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EXAMPLE LETTERS YOU WRITE IN & LEGISLATURE CONTACTS!!!

Sligh1

Sligh1

Administrator
Staff member
Please!!!!!! Post some generic letters you write in!!! We need some examples. Anything well spoken, bullet pointed/concise, persuasive & respectful, etc. Please post several!!!

If anyone has legislature list- please post. I’m working on this as we speak too. Thx!!!
 
Haven’t spell checked it yet and so on but this is what I’m sending to the natural resource and environment committee on SF145


Hello,

I’m writing you today as my representative in regards to SF 145. This senate file involves creating a rifle season for turkeys using .17 HMRs in Iowa. As an Iowa resident and hunter I am strongly against the file.

I have grown up in Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with my bachelor’s degree in biology focused on wildlife. I have became very passionate about turkey hunting over the last 7 or so years and as a hunter and biologist I see why SF 145 is a terrible idea.

I introduced my wife to turkey hunting the last couple of years and she was able to harvest her first turkey ever last year. Why did I bring up my wife’s success? Simple, a lot of people lobbying for this bill are using “hunter opportunity” to push it forward. Why is that completely arrogant? It’s simple we have plenty of shotgun sizes to hunt turkeys with from .410 to 10 gauge. My wife is a small woman and she harvested her first turkey with a 12 gauge, a gun most people say is too big for a woman or smaller person. She had no trouble. Also adding .17 HMRs for hunter opportunity doesn’t pan out, we have limited habitat in Iowa. When all these “new” hunters take the woods where are they going to go, most likely the crowded public land which brings up a safety issue I’ll discuss later. Now if you wanted to increase “hunter opportunity” what we actually need is more public lands. I may suggest an even simpler solution as well, stop changing Iowa’s game laws. Unless you want to open predator seasons year round we don’t want seasons changed. We have a delicate ecosystem here and we have great hunting opportunities the way things are.

Unfortunately there’s something you might not know happening all over the country and in our very own beloved state. The wild turkey populations are on the decline, significantly. Now I know it’s not just hunting causing this but if we add rifles we are just doing more to hurt the population we do have. You can easy look up studies happening right now on Iowa’s wild turkey population and I encourage you to do so before even considering this file.

Now you may be wondering why would .17 HMRs be so bad for Iowa? Currently we use shotguns limiting our effective range to under 50 yards. Yeah some people take further shots but ethics come into play. I prefer to shoot turkeys under 20 yards because you get to have more of an interaction with the bird and you have earned the right to harvest it if you get him in that close. Now here’s where 17 HMRs are different they use a solid projectile that only has 3 inches of drop at 150 yards. Now a turkeys vitals are about the size of two of your fists put together. So it’s an easy target at 150 yards with a HMR. The amount of turkeys I can get to come to 150 yards is exponentially higher than the ones I get under 50 let alone 20 yards. I don’t know if you’ve ever turkey hunted but there’s a term a lot of us use “he’s hung up”. Now this is a turkeys natural breeding behavior as a tom will usually strut and the hens will go to him. So a lot of times when you use decoys a tom turkey will only come to about 100 yards and just stand there and strut hoping those decoys will go to him. With a shotgun he’s safe, a .17 HMR he’s dead. They would be way too effective in Iowa.

I brought up there being a safety issue with the .17 HMRs as well. Turkey hunters love to use decoys and decoys are getting more and more realistic every year. Camouflage also gets better each and every year and all turkey hunters wear it. Now imagine you walk in and set your decoys up in the dark then go set down next to a tree and wait til shooting light. Shooting light for turkeys is a half hour before sunrise so it’s still a little dark. You’re on public land and it just starts getting light, you are hearing the turkey gobbling and all of a sudden you hear a gunshot and your decoy falls over. There’s several stories where people have been shot/shot at by people using rifles for turkey hunting because they don’t see the people next to their decoys and they don’t realize the decoys are decoys. I can tell you right now the decoys I use for hunting would be mistaken ten out of ten times for real turkeys at 150 yards through a rifle scope. This is extremely dangerous. Increase the odds for more hunting accidents. The people pushing for new weapons to increase “opportunities” aren’t the hunters of Iowa. It’s the people with money to gain from gun sales. They don’t care about hunter opportunities. They actually destroy opportunities.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I really hope that you understand where my stance and many others are coming from.

Thank you,

Curtis Walker


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Here’s the committee list
IMG_2612.png


Here is the emails:

annette.sweeney@legis.iowa.gov

dawn.driscoll@legis.iowa.gov

sarah.trone.garriott@legis.iowa.gov

nate.boulton@legis.iowa.gov

claire.celsi@legis.iowa.gov

chris.cournoyer@legis.iowa.gov

jesse.green@legis.iowa.gov

robert.hogg@legis.iowa.gov

jim.lykam@legis.iowa.gov

ken.rozenboom@legis.iowa.gov

tom.shipley@legis.iowa.gov

jeff.taylor@legis.iowa.gov

dan.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That looks great Curtis , however, I wonder how many of them will take the time to read it all. I imagine they get a lot of emails and if they aren't particularly interested in the subject matter, I bet many of them are skimmed at best.
 
Here’s some bullet points I’ll throw out there. I’m whipping these out on my phone off top of my head so if I included these in letter/email- clearly I’d clean up, word right & refine…

1,500 more NR tags

- Hurts the Resident hunters of this state that are struggling with access to quality hunting land as it is.
-our public lands are increasingly pressured & this would further burden our limited resource. Iowa has the least amount of public land of all 50 states!
-voters, citizens & hunters of this state do NOT support this!
- iowa is 7-8% timber & an almost limitless amount of NR hunters fleeing their ruined states to hunt here. The push for more NR tags (that displace Resident hunters) will never end.
- increase land prices that are already being bought up by a large % of Non Residents.
- this is almost the exact path Illinois took that resulted in that states hunting going down the tubes: little by little adding more tags every few years until it’s now almost over the counter. The land is completed locked up, leased, outfitted & bought up to restrict access.

On & on. Those are a few bullet points. Folks- this is meant to be a stepping stone. I hope you all realize this. & even adding NR 1500 More hunters to our landscape has no merit & we don’t have this massive deer herd like some like to think! This won’t stop at 1500. It won’t stop until we are Illinois. Which is exactly what they want. I assure u- we do NOT want to become IL. A place dominated by NR’s, outfitters, top end killing, leasing & $!!! It’s ruined that once great state. This is how resources are ruined. It never happens “all at once”. It’s drip by drip. There’s ZERO merit for this legislation. ZERO. Other than “I want to make more $” or “I want my way & want to be able to shoot bucks more often!” This benefits the Resident hunter: ZERO, NADA, ZILCH. It hurts the R hunter by definition. & the path it’s meant to take will turn iowa into Illinois. I’ve seen great states go from great to degraded in LESS THAN 10 YEARS!!!!! The politicians will do this if we don’t write in. & yes folks- the good ones are requesting and asking us to write in. They know what’s going on!!! Help them help you! Write in!!!

START VID AROUND THE 8-9 minute mark. Last of bullet points….
 
Letter sent to Natural resources committee, tried to keep it short and concise!

Hello - This email is pertaining to several proposed hunting bills that, I believe, would be detrimental to both the hunting quality and opportunities in the state of Iowa.

SF 42 – Would increases nonresident tag quota from 6,000 to 7,500.
  • This increase alone probably wouldn’t have devasting affects on Iowa’s deer hunting, but I know it is stepping stone that cannot pass. If this passes (like anything in government), in few years someone will want to increase it 10,000, then 12,000, then 15,000, and so on. By current estimates, Iowa is only 6%-8% timber, we don’t have room for any more nonresident hunters! Allowing any more nonresident hunters would result in either 1) more private land being leased/bought by nonresidents, which would displace resident hunters, or 2) more pressure on our already limited and highly pressured public land. I strongly believe Iowa should keep the nonresident tag quota at 6,000.
SF 138 – Would allow airbows as a legal method of take during deer, firearm season.
  • There is no way any conservation or hunting organization is advocating for introducing these weapons. Firearm season should be for firearms.
SF 145 – Would establish a turkey rifle season with .17 HMR rifle.
  • Again, I do not believe there are any hunters or outdoor organization that are pushing for this weapon and season for turkeys. At a time when avian influenza, predators, and lost habitat are wrecking turkey populations across the state, the last thing Iowa turkeys need is another season with rifles allowed. The turkey seasons in Iowa are almost perfect now to balance hunter opportunity while minimizing the pressure put on turkeys during their mating season. Allowing rifles would also make the turkeys woods infinitely more dangerous as hunters are not wearing blaze orange.
Thank you for your time today, and I hope you will continue to protect Iowa’s great residents and natural resources.
 
My name is Rob Lange. I am a resident landowner, farmer, avid outdoorsman, and owner of Midwest Habitat Company.

Every year there are bills introduced that threaten Iowa's great hunting tradition. State after state has degraded their hunting quality and opportunities by changing/adding season, weapons, and tags. Iowa is the cream of the crop as a whitetail state that provides BOTH opportunity AND quality. However, the rules & regulations are constantly under attack by groups and folks that fail to see the big picture. Common sense conservation needs to start becoming the prevailing thought. We need to stop adding seasons, tags, & weapons.

Personally, I moved here from Michigan a decade ago to escape a poorly managed state. There have been thousands of other people that have moved here from other states because of the management that Iowa has. The economic impact has been profound.

SF42 - Increases nonresident tag quota from 6,000 to 7,500 (O)
-Our public lands are increasingly pressured & this would further burden our limited resource. Iowa has the least amount of public land of all 50 states.
-Increase in non-resident tags will further displace RESIDENT hunters. Outfitters will gobble up more land to provide more spots for wealthy non-resident hunters. This may economically benefit a tiny number of outfitters but is bad news for the everyday working families of Iowa that want a place to hunt.
-Illinois is a perfect case study to look at. More non-resident tags equates to less opportunities to Iowa RESIDENTS. This happens by increasing percentages of both leased farms and land acquisition by non- residents.

SF 138 - Airbows (O) - This bill provides that an airbow is a legal method of take during any deer hunting season in which any firearm is a legal method of take
This bill is completely unnecessary. Iowa does not need further weapon expansion.

SF 145 - Rifles For Turkey Hunting (O) - This bill requires the Natural Resource Commission to establish a rifle season for hunting turkey. The method of take for the rifle season shall be a caliber .17 hornady magnum rimfire rifle.
This is a terrible idea from both a safety and a natural resource perspective. Turkey hunting involves spring foliage, no hunter's orange requirement, calling that mimics the animal. People, particularly on public lands, are in danger of getting shot by adding rifles to the mix.
Turkey populations are on the decline nationwide. Increased efficiency in the method of take will not help turkey populations rebound.
Further expansion of rifles into any game season is a steppingstone into further rifle expansion into deer season, which I am vehemently opposed to.


I truly hope the legislature takes a moment to look around and not become "just another state". Please stop these bills in their tracks. These bills are not needed and will only degrade the hunting that has become the envy of the rest of the country.

STOP ADDING SEASONS, TAGS, & WEAPONS.

This is a great video for you to reflect upon. KEEP IOWA HUNTING GREAT!!! PART 2 - FULL - YouTube


Thank you.

-Rob Lange
 
Sorry, I don't write these letters often enough, should the letter be emailed to all of the above committee emails?
 
UPDATED Email List: USE THIS ONE.

annette.sweeney@legis.iowa.gov
tom.shipley@legis.iowa.gov
izaah.knox@legis.iowa.gov

liz.bennett@legis.iowa.gov
claire.celsi@legis.iowa.gov

chris.cournoyer@legis.iowa.gov
rocky.dewitt@legis.iowa.gov
dawn.driscoll@legis.iowa.gov
lynn.evans@legis.iowa.gov
jesse.green@legis.iowa.gov
ken.rozenboom@legis.iowa.gov
dan.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov
tom.jeneary@legis.iowa.gov
ken.carlson@legis.iowa.gov
adam.zabner@legis.iowa.gov
ako.abdul-samad@legis.iowa.gov
timi.brown-powers@legis.iowa.gov
dean.fisher@legis.iowa.gov
dan.gehlbach@legis.iowa.gov
thomas.gerhold@legis.iowa.gov
helena.hayes@legis.iowa.gov
heather.hora@legis.iowa.gov
david.jacoby@legis.iowa.gov
kenan.judge@legis.iowa.gov
shannon.latham@legis.iowa.gov
elinor.levin@legis.iowa.gov
norlin.mommsen@legis.iowa.gov
j.d.scholten@legis.iowa.gov
brad.sherman@legis.iowa.gov
art.staed@legis.iowa.gov
sharon.steckman@legis.iowa.gov
luana.stoltenberg@legis.iowa.gov
mark.thompson@legis.iowa.gov
 
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