Q: What do Greenpeace and the NRA have in common?

A: They both have members who are voting for Kerry.

The AP reports that while some outdoorsmen still associate Democrats with threats to second amendment rights, others have decided to cast their votes for Kerry in response to Furious George's abysmal environmental record.

Bob Elderkin's vote would appear to be a sure bet for President Bush on Nov. 2. He is a hunter, part of a conservative-leaning group of outdoorsmen that is 38 million strong and avidly supports gun rights.

"I can't vote for Bush knowing what it's going to be like the next four years," said Elderkin, a retired Bureau of Land Management employee in western Colorado where natural-gas drilling is booming. "With John Kerry, it's an unknown. As far as Bush goes, it's going to be `Katie, bar the door.'" [...]

Sportsmen like Elderkin worry that proliferating gas wells dotting private and public land will affect some of the nation's largest deer, elk and pronghorn antelope herds. "If there's nothing to hunt out there," he asks, "what use is a gun?"

Good point, Bob.

Alan Lackey of Raton, N.M, and Stan Rauch of Victor, Mont., both Bush voters in 2000, said they are angry about the administration's proposal to allow logging and new roads on up to 58 million acres of national forest that were declared off-limits by a Clinton-era rule.

"Kerry, I believe, would be better on environmental policies, which to me equates to taking care of habitat and wildlife," said Rauch, a retired Air Force pilot.

A recent National Wildlife Federation poll said many sportsmen disagree with the administration's environmental policies, federation spokesman Vinay Jain said. The poll, conducted in July, found that 75 percent believe carbon dioxide emissions should be reduced and 49 percent think the oil and gas industry have the most input into Bush's conservation and hunting and fishing policies.

"The poll affirmed what we'd been hearing for years anecdotally about increasing hunter and angler backlash," Jain said. [...]

"Sportsmen are predominantly Republican and very patriotic," Lackey said. "But the federal government has become an instrument to convey the public wealth into private hands at our expense."

Kerry, who himself is a hunter, would no doubt ensure that outdoorsmen continue to have access to the guns they need for outdoor sport. Hunters could certainly do worse than a fellow hunter who has a keen interest in protecting the environment. In fact, they have - and the proof is in the White House.