teeroy
Life Member
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Daily Iowegian – Centerville & Appanoose County newspaper –
Non-resident landowners seeking equal hunting rights as Iowa landowners
By Michael Schaffer - Managing Editor
January 13, 2009 10:31 am
— A group of non-resident, out-of-state landowners plan to offer an initiative to the legislature this year asking for the same hunting privileges resident Iowa landowners currently enjoy.
Mike Sorensen, a member of Friends of Iowa Landowners and Sportsmen, the organization that plans to offer the initiative, Saturday morning said equal hunting privileges would bring economic benefits to the state and would help to reduce the deer herd.
"The other opportunities we bring in is new cash flow into this state, tourist money," Sorensen said, which would benefit and has benefited communities in Appanoose County. "It's all new money that comes into this state that wouldn't be here otherwise. Small communities would benefit by allowing non-residents more opportunity to come to the state and participate in some of the recreational opportunities that they are denied right now."
Sorensen and others seeking equal hunting privileges met with Iowa Department of Natural Resources officer Ken Herring Friday night at a cabin near Honey Creek Resort State Park. Saturday morning they gathered at the lodge to recap the previous days agenda.
"Presently the deer management policy in Iowa restricts out-of-state landowners from hunting their property and maintaining their property like other landowners in the area are able to," Sorensen said. "We're drafting legislation that would address that issue for us."
Sorensen said they believe they are gathering support from key state and agricultural organizations.
"We've developed relationships with folks at the DNR," Sorensen said. "We've made contact with the legislature. We've sat down and discussed the issue with the farm bureau and some of the other organizations in Iowa. We'll keep our fingers crossed. We don't have commitments from them but I believe they have the same policy as what we're trying to do."
The issue of giving non-resident landowners the same hunting privileges began at least six years ago when Tom Bentley, Stuart Hagen and a third man took a fancy to the land in Appanoose County.
"And we saw some potential that nobody in Centerville ever saw, evidently," Hagen said. "We don't just come here to take a deer. We end up investing in the community."
Hagen, also a member of Friends and a part-time resident of Iowa, said he would like to see equality in the way either-sex deer and antlerless tags are given out.
"Basically a hunt your own land permit," Hagen said. "So, we're not asking to hunt everybody else's land or compete with the local Iowa people...or to compete with them on state land."
Hagen, who owns farms in Appanoose County and Wayne County, said the restrictions placed on non-resident landowners prevents them from participating in reducing the deer herd.
"So the deer population on some of these non-resident landowners farms is getting way out of hand. There's getting to be way, way to many deer and they have no way of controlling it," Hagen said. "Non-residents, they can own all of this land and they can have hundreds of deer on them, but they can only shoot one doe a year."
Hagen said he lives part of the time in Iowa and part of the time in Wisconsin.
"I became an Iowa resident strictly because I love it down here so much I want to hunt down here and the only way I can get a tag is to become an Iowa resident," Hagen said.
The Friends of Iowa Landowners and Sportsmen Web site is http://www.friendsofiowa.com. There the group lists four goals it is promoting besides the goal of equal hunting rights for non-resident Iowa landowners. </div></div>
if you would like to share your thoughts with ken herring at
[email protected]
Non-resident landowners seeking equal hunting rights as Iowa landowners
By Michael Schaffer - Managing Editor
January 13, 2009 10:31 am
— A group of non-resident, out-of-state landowners plan to offer an initiative to the legislature this year asking for the same hunting privileges resident Iowa landowners currently enjoy.
Mike Sorensen, a member of Friends of Iowa Landowners and Sportsmen, the organization that plans to offer the initiative, Saturday morning said equal hunting privileges would bring economic benefits to the state and would help to reduce the deer herd.
"The other opportunities we bring in is new cash flow into this state, tourist money," Sorensen said, which would benefit and has benefited communities in Appanoose County. "It's all new money that comes into this state that wouldn't be here otherwise. Small communities would benefit by allowing non-residents more opportunity to come to the state and participate in some of the recreational opportunities that they are denied right now."
Sorensen and others seeking equal hunting privileges met with Iowa Department of Natural Resources officer Ken Herring Friday night at a cabin near Honey Creek Resort State Park. Saturday morning they gathered at the lodge to recap the previous days agenda.
"Presently the deer management policy in Iowa restricts out-of-state landowners from hunting their property and maintaining their property like other landowners in the area are able to," Sorensen said. "We're drafting legislation that would address that issue for us."
Sorensen said they believe they are gathering support from key state and agricultural organizations.
"We've developed relationships with folks at the DNR," Sorensen said. "We've made contact with the legislature. We've sat down and discussed the issue with the farm bureau and some of the other organizations in Iowa. We'll keep our fingers crossed. We don't have commitments from them but I believe they have the same policy as what we're trying to do."
The issue of giving non-resident landowners the same hunting privileges began at least six years ago when Tom Bentley, Stuart Hagen and a third man took a fancy to the land in Appanoose County.
"And we saw some potential that nobody in Centerville ever saw, evidently," Hagen said. "We don't just come here to take a deer. We end up investing in the community."
Hagen, also a member of Friends and a part-time resident of Iowa, said he would like to see equality in the way either-sex deer and antlerless tags are given out.
"Basically a hunt your own land permit," Hagen said. "So, we're not asking to hunt everybody else's land or compete with the local Iowa people...or to compete with them on state land."
Hagen, who owns farms in Appanoose County and Wayne County, said the restrictions placed on non-resident landowners prevents them from participating in reducing the deer herd.
"So the deer population on some of these non-resident landowners farms is getting way out of hand. There's getting to be way, way to many deer and they have no way of controlling it," Hagen said. "Non-residents, they can own all of this land and they can have hundreds of deer on them, but they can only shoot one doe a year."
Hagen said he lives part of the time in Iowa and part of the time in Wisconsin.
"I became an Iowa resident strictly because I love it down here so much I want to hunt down here and the only way I can get a tag is to become an Iowa resident," Hagen said.
The Friends of Iowa Landowners and Sportsmen Web site is http://www.friendsofiowa.com. There the group lists four goals it is promoting besides the goal of equal hunting rights for non-resident Iowa landowners. </div></div>
if you would like to share your thoughts with ken herring at
[email protected]
