October 2011 President message
Stand up and be counted
One thing that hunters across the country don’t often get is public acknowledgement of the benefits of their activities. One way to overcome this is to have credible, recent and relevant information ‘in the bank’ that can be presented to media outlets and government authorities in need.
Generally, information collected about hunting activities has mainly been the result of specific state game management departments collecting hunting return forms and other small-scale surveys that captured a limited amount of data. However, SSAA National has recently been advised that an Australia-wide hunting survey is ready to go and we are already looking forward to the information that will be obtained through this survey. As a collaborating partner of The University of Queensland’s Red Deer Research Project, along with the Australian Deer Association, Safari Club International, Game Council NSW, Biosecurity Queensland, Queensland Parks & Wildlife and Toowoomba Regional Council, SSAA National (and SSAA Queensland) wishes to advise our members that the Australian Hunter Survey is now online and ready for Australia’s hunting community to do their part to provide a snapshot of their hunting activities.
The online survey is available to all Australian hunters at www.surveymonkey.com/s/aushuntersurvey The survey is very easy to navigate and will only take around 10 minutes to complete. Make sure that you let your hunting mates know about the survey too and even try to peg them down in front of your computer when they are next over at your place. The survey is an important component of the overall Red Deer Research Project, where the aim is to help quantify the cultural and economic values (costs and benefits) of hunting, not just in Queensland, but across the whole country. The survey is completely anonymous and all the results will be made freely available on the Research Project’s website. We will also review the results and publish material in our own publications.
The sharing of information within the hunting and non-hunting community is a very important step in displaying the social, economic and environmental benefits of hunting to the wider community. The University of Queensland’s Red Deer Research Project has already been a credibility booster for SSAA National and SSAA Queensland. Non-hunting partners of the research project have seen the many positive things hunters and hunting organisations are doing and this has allowed opportunities to work together on other projects.
SSAA members should take a look at the Research Project webpage when they have a spare moment. Here, you will find information about the project such as up-to-date news, meeting minutes, individual deer profiles and more. The photo gallery is also worth a look to capture some images from the project so far.
Spend 10 minutes of your time participating in the Australian Hunter Survey to ensure that your voice is heard and your activities counted, so we can help shape our hunting future.
Bob Green
SSAA National President
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