Hunting is a valued part of Indian society.
In the eighteen hundreds Indians killed animals for food and for use in ceremonies.
Indians used the buffalo they killed to build shelters, make clothing and tools, and they ate the meat.
Ceremonial uses ranged from using the animals for ceremonial clothing or as gifts for the spirits for allowing the hunters successful hunts.
Indians only killed enough animals to survive and for a few ceremonies; they never killed any animals just for sport. (Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, 1998)
Today the Indians follow the same tradition of only taking what they need, but now this tradition is threatened.
United States House Representative Linda Smith, a Republican from Washington State, introduced H.R. 3987 in the 105th Congress 2d Session.
This bill, commonly known as the Deer and Elk Protection Act, "protects and conserves deer and elk and provides consistent and equitable hunting laws in the State of Washington"(Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet, 1998).
This bill makes all hunters accountable to the same rules.
This means Indians hunting off the reservations are required to follow the same state hunting rules as non-Indians.
These rules include where hunters may hunt, how many animals they may shoot, and what time of the year hunting may occur. (Carson, 1998)
The passage of this bill would bring equality among hunting rules, but problems plaque the bill.
The first problem lies in why Linda Smith believes all hunting should be equal.
In her bill she wrote "dramatic economic changes have taken place in the State of Washington since Indian tribes signed treaties with the Federal Government and, as a result of those changes, Indians and Indian tribes in the State of Washington no longer rely on hunting deer and elk for subsistence" (Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet, 1998).
She is both right and wrong.
Times have changed since Indians signed treaties in the eighteen hundreds.
When Indians moved to reservations they had no means of income.
Many of them knew little about farming or ranching so they turning to hunting to obtain food.
As time passed they learned how to farm and ranching and they found other sources of income so hunting became less important.
Even though many Indians found other ways to obtain food, some still depended on hunting for subsistence; these were the ones who did not have enough money to buy or raise food.
According to 1989 statistics on the household incomes of Indians on the Puyallup and Yakima Reservations approximately 5% of the population had no wage earnings. (Statistical Records of Native North Americans, 781)
These statistics represent only two of the reservations in Washington, but these are two of the larger reservations.
Smaller reservations may have an even higher percentage of people lacking wage earnings.
If the people have no wages they need to obtain food from somewhere.
This can be done through welfare programs, but the new welfare laws limits the time a person can receive aid.
Due to lack of aid the Indians turn to hunting to obtain food.
The second problem lies in who wanted the bill.
Linda Smith claimed 98 of her constituents phoned her office and requested "hunting laws be applied equally to all people on non-tribal lands" (Four Winds, 1998).
She never said who phoned her office to make these requests, so no Indians might have expressed their views on the topic.
Then she did not even discuss the bill with tribal leaders before she introduced it for legislation. (Four Winds, 1998)
United States Congress people represent both the Indians and non-Indians in the state.
In this case the Indians received little representation.
She did not take the time to find out their views on tribal hunting.
She also did not discuss how the bill would impact the Indians.
Since the bill was not discussed with the people it effected, Congress should not pass it.
People have a say in what laws govern them, but the Indians never had any input on this law.
The final problem lies in the number of animals Indians kill each year.
Tribes enforce their own hunting rules.
Tribal members are licensed just like hunters on non-Indian lands.
The tribes also participate in wildlife conservation to ensure the herds continue to thrive.
People have this notion that Indians can go out and shoot animals whenever and wherever they want, but this is not the case.
Washington Fish and Game estimated Indians killed fewer than 300 elk statewide in the 1995-1996 hunting season. (Cooperation is the Key to Hunting Disputes, 1998)
This represented between 5 and 16% of all animals killed during the hunting season. (Cooperation is the Key to Hunting Disputes, 1998)
These figures represent very few animals when they are compared to the numbers taken by non-Indians; non-Indians harvested more than 6,400 animals during the same time period. (Cooperation is the Key to Hunting Disputes, 1998)
This means non-Indians are more threatening to animals than Indians are; changes need to be made in the numbers of animals killed by non-Indians.
Indians never intended to hunt for sport; they used hunting as a means to survive. The introduction of Linda Smith's bill limits this right not only for the Indians in the state of Washington but also sets precedence for other states, such as Montana, Colorado, and Idaho, to limit hunting by Indians. Changes need to be made to ensure the survival of wildlife, but they must be made fairly. If Indians are required to kill fewer animals then non-Indians need to also kill fewer animals. Indians do not provide the only threat to the survival of wildlife, everyone does.
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