With the November 2 election just days away the outdoors community is ramping up its look at candidates.

So much so that groups like the National Rifle Association are pulling out all the stops, sending endorsement notices to its members in Northeast Ohio and which back Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Township) for reelection as well as Democratic incumbents Ted Strickland for governor and Richard Cordray for attorney general. Even the organization's "American Rifleman" and "American Hunter" magazines have localized false front covers that promote their chosen candidates.

Now the pro-sportsmen Safari Club International says that a random survey of 500 self-identified sportsmen point to nine in 10 of them saying they "very likely" will vote in November.

Other points in the SCI-sponsored survey say that 47 percent of the respondents believe that their interests are under-represented in Washington. Also, 93 percent of those surveyed are concerned about gun ownership rights with 74 percent saying they are "very" concerned, the SCI says.

And 60 percent of the respondents say they are very concerned about potential new laws that will restrict access to ammunition and protect the environment.

Sportsmen likewise say they fret over the federal government usurping authority over the states in regards  to wildlife management ; this, by 92 percent.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com