Ohio’s wildlife agency is supposed to manage deer, turkey, fish, habitat and hunting opportunities. But behind the scenes, the Ohio Division of Wildlife has been working with the Wildlife Management Institute and a team of consultants on something called the “Relevancy Roadmap”—a plan designed to change how the agency operates, who it tries to reach and even its internal agency culture.

In this episode, I break down their own presentation, including the abandoned-lot pollinator project in Cleveland, outreach aimed at African Americans and young adults, and the larger effort to make traditional wildlife agencies “relevant” to people who may not hunt or fish. I also follow the money into Ohio State University projects, including $131,548 to study acceptance of white-tailed deer management, $88,118 for a deer stakeholder-engagement process, $181,998 to study recreational access and habitat conservation on private land, and $58,800 for “human dimensions” survey support.

Some of these projects may contain useful information. But hunters have every right to ask whether wildlife agencies funded heavily by licenses and firearm, ammunition, archery and fishing-tackle excise taxes are spending too much money studying messaging, public values, demographics and agency transformation—and not enough money directly serving hunters, managing wildlife and improving access.

Ohio Division of Wildlife Relevancy Project presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMjvnBWiC4s

Wildlife Management Institute’s explanation of the Ohio Relevancy Plan:
https://wildlifemanagement.institute/node/1124

Ohio State grant amounts and project descriptions:
https://senr.osu.edu/sites/senr/files/imce/files/CVs/2023/Bruskotter_2023.pdf

Wildlife Management Institute’s grant-funded new-hunter research:
https://fishwildlife.org/mscgp/grant_detail/F22AP01126

Search the Multistate Conservation Grant database:
https://fishwildlife.org/mscgp/grant_search

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

Hunters paid for a study that argues state wildlife agencies need fewer traditional hunting-minded employees and more people with non-hunting beliefs about wildlife management—including an emphasis on hiring nonbinary employees and other underrepresented groups.

In this episode, I break down the $142,974 Pittman-Robertson-funded project, what researcher Michael Manfredo and others mean by “traditionalists” and “mutualists,” and why the study discusses changing agency culture and overcoming resistance from current employees. The bigger question is simple: Are hunters’ dollars being used to improve wildlife management—or to reshape the very agencies that regulate hunters?

Grant amount: $142,974
Federal award number: F22AP00748
Funding source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Multistate Conservation Grant Program

Stephen Ziegler | Outdoor Writer
Mobile Hunting Expo Ohio • Friday & Saturday

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

The Open Fields Doctrine allows game wardens and other law-enforcement officers to enter private land without a warrant, probable cause, or the landowner’s permission—and in this episode, I explain why the Supreme Court got it wrong. I break down the major court decisions that created and expanded the doctrine, examine the constitutional arguments behind them, and explain why private land should not lose Fourth Amendment protection simply because it sits outside the immediate area surrounding a home. At the end, I discuss what hunters, landowners, and state lawmakers can do to challenge these warrantless searches and restore meaningful property rights.

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

In this episode, I dig into the people and organizations influencing wildlife policy from inside and around America’s game agencies. We look at former Wisconsin DNR wolf manager Adrian Wydeven, Ohio State professor Jeremy Bruskotter, Project Coyote, the Humane Society, and the millions of dollars state wildlife agencies send to universities for research that can shape future hunting and predator-management policies.

The biggest question is simple: Are hunters looking in the wrong place? Instead of only watching who works inside wildlife agencies, should we also be watching who those agencies are paying to produce the research they use? We follow the money, examine the Pittman-Robertson connection, and look at research criticizing hunter influence and even challenging the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation itself. This episode lays out the evidence and lets you decide whether hunters should be concerned.

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

In this episode, I’m digging into the Wildlife Management Institute using their own words, their own grant reports, and their own documents.

WMI keeps showing up in the middle of R3 hunter-recruitment money, state agency consulting, grant management, reports, ad campaigns, “message testing,” and private consultant pipelines. Hunters are told this money is being spent to save hunting, recruit new hunters, and protect our outdoor heritage — but when you actually read the documents, a lot of it looks like salaries, consultants, Facebook ads, reports, templates, and vague “visibility” instead of real people being put in the woods.

We’ll go through examples like the Michigan R3 campaign, the “new hunter personas,” Rick Recreationalist, “Hunting for Dummies,” 385 ad templates, and the bigger question every hunter should be asking:

Where are our Pittman-Robertson dollars actually going?

This isn’t about attacking local volunteers, sportsmen’s clubs, 4-H leaders, mentors, or the people actually taking kids and new hunters outdoors. Those are the people who deserve the money. This is about the nonprofit-consultant class that keeps getting paid while hunters are told it’s all for “recruitment.”

Follow the money.

— Stephen Ziegler
Rack Junkies Podcast

#Hunting #WildlifeManagement #PittmanRobertson #R3 #Conservation #RackJunkies #HunterRecruitment #FollowTheMoney

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

In this episode of the Rack Junkies Podcast, Stephen Ziegler breaks down how millions of dollars move through the wildlife, hunting, conservation, agency, and nonprofit world — and why hunters should be asking a lot more questions.

This episode looks at the money pipeline behind wildlife management, NGOs, government agencies, conservation groups, research funding, salaries, contracts, and the people who benefit from the system. Hunters are constantly told to “trust the science” and “support conservation,” but too often nobody asks who is getting paid, who controls the message, and whether hunters are actually being represented.

This is not about being against conservation. It is about demanding transparency, accountability, and common sense from the people and organizations claiming to speak for hunters and wildlife.

Topics include hunting, wildlife management, conservation funding, NGOs, state wildlife agencies, deer management, CWD policy, outdoor politics, and the money behind modern conservation.

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

In this episode of the Rack Junkies Podcast, Stephen Ziegler talks about wildlife studies that make hunters and outdoorsmen wonder what happened to common sense.

This is not an anti-science episode. It is about the difference between useful wildlife research and studies that seem disconnected from real-world hunting, land management, predators, deer, conservation, and the people who actually spend time outdoors.

Hunters support real conservation, but that does not mean every wildlife study deserves a free pass. Sometimes the question is not whether a study was done, but whether the study actually matters in the real world.

Topics include wildlife management, dumb wildlife studies, deer research, predator studies, conservation funding, hunting, and why common sense still matters in science.

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

Today I discuss the viral controversy surrounding the corner crossing debate. It has the attention of the politicians in Montana and we need to keep it up. At the end I also discuss the massive win you guys got from the viral post I put out on Erie county New York! 12 and 13 year old's were told they can not hunt but public pressure from this podcast and the Facebook pages got that overturned. 

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

I am in the process of building a studio and taking this podcast to the next level. today I will give inside information on my research into the governor of Montana and his connection to the outfitters and why they want corner crossing banned. 

Rack Junkies and the hunting news

today I talk about going to the Deer farmers convention and what I learned about CWD. 

Rack Junkies and the hunting news