Ohio Division of Wildlife Chief Out.

brock ratcliff said:

Just to clarify, I would not have complained a bit about a license fee increase. I just don't feel like the DoW has been on the sportmans team for a long time and I fail to see how any of this will change a thing. There are too many people doing too many things for this state to be a sportsman paradise. I've long ago figured that out and am aware of how blessed I am to have the access I do to land that isn't raped and therefore provides decent hunting. On a statewide level, forget it.

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I'm willing to bet that the reasons you don't feel like the DOW is on the sportmens team are largely due to misguided and/or ill-willed political oversight (deer numbers, insurance companies, no timber cutting, reduced upland bird habitat, etc.), or could at least be perceived that way. I'm guessing that you would have supported DOW folks who stood up against those political pressures. Perhaps they wanted to, because most of them are passionate hook and bullet proponents like yourself, but didn't, for fear of the repercussions...because they should "do as their boss says," as Joe put it. But now some actually DID stand up and voice their concerns, for the benefit of YOU, the sportsman, were crucified for it, and yet you still offer zero support. That's hard for me to comprehend.

Jackalope said:

.....a debate that's being fueled with lots of unsubstantiated the sky is falling rhetoric.

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Ha! Boy oh boy does that sound awfully familiar.

Your assumption is mostly correct, Jim. I do not feel like our DoW has had the sportsmans best interest in mind for a long time. It is not a deer only thing, but that is a factor. Unlike many, I did not just cry on forums, I spoke directly with people who should have mattered regarding my area. Zero concern shown, no action taken. This in spite of the DoW's own data directly demonstrating my claims.
Why has the DoW in recent years not managed on science? Why would they allow political pressure stop the chainsaw? Regeneration is necessary, and given time, Mother Nature will do it for us if allowed. What about pandering to the farm lobby regarding deer? They provided nearly unlimited access to crop damage permits, yet according to Tonk that wasn't enough.... if you had an actual problem the DoW gave them free range to eliminate it, yet they insisted on more killed state wide. Take care of an issue where the issue exists, Fayette County has NEVER been over populated with whitetail deer, yet it was nearly decimated. Baby with the bath water kinda crap... does not seem like an agency paying much attention.
Regarding grouse, the habitat story is the only explanation I've heard. Yet I can drive ten minutes from my house and see lumber yards full of fresh cut logs. It's not hard to find recent cuts, unless of course you drive on down to one of the local WAs such as Pike Lake where the trees are 100 feet tall and worthless to wildlife.
How about that new check in system that is supposed to save so much money and done such a wonderful job of acquiring real time information? It's convenient for folks like us that actually check in game. Nice to get on your phone or laptop and take care of that even if it is midnight. Sadly, I do not think it gives an accurate count of animals harvested due to the massive amounts of fraud I hear about... no point in reporting it as I can't even get a return call or email from a WO, the very same officers that were supposed to have more time to do their jobs since they would not be fetching slips at physical check in stations.
I grew up in Pickaway County. Our WOs name was Earl Wallace. He drove an old rear wheel drive sedan. He did not have a 50k dollar four wheel drive truck with a 10k dollar four wheeler in the back, but if you called him, he showed up. He spent a lot of time speaking with kids like me about conservation, wildlife and the importance of not abusing the resources. Forgive me

For drawing comparisons, but it's awful hard not to. I don't think our current DOW compares. In fact I think it's such a joke at this point I really don't see how any proposed changes harm it.
Then again, I'm fully prepared to be proven wrong.

Jackalope said:

Why is there never mention that the door swings both ways under that scenario? Why no mention that Zehringer has denied that's the intention. Why no mention that perhaps ODNR money from campground and boat slip fees may be used for helping sportsmen? Often times these same people point to the merger of Ohio State Parks and the Division of Watercraft as an example.. Yet they ignore the following

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Because fisheries and wildlife is the cash cow. Because the idea that campgrounds will generate enough revenue to spill over into wildlife is laughable. Because Zehringer has had a hard on for parks since day one. Because Zehringer has reapportioned money before... Like when the division of oil and gas had to pay 15 million for a lawsuit settlement near Grand Lake that didn't even pertain to them, even after they were denied to spend $10 million on infrastructure repair in Eastern Ohio... You know, the kind of work that that money was actually saved for.

jagermeister said:

Because fisheries and wildlife is the cash cow. Because the idea that campgrounds will generate enough revenue to spill over into wildlife is laughable. Because Zehringer has had a hard on for parks since day one. Because Zehringer has reapportioned money before... Like when the division of oil and gas had to pay 15 million for a lawsuit settlement near Grand Lake that didn't even pertain to them, even after they were denied to spend $10 million on infrastructure repair in Eastern Ohio... You know, the kind of work that that money was actually saved for.

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I have no idea what campground revenue streams look like, but do know that you have a heck of a time finding a spot most weekends around here. In fact many pay for Thursday to be certain they have a spot for Friday and Saturday.

Jackalope said:

So which is it. You can't claim to be the cash cow flush with money and claim that you're the desire of pillagers, while also claiming to be so broke that you need more money.

On one hand they're begging for a fee increase because they claim to be broke..

But on the other hand they're claiming zehringer wants to steal their money because they are the cash cow.

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It's the potential money, Joe. Federal aid reimbursement money. You can't claim it unless there's money there to match it. It technically shouldn't be available to be used for anything other than fish or wildlife management, but it wouldn't surprise me if they found ways to get creative. I don't know the validity of the supposed 220 million shortfall that's projected over the next 10 years... I don't recall the source of that data. But the bottom line is the DOW is the only remaining division that is self-funded. Just because a shortfall is projected doesn't mean the money can't be spread around after current projects and means of business are slashed... A move that would line up pretty conveniently with the ODNRs recent actions.

Bigslam51 said:

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170712/sparks-fly-at-wildlife-council-meeting-over-leadership-purge

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Pretty interesting. I would have liked to have been there to see it go down. It doesn't sound like Chief Miller plans on making any more big changes... We'll see if that stays true.

jagermeister said:

Pretty interesting. I would have liked to have been there to see it go down. It doesn't sound like Chief Miller plans on making any more big changes... We'll see if that stays true.

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Would of been interesting to watch!

Jackalope said:

So typical change of command. Senior leader gets fired, new guy removes the old leadership chain. Happens almost every time.

For example a guy I work with his wife worked as a lawyer for the county. A Democrat held the seat until the last election where a Republican was elected. He came in the door and gutted the place, including her.

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This doesn't happen every time, Joe. There's never been a shake up like this at the DOW, even though the position of Chief changes pretty regularly. This is unprecedented.

Jackalope said:

So typical change of command. Senior leader gets fired, new guy removes the old leadership chain. Happens almost every time.

For example a guy I work with his wife worked as a lawyer for the county. A Democrat held the seat until the last election where a Republican was elected. He came in the door and gutted the place, including her.

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It only happens in the governor level not spent his far and not across the board like this directly was. Your comparison doesn't make sense because the common denominator is the Ohio revised code which is the same for any lawyer. These appointees won't have any specific wildlife background so they will be essentilly useless