To be honest, I'm not suprised at all that most hunters are supportive of energy extraction industries in Wyoming. After all, it pays the bills, literally. The industry employs an immense portion of the state's population, either directly or indirectly, it pumps millions into the overall economy, and it literally pays the taxes. It's also a huge part of the multiple use of our public lands as it should be. As such, as a lifelong Wyoming resident, I am supportive of responsible energy extraction, livestock grazing, timber harvest, and the other multiple uses (lets not forget hunting!) of our public lands.
What baffles me is that we seem to be under the illusion that we can "have it all", that we can impact (or in some cases, even lose) huge swaths of important wildlife habitat, and that is somehow does not impact big game. We point fingers at resident hunters, non-resident hunters, shed hunters, predators, etc., etc, and ignore that critical, limiting habitat is impacted by every oil pad, wind turbine, fenceline, strip mine, access road, pipeline, that runs through it. Like I said, that's fine, but we need to face reality and realize that we're going to have to make some adjustments to our way of life if we want the $$ to keep rolling in from these industries and activities.
That's a bit ridiculous. But like I said, what else are they gonna say?
