Bowhunters of Utah

Hunts are over and the BOU board is back at work. We had a nice meeting Thursday evening at Wilde Arrow. Of course you have seen the Video that was sent out to the Wildlife Board and to each of the RAC members that we have e-mail addresses for. We are getting really good feedback from wildlife board members as well as RAC members. Finn reported on his activities at the Lee Kay Center and his recent work on the Mule Deer Committee and the bowhunter committee. Look for his e-mail to the membership detailing his report and a more detailed account of our meeting.

We spent some time talking about how we might defend bowhunting against other sportsmen groups that seem to want more peice of the pie. It is important for all to understand that there is a concerted effort to reduce bowhunting opportunity in Utah but again the surprising thing is that it comes from another sportsmen group rather than any anti. It is a formidable group but we will continue our efforts to promote bowhunting in Utah. We made assignments for the upcoming RAC meetings in November.

Another topic of the meeting was wounding rates. Our general season wounding rates are around 3-4% but our Limited Entry numbers are quite a bit higher than that amount. This is really giving us some problems with negotiations and is being used as a tool against us to take away opportunity.

This next year will be an election year in BOU and so we are looking for people to step up into leadership positions.

All in all it was a very productive meeting and we have some work to get done behind the scenes. It is a very political process that we deal in when it comes to our bowhunting opportunity and in fact just maintaining the general publics ability to hunt at all. Just to highlight the urgency let me tell you that we have a quote from a Wildlife Board member stating "Hunters should have to hunt the area that they live in" Notice that this was not just directed at Bowhunters. If you want more of the scoop look for the Vice Presidents e-mail to members that is due to come out shortly.

One last note. Damon Stone is finishing up the quarterly Newsletter. I always enjoy what is put together there. He is always looking for more pictures and articles so if you have an inkling please get a hold of him soon. Just a reminder that unless you notify BOU that you want a printed copy of the newsletter you will be getting an electronic version. About 2/3 of BOU expenses come in the form of Newsletter costs in production and mailings. We don't spend so much elsewhere because everything else is done through donated time and a deep passion for bowhunting. No paid leadership in BOU. I guess you can't say that about many other groups out there reporting to represent you. Anyway, we have some great momentum going right now and have a few irons in the fire that we have great hopes for.