Amendment supporters travel across state to pitch ballot issue

Supporters of the constitutional amendment that would increase the Minnesota sales tax by 3/8ths of 1 percent and dedicate most of the revenue to natural resources held news conferences around the state Tuesday to argue their case. The group will fly to more cities Wednesday.

Among the entourage of conservation leaders traveling from St. Paul to Rochester, Mankato, St. Cloud, Duluth, Bemidji, East Grand Forks and Moorhead was former Vikings coach Bud Grant. "I've seen our resources diminish; we can't replace it all, but we can keep what we've got left," Grant said at a news conference at the State Capitol. Grant joined leaders from conservation groups, including the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, in urging support for the amendment, which will be on the ballot Tuesday.

Archers took a record 516 deer during the two two-day bow hunts at Camp Ripley near Little Falls this month. Sixty-five percent were antlerless, but hunters took 14 bucks over 200 pounds. "There were a lot of big boys," said the DNR's Beau Liddell. The harvest broke the record 514 deer killed there in 2005. "We could have exceeded 600 if we had had better weather," Liddell said. The weather for Sunday and Monday's hunt was terrible.

Despite projections for another good season, pheasant stamp sales are down nearly 8,000 from a year ago. About 94,000 have been sold so far this year, compared to 112,000 at this time last year. DNR officials speculate that could be attributed to tough early-season hunting because of the slow crop harvest. Only 30 percent of the corn had been harvested by Sunday, compared to 67 percent last year.

"Once the corn is down the pheasant hunting will really pick up, and I think stamp sales will, too," said the DNR's Bill Penning.

Meanwhile, waterfowl stamp sales are down about 3,000 from last year, dropping from 95,000 to 92,000. And small game license sales also are down about 8,000 so far, from 282,647 last year to 274,353 this year.