expedition in Iowa on Wednesday, and at one point, a reporter asked why he hadn’t invited sporting enthusiast Dick Cheney along. "Because I want to survive all the way through this," Huckabee replied, in a chuckling dig at the vice president’s accidental shooting of a quail-hunting partner last year. Any good sportsman, though, couldn’t miss a distinctly Cheneyesque moment in the press accounts of the former Arkansas governor’s morning hunt: At one point, Huckabee’s party turned toward a cluster of reporters and cameramen and, when they kicked up a...

OSCEOLA, Iowa--The fortunes of Mike Huckabee are soaring. The pheasants'? Not so much. It's a tribute to how far the Arkansas Republican has come that he managed to draw more than a dozen mostly underdressed journalists to the middle of a snow-covered field in order to hunt pheasants on a frost-filled morning the day after Christmas. Huckabee, garbed in full hunting regalia, complete with an orange-accented jacket and cap, appeared more than ready for the conditions. He also had a Benelli Black Eagle 12-gauge camouflage shotgun in hand. "I'm just talking about taking care of business," Huckabee announced, before locking...

OSCEOLA, Iowa - Presidential contender Mike Huckabee bagged a pheasant Wednesday, offering Iowa voters the image of an experienced outdoorsman on the hunt, shotgun blasting and dogs braying. Just a campaign gambit? "Maybe it will show that I certainly understand the culture of being outdoors," Huckabee said. "It's not something we had to go out and get a primer in. It's very much ordinary to me." The former Arkansas governor said back home he would be duck hunting on the day after Christmas, but pheasant hunting in Iowa — eight days before the state's leadoff nominating caucuses — was a...

CNN has posted a Political Ticker entry trying to create a "gotcha" on 2nd Amendment supporter, Fred Thompson. CNN's South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby has breathlessly announced that "Thompson does not have hunting license," but the question is... so what? ...I know hundreds of gun enthusiasts in my area of interest and only a small percentage of them are avid hunters..., some being only interested in... collecting... firearms. Yet, here is CNN acting as if Thompson should be looked at askance because he does not currently have a hunting license, quite despite that he has had them in the past...

Thompson does not have hunting license COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) — Fred Thompson has made a point of visiting gun shops and gun shows while hitting the campaign trail in New Hampshire and South Carolina, usually with camera crews in tow. But Thompson said Wednesday he does not have a hunting license, nor has be been hunting recently. "It's been too long, it's been too long," Thompson told CNN Wednesday. Asked if he has a hunting license, Thompson said he currently does not. "At the present time I do not, but I have been hunting plenty of times. I usually...

A hard lesson was learned on election day in New Jersey's 12th legislative district, when incumbent State Senator Ellen Karcher (D-12) and incumbent Assemblyman Mike Panter (D-12) were retired from public service despite the infusion of millions of campaign dollars to save their seats. That lesson can be summed up this way: don't mess with the sportsmen. There are well over a million hunters, anglers, and responsible gun owners in New Jersey. For the most part, they keep to themselves, content to exercise their rights, freedoms and chosen activities without interference. But when aroused to action by over-the-top legislation that...

An unusual move by President Bush to promote hunting on federal lands is calling attention to so-called sportsmen's issues, which presidential candidates have largely neglected on the stump in recent months. Last week, Mr. Bush issued an executive order instructing federal agencies to "manage wildlife and wildlife habitats on public lands in a manner that expands and enhances hunting opportunities." The order also encourages federal officials to respect "state management authority over wildlife resources." The order was immediately hailed by the National Rifle Association, which described the action as "groundbreaking." "Anti-hunting groups have long fought to dismantle public hunting land...

OUTDOORS AN ORGANIZED VOICE for South Carolina’s hunters and fishermen in the state legislature could be a reality this year. Last Saturday at The Clinton House hunting lodge, Rep. Michael A. Pitts, Laurens County Republican, chaired an organizational meeting of legislators and representatives of organizations that support a South Carolina Legislature Sportsmen’s Caucus. “The single goal for the sportsmen’s caucus will be to protect the right to hunt and fish in this state,” Pitts said. “Animal rights groups realized they were not winning anything at the national level, so they have changed their strategy to attack issues state by state.”...

Party eyes inroads in the West WASHINGTON -- The Democratic Party, long identified with gun control, is rethinking its approach to the gun debate, seeking to improve the chances of its candidates in Western states where hunters have been wary of casting votes for a party with a national reputation of being against guns. The Democrats' effort to soften their rhetoric on gun control is similar to the party's recent efforts to recast its message on abortion, maintaining their support of abortion rights but welcoming more Democrats who favor restrictions on the procedure. Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who...

When John Kerry weighed in at 180 pounds for the political fight of his life this year, the American people knew they were getting a guy with some serious athletic chops: Cover subject of American Windsurfer magazine (in 1998), able to bike better than 100 miles at a stretch, a hockey player who, at 60, was still lacing 'em up and playing alongside ex-NHLers in charity games. "It's like you're in heaven," Kerry told me during a February interview. "I mean, you come off your shift and your tongue is hanging out, and you look over and there's Ray Bourque...

FAIRFAX, VA -- In major victories for America’s sporting heritage, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment recognizing every citizen’s fundamental right to hunt, fish and trap, and rejected ballot issues banning bear hunting methods. "This is a sound victory for outdoorsmen," said Chris W. Cox, the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) chief lobbyist. "Most Americans understand that hunters, anglers and trappers have long led the nation in establishing effective conservation and wildlife management practices. "Anti-hunting groups claim to protect animals, but their policies are ill-conceived, poorly researched and potentially disastrous to wildlife," added Cox. "On Election Day, voters sent a clear...

John Kerry's 'tough guy' photo op hunting geese falls short of the mark This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

I've hunted geese for over 30 years and I can see a phony hunter clear as day. Here are some questions that John Kerry should know the answers to......

Some sportsmen fear that gun rights would be curtailed Chequamegon National Forest, Wis. -- John Myhre, a 57-year-old hunting guide, stopped abruptly on the trail layered with orange pine needles and slowly began to raise his Russian- made shotgun. "Bird," he breathed out. A moment later, a ruffed grouse soared from the growth of young poplar trees, flushed into the transparent, crispy morning air by Myhre's hunting dog, Ruff. Batting its wings so heavily the air around it seemed to quiver, the bird disappeared into the receding amber foliage of the forest before Myhre could fire a shot. Myhre turned...