Lemme voted against the motion to reduce from 5 to 4 last time this issue came up. What's changed? What new data do they have out there? In fact, last time, the motion had a only 3 or 4 supporters, I think.

One of the problems in Alabama is lack of solid scientific data regarding population and harvest rate. Most of the people who read this board won't use Game Check to report turkeys, but then complain that the government doesn't know how many turkeys are out there. Well, if folks reported their kill, we would have a better idea. Far more people use Snapper Check than Game Check. I don't know why. Almost 50 percent of fishermen/women use Snapper Check. Last time I looked, around 10 percent used Game Check to report turkey harvest. It may be better this year. I don't know.

My point is that if we don't want what we perceive to be arbitrary decisions, then (1) we must get more involved, and (2) we must give the CAB and the good, hard-working folks at DCNR the tools and data they need to make decisions. My experience with people at DCNR is that they want to make good decisions based on science, and they want to give hunters the most opportunities they can while ensuring that we have a solid population. We need to do our part to give them the data they need and then participate in the process.