Hunters sound off on sport’s reputation

By JENNA PORTNOY
Bucks County Courier Times

The owner of a Lackawanna County farm where hunting flourishes was forced to sell mining and drilling rights to continue his way of life.

Another in the Adirondack Mountains was told he'd have to give up 50 acres in exchange for permission to build a barn.

A young mother wants parents to teach their children to embrace the outdoors.

Jim Kosa was heartened to hear local outdoor enthusiasts share these stories — and tell some of his own — during a nonpartisan sportsmen's forum at Ottsville Fire House Sunday afternoon.

The Pipersville hunter and angler is a Democrat leaning toward voting for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. He had worried the forum would be perceived as political — especially when he couldn't get a representative from the Republican Party to join the discussion. (Pat Poprik, chairwoman for John McCain's campaign in Bucks County, said a representative from the party had planned to be there. A message left for the representative through Poprik was not returned.)

“It is a sad day in America when an attempt to engage in productive nonpartisan dialogue is perceived as a cheap political ploy,” Kosa said in a statement.

Although the talk veered into political rhetoric at times, the 14 hunters, fishermen and politicians in attendance focused on gun control, government regulation and conservation.

Mark Andre, a National Rifle Association member who will likely vote for McCain, said he's hunted all over the country and in Canada and Africa and only on the East and West coasts of the United States does the sport get a bad rap. The Ottsville resident said most hunters like himself were taught from an early age how to handle guns and respect the outdoors.

“It's your right to own what you want to own,” he said of attempts to limit gun purchases. “If you can buy it, you should be able to own it.”

His wife, Rebecca, bounced their 3-month-old daughter on her knee as she talked about the need for parents to pry children away from the television and video games and expose them to the outdoors.

The Andres were joined by the son of a friend, 16-year-old Vito Giogri of Easton, who said before he got old enough to go hunting deer and pheasant alone his grandfather would take him out almost every weekend, starting at age 11. Giogri, a McCain supporter, noted a10 percent tax on hunting gear funds conservation programs. Most participants agreed preservation should be balanced with property owners' rights.

For example, Andre said his friend's property rights were infringed upon by zoning regulations when he wanted to expand his farming business. Kosa said he was shocked to hunt turkey near his family's cabin in upstate Pennsylvania one week and find the land decimated by natural resources exploration the next.

“I would love to see ways landowners can supplement their income through ways that are kinder to the environment and sportsmen,” Kosa said. He and Andre planned to come up with ways local sportsmen can give back to the community.

Diane Allison, a Democrat running against 143rd District GOP incumbent Marguerite Quinn as well as independent Tom Lingenfelter, said she and her husband welcome sportsmen to hunt on their land both in Tinicum and New York state.

“I don't happen to hunt, but I understand the ethic,” she said, adding that the tradition “skipped a generation” in her family because her father did not take to the sport. She lamented the divide between hunters and non-hunters and suggested a mentoring program could spark the interest among young people who lack relatives to introduce them to the sport.

Larry Glick, a hunter and fisherman who is outreach director for Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy, said he's proof that not all hunters are Republicans.

“There are Democrats out there who are hunters and fisherman, far more than you think, who favor Second Amendment rights,” he said.

Two independent candidates who attended the forum favored less regulation and slammed the major political parties for what they called hypocrisy and pandering.

Tom Lingenfelter is seeking Murphy's seat in Congress and Quinn's seat in the state House. Bill O'Neill is running for state representative against incumbent Republican Scott Petri and Democrat Steve Rovner.

< Back to News/Events