[*****Remember to include your address*******]
Assembly Member XXXXXXXXXX
[*********Put assembly member’s address here********]
SAMPLE
Dear Assembly Member XXXXXXXXXXX;

I am writing to you because I am opposed to a ban on open field coursing (OFC). Open field coursing events are held primarily in the central valley near communities such as Lost Hills, Buttonwillow and Coalinga. These communities are suffering from severe economic depression and the dollars brought into these communities by OFC participants are a boon to those communities. During the coursing season, from November to February, our hunters buy food, gas and lodgings. (*****FOR non-California residents – Although I do not live in California, I spend hundreds of dollars in your state every time I come to participate.********)
The California jackrabbit or hare is abundant in California. As with rabbits, the hare produces multiple young. Hares are not the same as pet bunnies, protected and living their lives in a cage. As long and lanky as the hound, the jack rabbit is designed for speed and adapts easily to his environment. He is considered a pest species and causes millions of dollars in damage to crops each year.
Farmers use poison, traps and guns to kill hares. Poison not only means a slow, agonizing death for the hares, but affects the entire food chain when other animals eat the poisoned hare and absorb the poison into their systems. Guns and traps can wound or maim the hares, again resulting in a slow death.
Open field coursing is actually one of the most humane ways to kill hares. This is because the hare is always aware that he is being hunted and therefore is given an opportunity to evade the hounds. The hare is either killed, usually immediately, always very quickly, or he escapes. Hares are never wounded or maimed and left in the field. And as nature intended, the strong and wily survive while the weak, old and infirmed are killed. In addition, out of respect for the hare, open field coursing events are not held in spring when hares are most actively producing young, even though state regulations allow the taking of hares year-round.
Those who open field course combine an admiration for these fantastic athletes with the American right to hunt. Again, I am asking that you reconsider proposing a ban on coursing. This centuries-old form of hunting is well-regulated and actually has minimal impact on hare populations.  It is because of sound wildlife management by the Department of Fish and Game and the Commission that we have thriving populations of wildlife, including hares, in the state. Open field coursers, as licensed hunters, are proud to participate with the Department in management efforts to conserve and enhance all wildlife populations for future generations.
Sincerely,