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Selected Articles from our
newsletter
The C.A.S.H. Courier
ARTICLE from the Fall 2008 Issue
Ask Uncle Joe
 BY JOE MIELE
GOT A QUESTION FOR UNCLE JOE?
YOU CAN E-MAIL IT TO ASKUNCLEJOE@HOTMAIL.COM .
WOULD YOU RATHER SNAIL MAIL YOUR QUESTION? SEND IT TO: ASK UNCLE JOE,
C/O WILDLIFE WATCH, BOX 562, NEW PALTZ, NY 12561.
UNCLE JOE GETS A LOT OF MAIL SO DON’T BE OFFENDED IF HE CANNOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION IN THE COURIER. HECK, HE’S GOTTA WORK A DAY JOB, TOO.
Letters are printed as received. They are unedited.
Dear Uncle Joe:
I think I would more respect you as a person and an American if you just
voiced your opinion but no you want to take it a step farther and that
sir is wrong, You want to take away my rights, Shame on you.
Proud Hunter Mike,
Winnfield, LA
Dear Mike:
As far as our rights as Americans are concerned, please think about this
quote from Thomas Jefferson: “The spirit of resistance to government
is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept
alive.” Jefferson understood that there are times when the
government will be wrong, and it is our duty to try to change things.
By aiming to correct a wrong that is being perpetrated upon wildlife by
the government we’re being as American as we can be.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
Please stop thinking that you are an authority on trapping because you
really don’t know what you’re talking about. On certain species
there isn’t a bag limit, because of the abundance of that species, but
the numbers of each species are watched closely and should the numbers
decrease to an unsafe level, laws will be put in place to protect the
remaining numbers so that they may build back up. On the opposite hand,
if the numbers of one specific species become overwhelming, limits may
be increased so that we’re not overrun.
Cary,
Bartlesville, TX
Dear Cary:
I never claimed to be an “authority” on trapping but I seem to know a few
things that you do not. If there is no limit on the number of animals
a trapper can catch, no closed season, no licensing requirement, and no
mandatory reporting of catches, how can Texas Parks and Wildlife “closely
watch” the number of animals being trapped?
And please explain this tidbit that I pulled from the Texas Parks and
Wildlife web page: “Landowners or their agents may take nuisance
furbearing animals in any number by any means at any time on that person’s
land without the need for a hunting or trapping license.”
(http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_w7000_0065.pdf)
This is pretty much the absence of regulation, rather than tightly
controlled regulation.
You’re wrong, Cary – accept it.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
I have read with great sickness in my stomach the foolish version of life as
your group defines. Your responses to the letters on your website are cruel
and biased. You criticize the feelings and beliefs of another for your own
personal agenda. God chose to set forth on this earth edible animals so that
we could maintain a respect for nature and be a part of it while at the same
time have food for our families. I love the taste of deer meat.
We don’t enjoy killing animals, we do it to EAT.
Kristy,
Altoona, PA
Dear Kristy:
Sorry, but hunters do enjoy killing animals. There are some who admit
this, and the others are not being honest. I know plenty of meat
eaters who have told me that if they had to kill the animals themselves they
would be vegetarians. Since you hunt because you enjoy the taste of deer
meat, I want you to think about the following question: Is the life of a
deer more important than the temporary satisfaction of your taste buds?
You can easily be a part of nature and appreciate her beauty without
killing. Rabbits are a part of nature, yet they don’t kill. The
same is true for deer, elk, and thousands of other species. You can
sit in a tree with a camera and watch the sun rise. You can view
wildlife with binoculars. You can hike through mountains and prairies.
You can swim and paddle out to small islands in the middle of large lakes.
You can do all this and enjoy nature without having to kill. That is
why I say that hunters who claim to not enjoy killing are liars. If
they didn’t enjoy it, they wouldn’t do it.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear (expletive deleted):
If you are so worried about deer why don’t each one of you take one each
and raise them? Fools, all of you!! I would normally take someone like you
and make it my personal goal to put you out of business but I dont see you
going anywhere or doing very much. Even a person who doesnt hunt wont have
much to do with a ratical group like yours! Exscuse me for a while, I have
fresh elk on the grill, haveing that and grilled swordfish, surf and turf!!
Your an (expletive deleted).
Spencer,
Hickory, NC
Dear Spencer:
Yes, we do care about deer and that is precisely why we will not “take them
and raise them.” Wildlife should be wild as domesticating them can do the
species no good at all. Why do hunters feel that they have to dominate every
animal that walks, crawls or swims? Hunt this, trap that, raise this – why
can’t you leave wildlife alone? As far as C.A.S.H. not doing very much, it’s
a coincidence that the Director of New Mexico’s Game and Fish Department
resigned only days after C.A.S.H. and our supporters called for him to step
down after being convicted of illegal hunting. Or is it?
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
I Hunt not for fun, not to kill a animal. I would like to ask why you
feel hunting is wrong. Now i am not trying to say you do not have the right
to your option or the right to voice it. I just wonder what makes you feel
that hunting should be illegal.
George
Crestview, FL
Dear George:
Let’s start with the fact that for the overwhelming majority of
Americans who hunt, the sport is absolutely unnecessary since they don’t
need to hunt to survive. Reasonable people agree that it is wrong to cause
unnecessary harm to an animal. Since there is nothing about hunting that is
“necessary,” and since by killing a healthy, helpless, and harmless animal
you are indeed harming them, hunting is clearly, at least in my opinion, an
unethical thing to do under most of the circumstances in which it is
practiced today. Committing violence against wildlife should be illegal. If
you were being attacked by a grizzly bear or an alligator, by all means
defend yourself but killing for sport should be illegal.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
THANK YOU for writing the letter to the local paper up here in La Crosse
County, WI. Your efforts to stop this hunting cruelty are greatly
appreciated.
Thank you again.
Jim & Carol
Dear Jim and Carol:
A thank you letter? Gee, I don’t know how to respond except to say
“Thank you”!
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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