Letters to the Editor

Can’t wait to get back to S. Dakota

To the Editor:

Each of us can make a difference, and it pays to go the extra mile.

I received this e-mail from an individual who hunted in the Mitchell area.

This letter is an example of what happens when we treat our visitors with utmost warmth and respect.

Lou Sebert, Mayor

Mr. Mayor and Executive Director Hisel:

I just am back home from two days hunting in the Mitchell area — my first time ever chasing pheasant in South Dakota — and wanted to write you both (Mayor Sebert and Bryan Hisel) and tell you what a wonderful time my entire party had.

I’m going to gush here a bit, so please forgive me if I sound a little breathless, or over the top but I’m as sincere as can be when I tell you that I have hunted and fished all over the world and never been as graciously received and warmly treated anywhere as we were by the folks in Mitchell.

Obviously, the shooting was excellent (in spite of the repeated apologies from our hosts for what they consider sub-par hunting), but the hospitality of your people goes well beyond the proverbial icing on the cake. Every hotel staffer, restaurant server, store assistant or random citizen on the street was at pains to make us feel welcome and be sure we had whatever we needed to make our stay perfect.

I know that pheasant season is important to the local economy — and I’m darn glad it is — but our treatment in Mitchell went so far beyond interest in the contents of our wallets that the only conclusion I can come to is that Mitchell is populated by just about the nicest collection of honest-to-goodness, no-foolishness, down-home Americans I have ever met. Our entire party feels the same, and we can’t wait to get back.

David Glass

Unhappy with way treated by locals

To the Editor:

I brought my two sons to South Dakota for the pheasant opener this year (ages 11 and 14). We arrived a day early to scout, bought food, gas and our license in Mitchell, and stayed in a local hotel for three nights. Overall, we contributed $1,000 or so to the South Dakota economy.

Saturday morning, we staked out a waterfowl production area for three hours before the noon opener. We specifically picked a small waterfowl production area of about 100 acres with one access, so that my two young hunters would not interfere with someone else’s hunt. We got there early so any local hunters would know we were there and know our intentions to hunt the waterfowl production area. My two boys are both hunter certified and worked long and hard to save money and prepare for this hunt.

Their hopes and dreams of a great first South Dakota hunt were all but ruined by a group of local hunters that arrived at the waterfowl production area five minutes before the opener and barged onto the field ahead of us with complete disregard for any hunter ethics. Their purpose was to drive all the birds they could out of the waterfowl production area to private land ahead of us. These were adult men that I would think would know better.

To say the least, our day and the boys’ dream hunt was ruined. They had no desire to continue hunting for the rest of the trip. They do not want to return to South Dakota ever again.

Hunting is a small fraternity. This behavior by the residents of South Dakota will end the grand tradition of pheasant opener and overall be the end to hunting.

In three days, we saw no more than two other youngsters with hunting groups. Kids represent the future of hunting. Actions like this will end support for set-aside land, Pheasants Forever, waterfowl production areas and other programs.

To the South Dakota resident hunters: Think about the future of the sport before you take such an action in the future. Kids represent the support for hunter programs nationwide; without them there is no future for any hunters, resident or nonresident.

David LeVesseur, Prior Lake, Minn.

Pheasant Country, keep up efforts

To the Editor:

As a sportsman, I appreciate the Pheasant Country organization for the impressive job they do. It is because of their hard work that we have great pheasant hunting in this area, which we can call the “Pheasant Capital of the World.”

It is important to have out-of-state money spent in our community.

Butch Odegaard, Mitchell

Give government workers no raise

To the Editor:

According to the Oct. 16 Daily Republic, the people on Social Security will not get a cost-of-living hike.

According to cable news, the civilian government workers were to get a 2.3 percent pay raise, but Mr. Obama didn’t think this was right with the bad economy, so he cut it to 2 percent.

So let’s give us a 2 percent raise or cut the civilian workers to zero percent, like ours.

Ray Grambihler, Ethan

Tags: lou sebert, pheasant season, david glass, david levesseur, pheasant country, butch odegaard, social security, ray grambihler, opinion