Just wrote this to the author/sponsor of bill- Jane. Left a few personal details out but gets the important points across. I probably should have fine tuned it but heck- I just fired it off! Feel free to take any bits or ideas from below & make sure u write in to all those 5 legislators emails listed.
Hello Jane, I hope you're doing well. I understand that you are the sponsor of this bill & your reasons why. I want to give you a respectful analysis of why this cannot pass. I own ________. I farm a large # of crop acres & also manage the farms for hunting. I let no less than ____ hunters per year - Resident & Non-Resident hunt my land at no charge.
I have watched the NR land owner battles & been involved for 25 years as they have tried to change our state for decades. They are almost always out of states like Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc. Texas being the most common & a state with 5.5 Million deer VS 445,000 in Iowa & 10x the habitat we do. We are the last great state that has not been ruined by Non-Residents- fleeing their states to hunt a very fragile system we have in Iowa. The Texas mindset has always been "buy what you want"... whether it's a membership to a hunt club, a paid hunt on a high fence operation or an expensive lease. It's their culture to buy the resource. This does not mesh well in Iowa with the least amount of habitat, smallest deer herd & lowest amount of public land of any Midwest state.
This has been tried countless times before & it's been defeated going back 40 years now. For extremely valid reasons. Access to quality hunting land is the #1 reason hunters of Iowa are quitting. Any incentives to NR's will continue to erode access to your constituents. This will blow up land values & the residents will out of the game extremely fast. The new farmer will get crushed. The next step will be legislation to open it up to anyone with 160 acres or pay income tax. Also, a slap in the face to those that actually moved here to live, invest, vote & build Iowa's economy 365 days a year. We are bringing in hundreds to thousands of new Residents that move here for our Citizen of Iowa status, to hunt & to grow our state- every year. These bills will crush the desire of those folks to move here.
Our Deer Hunting Economy is approximately $180m per year (DNR study & data) & more like a Billion dollars when you factor in property values, cabins, trucks, tractors, implements, hired labor, etc. NR pressure increasing in our state will push more R's out at a FASTER pace than the concerning position we already find ourselves in. This will crush the everyday hunter, kid who hunts by permission (like on my farms) & the future hunters of our state. Push them out & there's no one to control the doe #'s. The NR's ONLY come here a few weeks a year during hunting season to shoot a buck & return to their resident state. Those NR's don't buy their gear, vehicles or contribute to the economy 365 like folks like me or all residents.
Make no mistake, I have NR friends who support this. Friends who know this gentleman from Texas. Their plan is to gain this advantage & crack in our system and ask for more in the next legislative session. I literally have dozens of close friends ready to employ BILLIONS of dollars to buy up Iowa land if this passes & they see the crack in our system. This absolutely cannot pass & this will be the slippery slope that destroys the Residents outdoor activities along with countless farmers, etc. This is precisely why every single Conservation group, Economic lobby all the way to Farm Bureau is opposed to this. I work with no less than a dozen of these groups along with many Legislators... Any that understand the true dynamics here all oppose this. Please, I respectfully ask, please pull this bill. There's zero positive to come from it. The Negatives to the (R) Party, voters, farmers, hunters & residents of this state are vast & profound. I know these issues inside & out, and I can explain from A to Z all the dynamics at play here. Please call me anytime & I'd be glad to meet to have a constructive & respectful conversation here. This is also coming from a Resident that would make MILLIONS of dollars if this passed as I could sell some of my farms at staggering figures... I would financially benefit personally if NR access was opened up... I absolutely do not want for that as it would ruin our state and our fragile resource.
Thank you & please feel to contact me anytime...
Hello Jane, I hope you're doing well. I understand that you are the sponsor of this bill & your reasons why. I want to give you a respectful analysis of why this cannot pass. I own ________. I farm a large # of crop acres & also manage the farms for hunting. I let no less than ____ hunters per year - Resident & Non-Resident hunt my land at no charge.
I have watched the NR land owner battles & been involved for 25 years as they have tried to change our state for decades. They are almost always out of states like Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc. Texas being the most common & a state with 5.5 Million deer VS 445,000 in Iowa & 10x the habitat we do. We are the last great state that has not been ruined by Non-Residents- fleeing their states to hunt a very fragile system we have in Iowa. The Texas mindset has always been "buy what you want"... whether it's a membership to a hunt club, a paid hunt on a high fence operation or an expensive lease. It's their culture to buy the resource. This does not mesh well in Iowa with the least amount of habitat, smallest deer herd & lowest amount of public land of any Midwest state.
This has been tried countless times before & it's been defeated going back 40 years now. For extremely valid reasons. Access to quality hunting land is the #1 reason hunters of Iowa are quitting. Any incentives to NR's will continue to erode access to your constituents. This will blow up land values & the residents will out of the game extremely fast. The new farmer will get crushed. The next step will be legislation to open it up to anyone with 160 acres or pay income tax. Also, a slap in the face to those that actually moved here to live, invest, vote & build Iowa's economy 365 days a year. We are bringing in hundreds to thousands of new Residents that move here for our Citizen of Iowa status, to hunt & to grow our state- every year. These bills will crush the desire of those folks to move here.
Our Deer Hunting Economy is approximately $180m per year (DNR study & data) & more like a Billion dollars when you factor in property values, cabins, trucks, tractors, implements, hired labor, etc. NR pressure increasing in our state will push more R's out at a FASTER pace than the concerning position we already find ourselves in. This will crush the everyday hunter, kid who hunts by permission (like on my farms) & the future hunters of our state. Push them out & there's no one to control the doe #'s. The NR's ONLY come here a few weeks a year during hunting season to shoot a buck & return to their resident state. Those NR's don't buy their gear, vehicles or contribute to the economy 365 like folks like me or all residents.
Make no mistake, I have NR friends who support this. Friends who know this gentleman from Texas. Their plan is to gain this advantage & crack in our system and ask for more in the next legislative session. I literally have dozens of close friends ready to employ BILLIONS of dollars to buy up Iowa land if this passes & they see the crack in our system. This absolutely cannot pass & this will be the slippery slope that destroys the Residents outdoor activities along with countless farmers, etc. This is precisely why every single Conservation group, Economic lobby all the way to Farm Bureau is opposed to this. I work with no less than a dozen of these groups along with many Legislators... Any that understand the true dynamics here all oppose this. Please, I respectfully ask, please pull this bill. There's zero positive to come from it. The Negatives to the (R) Party, voters, farmers, hunters & residents of this state are vast & profound. I know these issues inside & out, and I can explain from A to Z all the dynamics at play here. Please call me anytime & I'd be glad to meet to have a constructive & respectful conversation here. This is also coming from a Resident that would make MILLIONS of dollars if this passed as I could sell some of my farms at staggering figures... I would financially benefit personally if NR access was opened up... I absolutely do not want for that as it would ruin our state and our fragile resource.
Thank you & please feel to contact me anytime...
