Hunting Summit To Be Held In Orlando

[Converted]

July 20, 2005
Contact: Mark Trainor (850) 488-8842

Florida’s hunting community and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will be meeting in Orlando for the “2005 Summit on the Future of Hunting in Florida” on Aug. 11-13 at the Rosen Centre Hotel on International Drive.

“The summit is a major effort with the mission of bringing hunters together to plan a course of action to help ensure a brighter future for the sport of hunting in Florida,” said Bill Marvin, Florida Chapter President of the National Wild Turkey Federation and hunting summit steering committee chairman. “Trends during the past decade indicate that hunting in Florida may be facing troubled times.”

Historical trends reveal the number of hunters in Florida has declined, and the state’s landscape and population are changing rapidly in ways that are not conducive for hunting and hunters. Florida’s major hunting and conservation leaders are well aware of these challenges and have decided it is time to take action.

The summit’s aim is to:

Rally the hunting community and hunting organizations to develop and adopt a statewide initiative to help secure the future of hunting in Florida

Challenge all hunting organizations and groups to become actively involved in participating in this initiative

Enable more Floridians to enjoy the experience of hunting and become actively engaged in conservation of fish and wildlife resources

“It is clear that Florida’s hunters are extremely passionate about the traditions and heritage of hunting,” Marvin said. “The summit will help focus this passion on building a secure future for hunting and making sure hunters continue to play a major role in conserving Florida’s wildlife for future generations.”

The summit is intended to be an interactive workshop where participants are encouraged to help develop ideas and action plans and will be challenged to take an active role in preserving the future of hunting in Florida. The meeting is open to anyone who is concerned with the issue and ready for the challenge of helping come up with viable solutions.

Space is limited, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone interested in participating can request a registration form by e-mailing johnroth@cmcmtg.com or by writing to: Complete Meeting Concepts, Attn.: Future of Hunting Summit, 7380 Sand Lake Rd., Suite 500, Orlando, FL 32819.

There is a $50 registration fee which covers all meals during the summit, and hotel reservations can be made by calling the Rosen Centre Hotel at 1-800-204-7234. Indicate you are making a reservation for the Hunting Summit to receive a discounted room rate.

For more information on the 2005 Summit on the Future of Hunting in Florida, visit MyFWC.com/hunting/summit.

[Converted]

Summit to address hunting decline


With the sport suffering in Florida, major groups will meet in Orlando to discuss its future.


By JOE JULAVITS, The Times-Union

Hunting in Florida is a tradition in trouble, with an uncertain future and a past that includes a 40 percent decline in licensed hunters since 1980.

So what can be done? That's the focus of an unprecedented meeting Thursday, Aug. 11 through Saturday, Aug. 13 in Orlando.

Every facet of the hunting community -- from dog hunters to timberland owners, duck hunters to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission -- will be represented at the 2005 Summit on the Future of Hunting in Florida at the Rosen Centre Hotel.

While individual groups have tried in the past to address hunting's problems, this is the first time all parties involved in the sport will be brought together in one place.

"I'd like to see us start building more bridges across the different facets of hunting," said Nick Wiley, head of the FWC's Division of Hunting and Game Management. "This needed to be the hunting community coming together, not an FWC event.

"If we don't work together, we're all going to lose in the end."

Planning for the meeting began almost a year ago, said Bill Marvin, president of the Florida Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and chairman of the hunting summit steering committee. Private donations and sponsorships have raised close to $70,000 for the effort.

A survey was sent out to about 3,000 of the state's hunters, asking what their major concerns were about hunting. A review of the feedback identified five major issues.

· Improving the positive image of hunting.

· Do a better job of recruiting new hunters and retaining those who already hunt.

· Provide more hunting opportunities on private and public lands.

· Build a stronger political base for hunting and unify hunting's participants.

· Increase financial support for game management.

"We're basing a lot of our breakout sessions on those five basic categories," Marvin said. "We want to identify what the concerns are, and the priorities, and whether people are willing to step up and help."

"We want to see some really good solutions developed," Wiley said. "It's harder and harder to find a place to hunt, and we're not recruiting new hunters like we used to."

The problems facing hunting, and to a lesser extent, fishing, include loss of habitat due to urbanization and cultural changes that have young people dialed into computer games instead of the outdoors.

Also, while the state's deer and turkey populations are probably as healthy as they've ever been, finding a place to hunt has become increasingly difficult, especially for those of modest means.

Possible solutions to the recruitment problem could include expanding youth programs such as offered by the NWTF (JAKES) and Ducks Unlimited (Greenwings), Marvin said.

Other possibilities are designated youth hunting days for different species, similar to the established Youth Waterfowl Day program, and a mentoring program in which a youngster could hunt without a license for a certain period of time when accompanied by an adult.

Marvin also suggested having private businesses take on more of a role in hosting required hunter education classes.

"Why can't Bass Pro Shops have a hunter ed class once a month?" he said. "We're looking at ways to make it easier for people to hunt and to have special opportunities for youth."

Large tracts of unhunted private land in the state could open up more opportunities. Marvin cited the example of Lykes Brothers' huge holdings in South Florida, where lands are leased to private citizens to hunt under specific rules. The right incentives, Marvin said, might persuade other landowners to open their property to hunting.

"Hunters [in a lease agreement] can improve the habitat that benefits all game, limit the size of the deer they take and police the land, not only for poachers but for unwanted dumping," Marvin said.

"It can be a win-win situation. A landowner can feel more comfortable being away if he knows the land is being watched by his lease-holders."

The list of invitees for the summit reads like a hunting who's who. There's the NWTF, the Safari Club, United Waterfowlers, representatives of dog-hunting and fox-hunting groups, St. Joe Co., Florida Wildlife Federation, Quality Deer Management Association, Allied Sportsmen's Associations and the Division of Forestry, to name but several.

Organizers conceived the summit after attending a similar function in Texas.

"The key for hunting to survive and thrive is we all have to work together," Wiley said. "There has to be grassroots support."

After the three-day summit concludes, a report on the findings and recommendations will be released.

"We're hoping to come out with solutions," Marvin said. "I hope this isn't a one-shot deal, that it will stimulate an annual or biannual [summit] and keep moving forward."