From a Southwick Associates Press Release:
In an October 2009 survey, Southwick Associates asked anglers and hunters which type of organization they trust the most for accurate information regarding fish and wildlife conservation. The results of the monthly AnglerSurvey.com and HunterSurvey.com poll show that state fish and wildlife agencies are considered the most trustworthy source of conservation information among hunters and anglers.

Of the 2,771 anglers surveyed, 54.4 percent reported state fish and wildlife agencies were their most trusted source. Of the 3,378 hunters surveyed, 50.7 percent agreed.  The second most trusted source, with 25.1 percent of anglers and 29.5 percent of hunters, was sport-fishing and hunting non-profit conservation groups.

Other options included federal agencies, outdoor television, and outdoor print media. Who do you trust most?

Sometimes you read something that - to be perfectly honest - leaves you feeling hopeless and doomed. Something so depressing it makes you want to throw up your hands, shout "to hell with it all!" and head straight to the nearest bar. Something like this, from the LA Times.
 
The latest figures from Nielsen have children's TV usage at an eight-year high. Children's health advocates warn of adverse effects.
 
More than an entire day -- that's how long children sit in front of the television in an average week, according to new findings released Monday by Nielsen.

"They're using all the technology available in their households," said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen's senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy. "They're using the DVD, they're on the Internet. They're not giving up any media -- they're just picking up more."
 
While this has obvious implications for the future of hunting and fishing, it also goes beyond that and straight to the core of our fundamental appreciation for nature itself. No one is born a hunter, an angler or a hiker. We all start life as a blank slate and what gets etched on that slate in our early childhood shapes who we will eventually become. You, I and everyone else who enjoys the outdoors, be they a hunter, an angler, a hiker, a birder or whatever, didn't get that way by mainlining 32 hours of high-definition methadone: we got that way by crawling around in the dirt catching bugs, climbing trees, building forts in the back yard and stomping around in creeks. You know, being kids. That childlike wonder, the curiosity, imagination and self-guided exploration of your surroundings. That's the base from which everything else rises. Lose that - as we most assuredly are - and you've lost an entire generation of children. And for what? So they can grow up to be the same mindless, self-absorbed zombie consumers their parents obviously are?
 
Seriously, anyone who lets their small child watch 32 hours of television, video games and Internet a week should be smacked in the head with a rolled-up copy of Richard Louv's "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder."
 
American parents, WTF are you thinking? Put down your go*****ed cellphone, get your fat a***s off Facebook, turn off the TV and pay some attention to your kids. Take them outside, let them get dirty. Let them think and explore for themselves without the help of corporate-sponsored storyline.
 
Good gawd, didn't this used to be called common sense?

Do you constantly fret over the adequacy of your gun collection? Are you worried there's a gaping hole in your hunting arsenal? Do you have guns for small game, upland birds, waterfowl, turkeys, predators, deer, elk, moose, bear, dangerous game, plains game, and pretty much anything else that walks, crawls or flies, but you still think there's something missing for the really, really big game?
 
Well, fret no more, because for the low starting bid of $19,950 you can complete your ultimate hunting battery with this, the Kongberg 90mm Harpoon Cannon, complete with everything you see here (crusty Norwegian whaler dudes sold separately).

 
Yes, that really is a genuine deck-mounted harpoon gun offered for sale on Gunbroker.com. And yes, if you really wanted it and had the coin to buy it and have it shipped to the states it could be yours. The question is, what the hell would you do with it? Is it the ultimate bowfishing rig? Could you bolt it to the bed of your truck to scare off annoying tailgaters? Lawn darts? Or is this the ultimate post-apocalyptic weapon for protecting your home?
 
What would you do with this thing? Click through this gallery of more photos of the harpoon gun for inspiration, then give us your best and most creative answer. Bonus points awarded for those that are written in a fake Norwegian accent, make some reference to Moby Dick, or include the term "thar she blows!"  
 
Unless I get lucky and draw for, say, a humpback tag, I believe I'd simply mount the thing in my front yard to deter vacuum cleaner salesmen.

No one knows better than hunters and anglers the frustration of getting zero credit or recognition for their contributions to conservation efforts. We're used to being ignored by the media, the general public and most politicians.
 
But now it seems we're also being ignored by scientists. Here's a story that summarizes a recent study on the demographics of those most and least likely to financially support conservation.
 
From the story:
 
Serious hikers and backpackers tend to become supporters of environmental and conservation groups while casual woodland tourists do not, a new study says...The researchers found that the amount of time one spent hiking or backpacking in nature correlated with a willingness, 11 to 12 years later, to financially support any of four representative conservation organizations: the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club or Environmental Defense."
 
And here's the kicker...
 
"Surprisingly, the more time one spent fishing or sightseeing in natural areas, the less likely that person was to support these particular conservation causes. "Apparently not all outdoor recreation is equal in terms of who is going to be an investor in conservation," (study co-author) Zaradic said."
 
Now first off, I'm not going to deride any of the organizations mentioned in the story. They're all good organizations that do good work. But they are hardly a true representative cross-section of the environmental/conservation movement. There are literally hundreds of national, state and local organizations that are out there doing the same thing as the four groups mentioned, and often doing it more effectively. And when you factor in all the hunting and fishing/based organizations that do conservation work you have a huge pool of potential venues in which to donate time or money.
 
So right off the bat the study's tiny sample size is going to skew the results. But what's truly amazing to me is the sweeping generalization that "the more time one spent fishing...the less likely that person was to support these particular conservation causes."
 
That statement is so painfully obvious it deserves a huge "well, no s**t!"
 
 Seriously, why would an angler - you know, a person who enjoys and cares about fishing - give money to the Nature Conservancy or the World Wildlife Fund and watch his donation go overseas to purchase a nature preserve or do conservation work in some other country when he can give the same money to, say, Trout Unlimited, and see that money put to work here?
 
And of course the study fails to mention the economic and conservation impact of the billions collected through Pittman-Robertson and Wallop-Breaux. Yes, it's true that way too many hunters and angler use Pittman-Robertson and Wallop-Breaux as a crutch and an excuse for their political apathy and inaction. Paying a few cents tax on your jerkbaits and bullets does not automatically make you a conservationist and doesn't give you a free pass to do absolutely nothing, but I often wonder if the authors of these kinds of studies are even aware of the financial contributions sportsmen make to conservation.
 
So when the study's co-author states "apparently not all outdoor recreation is equal in terms of who is going to be an investor in conservation" I guess it's true: some of us are investing a helluva lot more.