Federal Upland Stamp, is it time?

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
Take a look at this proposal and tell me what you all think. I would be all for it if as much of the funds hit the ground as the federal waterfowl stamps funding does. Lets here it, questions? Concerns? Pro or con?

http://www.ultimateuplandnews.com/its-time-for-the-federal-upland-stamp/

If you are for the idea please sign the petition on the bottom of the page.
 
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Great idea Robert----I signed the petition and left a comment---thanks for posting the link. :thumbsup:

JIM
 
I think its a great idea but how is the USFWS going to be tied to it. Were is the federal nexus? Upland birds are and have been historically managed by the states. Upland birds are not "trust" species of the USFWS to manage unless tied to the ESA. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I just see some big problems. If done I see the private lands programs being funded again and the easement program being expanded outside the pot hole region. That would be great! And maybe even UPA's ( upland production areas)? lol

Maybe the upland folks could piggy back onto the Duck Stamp, say add another 5 bucks for a 30 dollar duck stamp. One more stamp means another potential problem for folks getting a ticket from Mr. Green Jeans.
 
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Good points 3car, these are the things that need to be worked out. The first thing I could think of right off the bat was using funds to better manage the upland habitats of Federal refuges. They are the only places around me to hunt pheasants and could definitely use some help.

We should remember too that upland game birds aren't the only animals that benefit from healthy upland habitats. Lots of migrating song birds, raptor, owls, and mammals need the help too.
 
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quail hound said:
Good points 3car, these are the things that need to be worked out. The first thing I could think of right off the bat was using funds to better manage the upland habitats of Federal refuges. They are the only places around me to hunt pheasants and could definitely use some help.

We should remember too that upland game birds aren't the only animals that benefit from healthy upland habitats. Lots of migrating song birds, raptor, owls, and mammals need the help too.
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Those refuges were probably bought with migratory birds as the primary reason for management. But its easy to justify better grasslands for migratory birds should improve upland bird success as well. I know the fws fire program needs help and grass seed is expensive. Its easy to spend 3- 400 bucks an acre on grass seed if you want a bunch of native forbs.
 
Would much rather see it on the State level instead!!:cheers:
 
BleuBijou said:
Would much rather see it on the State level instead!!:cheers:
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Ca has an upland stamp, since it's inception upland game birds and hunters have steadily declined. From around 250,000 wild pheasants and 1.5 million quail harvested the year before the stamp (1992) to around 70,000 pheasants and 600,000 quail in the last year of harvest reports I can find (2010). Now I know game birds are dependent on weather but this is a steady decline and not much of the funds from the stamp hit the ground. Of the $1.4mil or so of funds raised each year by the stamp only around $400,000 ever sees the field. Not a great ratio compared to what the federal duck stamps do. I'd like to see Ca stamp funding reformed and it would be nice to have some matching funds from a fed stamp. If California's sage grouse population falls any further all the other states with sage hens can kiss their hunting season good bye.
 
quail hound said:
Of the $1.4mil or so of funds raised each year by the stamp only around $400,000 ever sees the field. Not a great ratio compared to what the federal duck stamps do.
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That's not a great ratio. "2 for me 1 for you". lol

Do you know were the $1 million goes?

Nick
 
quail hound said:
Ca has an upland stamp, since it's inception upland game birds and hunters have steadily declined. From around 250,000 wild pheasants and 1.5 million quail harvested the year before the stamp (1992) to around 70,000 pheasants and 600,000 quail in the last year of harvest reports I can find (2010). Now I know game birds are dependent on weather but this is a steady decline and not much of the funds from the stamp hit the ground. Of the $1.4mil or so of funds raised each year by the stamp only around $400,000 ever sees the field. Not a great ratio compared to what the federal duck stamps do. I'd like to see Ca stamp funding reformed and it would be nice to have some matching funds from a fed stamp. If California's sage grouse population falls any further all the other states with sage hens can kiss their hunting season good bye.
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29% return! Yes, I would say some changes need to occur... The fact of the matter is you just cannot throw money at a problem and expect it to get better and the more money that is raised the more hands that seem to get into the pot. It would seem at the Federal level that this would be an even larger issue. If each State had one I could see the potential as well for hunters and others to just collect them all even if they do not hunt them all. But better organization and oversight needs to be implemented for sure!!:cheers:
 
What if funds were distributed much like Pittman-Robertson act funds? That would not only maintain state management but also promote states to take on habitat projects. These are the types of questions we need to be asking and getting everyone's input on.

Here is a follow up article that touches on some ideas of how funds could be used.

http://www.ultimateuplandnews.com/making-the-upland-stamp-work/
 
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quail hound said:
What if funds were distributed much like Pittman-Robertson act funds? That would not only maintain state management but also promote states to take on habitat projects. These are the types of questions we need to be asking and getting everyone's input on.

Here is a follow up article that touches on some ideas of how funds could be used.

http://www.ultimateuplandnews.com/making-the-upland-stamp-work/
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I think that is a start and believe that this is such a large issue that many ideas and fund implementation will be the key to success. Good people in the fore front is also a key ingredient. You can't get too top heavy either. I have faith in Christine to develop this venture. She is a friend of a very close friend of mine. Christine is well connected to the hunting industry.:cheers:
 
We need something like this. CRP is a good program and really helps but it is not keeping pace with crop prices and therefor losing acres. There are a few who do habitat work on their land just because they can and have the desire to do so, but it is not nearly enough to do a lot of good. People come to South Dakota and spend BIG bucks to hunt and party, they think nothing of spending hundreds of dollars on food, lodging, guns and ammo, trespass fees, dogs, booze, yet people don't want to spend a lousy 20-30 bucks to buy a habitat stamp. Talk about having priorities wrong. Look I'm very lucky to live where I do and have land to work with. I do the best I can, but it's not enough and we as upland hunters need to do our share and maybe more than our share.

To pre answer the question. NO I do not charge to hunt, last year 42 people from 17 states enjoyed hunting upland birds, wild free roaming, no charge, just the way it use to be and can be again if we ALL work at it. This would be start.
 
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Thanks, Jim! That's a great post. I would certainly be a supporter. The just announced a higher duck stamp. I still buy one because I like the cause, even though I don't really like duck hunting. Like a lot of upland hunters, I grew up a quail and pheasant hunter, branched out to all upland birds. Will be till I can't walk, ( or ride a horse). If we could do what we did with ducks, establishing a chain of habitat "refuges" for upland, ( that does not mean no hunting), but the ability to allow safe refuge for upland birds to migrate to acceptable other areas, would help a lot. We have areas with good bird populations which are landlocked into a finite space. One of the safe guards for upland bird disastrous decline, is "hyper accelerated reproduction", if there is no place to disperse, eliminates that possibility, as we know, a certain habitat will only support so many birds. It would help to avoid to much inbreeding, bobwhite quail "shuffle", twice a year, to disperse and find new mates and new territory. Obviously, we need more current research on all upland birds, a lot of our knowledge is from nearly 100 years ago! Just a thought, I saw an article on a transplanted hen prairie chicken, who was radio tracked, from NW Missouri, to 100 miles south, to Illinois, and migrated back to about 30 miles from it's release sight....in a CRP prairie in Iowa! What we don't know is a liability, we do some things which are ill-advised, based on good faith guesstimate. Money, and publicity are all good in the pursuit of the Upland cause, even better when it's done by hunters! A good way for us old timers as a legacy to the future.
 
I'm all in on eliminating the corn subsidiary . Ethonal is a great solution to a problem that doesn't exist anymore. That would make crp rates more attractive
 
Grouse Stamp

Chip said:
I don't think giving the federal government more money is the answer to anything.
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In Idaho the feds list Pheasants as "invasive species" that must be removed from NWF lands. They should call it an Grouse Stamp not Upland as In Idaho 90% of are upland birds are nonnative .
 
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