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Every four years, politicians who wouldn't know a duck gun from a deer rifle start talking quite a bit about hunting and fishing. That's because they know that sportsmen care passionately about issues like conservation and gun rights, and we vote.
This year is no different. Neither the Democratic nor the Republican nominee spends much time in the field personally, but each has spent a lot of effort trying to convince sportsmen that he is their better choice. And the stakes have never been higher. As the country's energy crisis deepens, fish and wildlife are being threatened by development like never before. And the recent victory for gun owners in the Supreme Court is not going to keep gun control advocates from trying to restrict the Second Amendment.
The next president is going to influence sportsmen in a major way, so we sat down with each contender to hear his opinions on conservation, guns, and the outdoors. A note on the interviews: For over 100 years it has been Field & Stream policy not to make endorsements. We know our readers are too smart to be told whom to vote for. Instead, we try to give you the information you need to make up your own mind.
"I think the most important thing that the next president can do is establish a better working relationship between the federal government and the states, because what we've seen under the Bush administration is the ability of special interests, whether it's the oil companies or the gas companies or the coal companies or what have you, to do end runs around the interests of hunters and sportsmen ..." 
"I would have to say that a real conservation goal has to [be to] protect the pristine beauty of our nation, and that means management of federal lands, much of it for multiple use. It means protecting our forests, and that means through things like healthy forest initiatives. Obviously the maintenance and upgrades that are necessary in our national parks." ...
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