Jack Hyden

Director

My life almost sounds like a story straight out of Boys Life. I grew up around Wabash County, Indiana. As far back as I have memory my Dad and Brother were introducing me to the outdoor world. Rabbit Hunting at Salamonie, Quail hunting in the Huntington, Indiana area, Fishing for Catfish, Drum, and Carp in the Wabash River, Small Mouth Bass Fishing in small streams such as Treaty Creek on Wabash's south side, and Mushroom hunting as far south asthe Kentucky/Tennessee line and as far north as Michigan's Iron Mountain area north of the Bridge. After high school I married and as the family increased so did the amount of timemy family and Ispent in the woods, fields, and on the water. In other words I was the typical example of an avid Indiana sportsman.

Because of my love for the outdoors and the tremendous amount of time I was in the wild, some things other sportsmen missed I saw. The signs posted on the state property boundaries, for instance, had for years read " PUBLIC HUNTING AREA", were being replaced with signs that read " WILDLIFE AREAS". It was painfully obvious that our Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources was starting tomarch to the tune of a different drummer and it sure wasn't good for the sportsman. Early in 2002 IDNR began a rule change package that would have closed all dog training from Feb.28 to Oct.1 of each year. DNR Biologists attempted in vain to exploit their cause by saying that the presence of dogs during the summer was having a negative effect on small game and upland bird rearing and nesting practices. after a year and half fight and jumping thru a half dozen DNR hoops our own Natural Resource Advisory Committee told now departed head biologist Glenn Lange to go do something about habitat and leave the dogs alone.

With this success it was obviously time to give my fledgling group a name, and Indiana Beagler's Alliance was decided on. There have many successes for the Alliance in its fights to protect and preserve our hunting heritage. The most challenging but rewarding of all has been the defeat of HB1468. I already knew many of our Indiana legislators from working with them on sporting dog issues, so approaching them on a friendly basis was fairly simple. The Alliance grouped together with AKC, NRA, APRI, Indiana Farm Bureau, and the newly formed Indiana Council for Animal Welfare, and several other groups and put together an effective strategy to defeat animal rights activists completely on HB 1468. I am very proud of the work we all did to keep Indiana out of the hands such a menacing group of people, keeping our animals in our hands.