Letters To The Editor July 2005

Protect Your Gun Rights

Dear GON,

When Ronnie Garrison writes his Right To Bear Arms column every other month, everyone needs to read carefully what he has to say.

I am a deputy sheriff. The biggest number of officers I have talked with over my 22 years of working has the same feeling I have about civilians and firearms — our Second Amendment gives us the God-given right to own and keep guns for self protection.

It’s disturbing to me that we have 64 million gun owners in the USA, and only four million of them think enough of their Second-Amendment rights to join a group of people that is willing to fight for that right.

I am a life member of the National Rifle Association. It just takes a little money every year to join an organization that fights these gun-stealing thugs that are trying to steal your gun rights. If you can’t stand up and fight for that right, you need to stay out of the way of people who are fighting for that right. The Second Amendment is the only one that can protect the rest of our amendments.

As Ronnie stated in one of his columns, you need to fear the government that fears your Second Amendment right.

Some people think it won’t be too bad if we had to give up our semi-auto firearms. If you let them gets semis today, then tomorrow they will come after your single-shot .22. We need to fight to protect the rights.

Thanks GON for publishing such a fine publication. I read mine from front to back every month. Keep it coming. Thanks for giving me the space to vent what needs to be said everyday.

God Bless,

Dan McDuffie, Baldwin

NRA Gets More Praise

Dear GON,

I wanted to comment on the banning of the 50-caliber gun that Mr. Garrison talked about in his Right To Bear Arms column in the May issue.

This is the first step to ban all long guns. The likes of Ted Kennedy, Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and the Brady Bunch want to ban all guns.

PEOPLE, there is an agenda behind this, and it is not the safety of our children. The majority of Democrats want your gun.

Every person who owns a rifle or handgun needs to be a member of the NRA. They are the only people we have fighting for our gun rights!

Jim Craft, Watkinsville

Let’s Keep What We Have

Dear GON,

It’s taken us 50 years to get our deer population numbers to 1.5 million! We can’t allow anyone to ruin what we have. Three deer is enough for any hunter — two bucks and one doe.

Neal Douthit, Gainesville

Editor’s Note: WRD estimates Georgia’s current deer population at 1.2 million.

Responding To Non-resident

Dear GON,

I would like to respond to S.C. Collins letter in the May issue of GON. Mr Collins is from Florida, and a portion of his letter says, “If the DNR wants to make some good changes to the deer population, ask the out-of-staters. Most of us only harvest the deer we will eat and look for that monster buck. Change the number of bucks to three per season, and leave the does alone. Maybe then we out-of-towners will continue to hunt Georgia, pay for leases, rent motel rooms…”

I wish you would take your money elsewhere. I am a Georgia resident and have been all my life. It looks to me like I could find a hunting club in my own state without having to pay two arms and a leg for it. Since everyone has been coming up here from Florida they have been in our hunting clubs, found out the landowner’s name, went to them and offered double the money for the lease.

This is not fair to the Georgia residents who have hunted this land forever. I hope that DNR will triple the non-resident hunting license so just maybe all your Florida bunch will carry your money elsewhere, where the Georgia residents can afford to go hunting.

Michael Vickers, Douglas

Quit Being Lazy and Hunt

Dear GON,

In recent months, we have read all the letters regarding deer sightings being down from previous years.

Deer are not known as the most elusive animal in the South. When food sources are abundant, deer no longer  need to put themselves in harm’s way to feed and breed. Many hunters that hunt the same place for a long time tend to pattern themselves, and the deer know where and when to stay away. Food plots are another reason for lower deer sightings. And by this I mean those who have them versus those that do not.

Food plots are drawing deer away from clubs that don’t manage their properties. The days of the lazy hunter I believe are over. You can no longer sit back and wait for hunting season to get here and expect to be successful.

There are to many people who are working year-round to make their hunting land the best it can be, and it is paying off. Real hunters are able to find deer and harvest deer year after year. Taking the easy road is not the ticket to success in the deer woods anymore.

Blake Wilson, Pendergrass

Thoughts From Grovetown

Dear GON,

I really enjoy your magazine, great information in all categories. I read in Letters section in the April issue where Johnny Armand shot seven deer last season.

I can remember when I was young, and it was all about the numbers. Of course back then if you killed one deer you were the Deermaster. The big thing in the 1960s was to see who could limit out on doves and quail. Now look at their population. Just because there is a limit doesn’t mean we have to go after it.

I didn’t even draw an arrow on a deer last year and had just as much fun being out there. I’ve seen more deer this year, and I think it is because of the housing explosion that has really taken off here this year. It’s leaving wildlife less habitat and compressed conditions. I don’t think we have more deer, just more exposed deer.

Jack Baker, Grovetown