Poll
Question:
If there was a second oprion to NWTF would you want it to...
Option 1: be part of a network of hunters who's ideas where that of Wild turkey conservation and habitat improvment?
votes: 24
Option 2: be part of a network of hunters who's ideas where to promot hunting relationships with in the turkey hunting comunity?
votes: 2
Option 3: be part of a network if those whose goals where to influance the political relm for the good of hunting with a special intrest in the wild turkey and turkey hunting?
votes: 7
Option 4: be part of a network of people with a goal of volentring there time toward helping vetterans, children and woman become involved in the outdoors?
votes: 3
I hear a lot of thunder on the horizon but what wind will finally blow in the storm?
I saw no option for no....my vote is NO
We don't need any organizations we have our Game and Fish Commissions.
All organizations like the NWTF do is claim credit for what our Game and Fish has done and is doing.....while sucking money from each state accomplished by the hard work of volunteers in each state.
It was nothing but a Ponsie scheme from the get go...
I like the idea of helping get others get into turkey hunting. When I joined the nwtf way back when...that was my original motivation......it never panned out.
I think you may need to add another option to your poll to include "all of the above". I'm certain that is the eternal optimist in me saying that rather than the realist. However, since this is rather rhetorical I thought I would throw it out there. My guess is that in the beginning the NWTF started out with a single purpose and over time has tried to be all things to all people. Which quite simply is beyond it's purpose and span of control.....just my opinion. Probably should quit while I'm able to....LOL
Quote from: memert116 on March 24, 2014, 09:42:08 PM
I think you may need to add another option to your poll to include "all of the above". I'm certain that is the eternal optimist in me saying that rather than the realist. However, since this is rather rhetorical I thought I would throw it out there. My guess is that in the beginning the NWTF started out with a single purpose and over time has tried to be all things to all people. Which quite simply is beyond it's purpose and span of control.....just my opinion. Probably should quit while I'm able to....LOL
I agree with both of your perspectives. There should be an organization of hunters that provides all of the above. I don't think that was the NWTF's original goal to do all of those things and they never clearly laid out their goals to include those until they were already providing them in some (however minor) form. By then they felt had already accomplished these new goals and didn't define a plan going forward to improve and continue. This stuff won't just happen on its own.
Quote from: L.F. Cox on March 24, 2014, 07:12:44 PM
I saw no option for no....my vote is NO
We don't need any organizations we have our Game and Fish Commissions.
All organizations like the NWTF do is claim credit for what our Game and Fish has done and is doing.....while sucking money from each state accomplished by the hard work of volunteers in each state.
It was nothing but a Ponsie scheme from the get go...
Ya the Missouri dept of conservation is doing such a great job, thats why after all the's years we can still only hunt untill 1:00 and we have an antler restiction rule also.
Quote from: L.F. Cox on March 24, 2014, 07:12:44 PM
I saw no option for no....my vote is NO
We don't need any organizations we have our Game and Fish Commissions.
All organizations like the NWTF do is claim credit for what our Game and Fish has done and is doing.....while sucking money from each state accomplished by the hard work of volunteers in each state.
It was nothing but a Ponsie scheme from the get go...
totally agree!!! the nwtf was setup at the basspro trying to get people to sighn up and they told me I owed it to them for the turkeys I hunt today :TooFunny: so I told them I owed it to twra not the nwtf and I would give my money to twra thru license purchase because I didn't owe them anything. :funnyturkey:
Quote from: SinGin on March 24, 2014, 10:00:21 PM
Quote from: L.F. Cox on March 24, 2014, 07:12:44 PM
I saw no option for no....my vote is NO
We don't need any organizations we have our Game and Fish Commissions.
.
Ya the Missouri dept of conservation is doing such a great job, thats why after all the's years we can still only hunt untill 1:00 and we have an antler restiction rule also.
Actually the antler restrictions are a positive in my mind. Makes the trigger happy types have to look before slinging lead, meaning a few small bucks might actually survive the gauntlet and become something someday. They'd be better off moving the gun season out of the rut but thats another story.
Quote from: SinGin on March 24, 2014, 10:00:21 PM
Ya the Missouri dept of conservation is doing such a great job, thats why after all the's years we can still only hunt untill 1:00 and we have an antler restiction rule also.
Yeah I know I hunt MO every year and was at one time a resident hunter. Sure dose stink to have the turkey hunting you have in MO whit it's half day hunting and 3 week season while all of us whit all day hunting and 5 week seasons have fewer and fewer birds.... You MO boys don't have a clue how good you got it and remember public opinion is not sound wildlife management.
Quote from: drum817 on March 24, 2014, 09:10:30 PM
I like the idea of helping get others get into turkey hunting. When I joined the nwtf way back when...that was my original motivation......it never panned out.
+1 on Tim's idea above; I posted a General Forum posting that got ZERO responses, re: taking Wounded Warrior's on a turkey hunt, me as the caller, then as the shooter. That's my desire - to help people get into the sport of turkey hunting; not get another emblem/sticker & magazine every month.
Pheasants Forever has been a successful organization and local chapters seem to be pretty happy with its model. It has enough centralization to monitor policy and to advocate and assist local chapters in the same, while keeping money raised more localized.
Quail Unlimited was in Edgefield and under the control of the same crowd at one time. It failed, and conservation minded hunters went to Pheasants Forever for advice. Now there is Quail Forever.
Perhaps there will be a "Turkeys Forever" in the future. The NWTF needs a rival, hunters need an organized voice, and turkeys need an advocate.
http://www.quailforever.org/page/1/mission.jsp
Is there any interest in starting a Turkeys Forever organization? Seems like they have a good model to build off of and when it comes to habitat, quail and turkeys live hand in hand.
Quote from: Garrett Trentham on March 25, 2014, 11:29:16 AM
Is there any interest in starting a Turkeys Forever organization? Seems like they have a good model to build off of and when it comes to habitat, quail and turkeys live hand in hand.
Do we need to start a new organization or do we need to refocus the NWTF? Might be easier/more productive to start a new organization at this point.
Quote from: memert116 on March 25, 2014, 12:12:06 PMDo we need to start a new organization or do we need to refocus the NWTF? Might be easier/more productive to start a new organization at this point.
Do the beneficiaries of the existing status quo at NWTF have an interest in changing and de-centralizing control of funds? In other words, giving up the power and control that they presently have?
Can the board be changed significantly along with senior management?
What bothers me about refocusing the NWTF is despite all of this negative talk about them, no one from the NWTF has come on here to stand up for the organization and clear things up. This is very concerning. Seems to me like they know they aren't doing everything they can and the higher ups are living high on the hog from all the dues and donations.
Someone tell me I'm wrong and I'll feel a lot better about keeping the NWTF going under realigned management.
I don't know that it is reasonable to expect NWTF personnel to monitor talk forums and have them respond in such an environment.
What concerns me is that so many chapters are closing and so many people tell NWTF the same things over and over and no one back in Edgefield seems to listen or be concerned about what is happening.
If NWTF is spending so much money on administration, why not spend some on having senior management travel state to state and meet and listen to representatives of the chapters?
The fact that NWTF does not do that on its own initiative tends to indicate it is poorly led and that change is not going to be easy (in large part because of denial that there is a problem or need for change).
Quote from: Turkey Trot on March 25, 2014, 12:14:56 PM
Quote from: memert116 on March 25, 2014, 12:12:06 PMDo we need to start a new organization or do we need to refocus the NWTF? Might be easier/more productive to start a new organization at this point.
Do the beneficiaries of the existing status quo at NWTF have an interest in changing and de-centralizing control of funds? In other words, giving up the power and control that they presently have?
Can the board be changed significantly along with senior management?
Are the current high level positions appointed or elected?
Quote from: L.F. Cox on March 24, 2014, 07:12:44 PM
I saw no option for no....my vote is NO
We don't need any organizations we have our Game and Fish Commissions.
All organizations like the NWTF do is claim credit for what our Game and Fish has done and is doing.....while sucking money from each state accomplished by the hard work of volunteers in each state.
It was nothing but a Ponsie scheme from the get go...
I'm with Luther on this one.
Perhaps the question is one that should have been asked in 1973.
What, exactly, can a national organization do for a non-migratory species? In my humble opinion, not much. The turkey has a pretty small range and whether it thrives or not is primarily a local habitat matter. It hit me like a bomb that my favorite hunting area had changed over the last thirty years. In effect, it had matured to the point that it lacked sufficient nesting cover and the elements necessary for poult survival. Fortunately, the state, that's right, the state has started a select timber management program which will hopefully provide the diversity necessary for year round turkey habitat. The tree huggers are raising hell about it, but the cutting has begun. What is beautiful to the eye is not always in the best interest of the turkey.
You may have a different situation in your favorite piece of heaven, like excessive clear cutting, for example. I could support an organization that raised a lot of money and gave it to the various states earmarked for research. I have no interest in giving my money to what is in effect, a social club that wants to take credit for every turkey killed in this country. They make me want to barf.
The states were doing a marvelous job of trapping and transplanting Wild Turkeys before the NWTF was even a figment of someone's imagination.
Quote from: L.F. Cox on March 24, 2014, 07:12:44 PM
I saw no option for no....my vote is NO
We don't need any organizations we have our Game and Fish Commissions.
All organizations like the NWTF do is claim credit for what our Game and Fish has done and is doing.....while sucking money from each state accomplished by the hard work of volunteers in each state.
It was nothing but a Ponsie scheme from the get go...
Luther?? that name sounds familar. I wouldn't have believed I would be agreeing with you, but I seem to feel the same as you about the NWTF. Don't hold it against me though.
As part of the NWTF, all four of the aforementioned items are part of what the NWTF does, and in my opinion does a very good job of, but that is my personal opinion, do I agree with everything it does, but do any of us agree fully with anything that anyone else does, NO, that is what makes us different, and why it is compromised with people from all works of life (volunteers), we have personally had some of the upper management from Edgefield atten our state chapter meetings in Louisiana and our 4 state gatherings also, and have had some attend local meetings & events also, so, do I think the NWTF could be improved, Yes, do I thin we need another nationa organization for turkeys, NO, my opinion & my opinion only, but I will say that without the money that we as volunteers raise in each state for turkeys I do not feel like we would be where we are today, and that without the help of the NWTF, QDMA, RMEF, WU, DU, Delta WF, & other organizations we would be a BAD state in our nation as far as our hunting opportunities and priveledges that we enjoy
I have been a member of a northern CA NWTF chapter for four years now. Our chapter never has meetings and seems non existent until the yearly banquet comes along. I am getting the feeling that all they want is my $$$$.