March is upon us, and some cold weather remains. But cold-weather fishing has become popular and very productive, especially for blue catfish, crappie and bass. For many years, anglers have fished the Santee Cooper lakes of Marion and Moultrie during the winter and made outstanding catfish catches. Now, they’re working to catch a variety of species.For those too young to know the term, “priming the pump” once described what needed to happen when air got into a pipe used to pull water from an underground source — usually a well.
To bring water to the surface and allow dogs, horses and humans to enjoy a drink, air pockets couldn’t exist in the line because pumps won’t pump air. You had to fill the well pipe with water from pump to source before you could get a dribble. So you “primed” the pump with H20.
Of course, today few people know about manual pumps. Now “priming the pump” means the federal government borrows hoped-for, future tax money from our unborn descendants, gives it to today’s banks, then hopes the banks will lend our great-grandkids’ cash back to us (with interest) in order to “prime the pump” of our sick economy.
And so we come to the latest efforts by legislators and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to change some of the state’s most-important game laws.
During its January 2009 public hearings, the commission proposed Sunday hunting with archery equipment and falcons. It also proposed crossbow hunting for anyone, not just disabled or strength-challenged hunters. Now it appears state Sen. Julie Boseman (D-New Hanover) also is trying to prime those pumps by filing S7, a bill to allow Sunday-hunting with any weapon. Meanwhile Sen. Richard Stevens (R-Wake) introduced a bill to end record-keeping of crossbow sales and end the requirement for crossbow buyers to first obtain a pistol permit from the local sheriff.
Sen. Boseman responded to a few questions from us about S7, and ignored others:
“I introduced the Sunday hunting ban repeal because I have a personal interest in the sport,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I don’t think there are other sports that are banned on Sundays, and it is a day that many sportsmen have as a day to enjoy the activity. I am attempting to facilitate hunting for those that have limited time to participate.
“I am fully aware that there are a number of challenges to the legislation as I have talked with sponsors of former bills. I will take a look at the report you mentioned.”
The “report” was an independent 2006 study that cost the WRC $150,000. It showed a dry well — only 35 percent of the general public and 38 percent of hunters wanted Sunday hunting three years ago.
When we asked exactly what Sen. Boseman’s personal hunting interests were, she didn’t respond. When we asked if an individual or group had asked her to introduce the bill, she didn’t answer. When we asked if she’d received any campaign “support” from any individual or group to push the bill, the senator was mum.
In light of her “personal” interest in repealing the ban, we later asked if she had ever owned a state hunting license. No response. However, we’ve been informed by sources she doesn’t hold a N.C. hunting or fishing license, but she owns a registered boat.
No matter how you might feel about Sunday hunting, crossbows, etc., there seems something amiss about this type of pump priming. Why the urgency to get the water flowing before the commission accepts or rejects any proposals for 2009-10?
Our question is whose pumps — Boseman’s, the commissioners, private industry — are being primed? It can’t be our wildlife resources.
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