Brad,

Is gun ownership a right or a privilege? And is this not a free country where I have my own opinion on the subject, including definitions? Herps and all wild animals are owned by the people in each state where they occur. Thus I own them just as much as you. I think that any citizen has the right to use these resources, in a sustainable manner, for whatever purpose they desire so long as it is humane. I would support a permit system that is designed to have those taking more then some personal amount pay for their more extensive use of the resource all within a sustainable framework. Sustainble use should be afforded to all citizens who seek to use the resource. When the demand by humans uses up those surplus sustainable stocks annually then a fair harvest systems needs to be worked out so each citizen has an opportunity to use the resource. In my opinion no herp species is in such high demand that everyone can't get at least a portion of this surplus. There are not that many people who harvest herps from the wild. But there are certain people who harvest a lot more then most. So you simply initiate bag limits, if warranted, for those species for which the amount of take is shown to be causing a negative impact on that species.

Welkerii

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