Instead of ethanol, grow more wetlands-savvy cattle

It seems many of you are frustrated with government policies. I am as well: I am forced to buy ethanol with every gallon of gas I buy. Ethanol has 33% less energy per gallon and takes twice as much energy to produce than gas, and 40% of our annual U.S. crop goes into that production. I doubt farmers would consider draining wetlands if we didn’t create this false demand for corn. Ethanol would not be produced if it weren’t for government.

Maybe farmers would switch to growing something we actually eat, like cows, and the U of M could take some of the $660 million taxpayers gave them last year to do a study on how to rotationally graze around waterfowl habitat to benefit wildlife and farmers.

I sincerely hope a recent letter writer’s century farm is in your family in another century because small family farms make the best community possible and they are getting about as rare as a mallard duck these days.

Seth Henry, Little Falls

ELS solutions not always practical afield when hunting

I just bought my 2026 white-tail archery paper license and tag. Both are on a sheet of 8½-by-11 printer paper, with instructions to immediately validate the kill by notching this flimsy “what a joke” tag. They spent $5.2 million from the Game and Fish Fund and this is what they came up with? The folks who approved this must never have hunted.

Gone are the orange durable tags attached to your deer. Electronic registration is now mandatory. I can’t help but think the tail on this mockery is wagging the dog. Tagging was part of teaching my son the ethics of deer hunting. So the rocket science software folks got with the “I don’t hunt” DNR folks and came up with notching printer paper while in the field.

How often is it raining or snowing? Just get out a soggy wet folded sheet of paper and validate your site kill. $5.2 million from the Game and Fish Fund, no wonder they are scrambling to increase license fees.

Vern Wagner

Roseville