People are bigger pigs than the pigs themselves.
Those of you that have followed my blog for awhile know that every now and then I have to vent.
Warning: this is going to be one of those times, but I believe some good can come from my venting. Please read on.
What do you tell your kids when you see all the trash scattered around our waters, our fishing holes? What do you tell your kids when folks abuse our fish & wildlife and natural resources? Over the years I have told my kids that people are bigger pigs than the pigs themselves. I am sorry to the pigs I offended with that statement. Unfortunately, this fact was proved to me once again.
Let me give you a little backround: If you hunt and fish in Nebraska you know that about 97% of this state is owned by private individuals and finding places to hunt and fish can be a challenge. A couple of years ago “we”, the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, started a new program called “Open Fields and Waters”. Through that program we pay private landowners to allow public access for hunting and/or fishing on their lands. Last fall I highlighted some of the fishing I have already taken advantage of through that program, http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2010/10/open-waters/ .
My son and I took advantage of some excellent ice fishing on another one of those Open Fields/Open Waters properties last winter. The catch & release fishing we experienced there last winter was excellent! This was on a southeast Nebraska farm pond; a pond the landowner WANTED to share with others. Sure, he is getting paid some money to open that pond to public fishing, but he is not allowing access for the money–he simply wants others to be able to enjoy fishing on his pond!
Now, you would think that people would treat a property like that as their own, and by far, most do. But late last Friday, I got this news release.
Game and Parks Seeks Information on Vandalism
LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is seeking information about vandalism at an Open Fields and Waters program site.
An outhouse, fence and a fire ring belonging to the landowner enrolled in the walk-in hunting and fish access program recently were vandalized. The site is north of Unadilla in Otoe County.
Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
“This area offers a wonderful fishing opportunity,” Game and Parks wildlife biologist Jeff Blaser said. “This vandalism does not reflect the respect the public has for the Open Fields and Waters sites in general. We are making every effort to find those who are responsible for the damage. Game and Parks is committed to working with landowners in providing public walk-in hunting and fishing access in Nebraska.”
The Open Fields and Waters program, through contracts with landowners, opens private land to public hunting and fishing access in Nebraska.
Anyone with information about the case can call Crimestoppers at 800-742-7627, conservation officer Russ Mort at 402-209-1506 or the Otoe County Sheriff’s Office at 402-873-9560.
Want to see what the vandals did?
Apparently they cannot walk because they drove right through the fence.
I cannot tell you how furious this makes me! How many landowners would wish to allow access to their lands and waters if those areas were treated like this? I can name you several areas that I used to be able to fish that are now closed to public access because of idiots and incidents like this! Believe me, you start taking away fishing spots and I take it personally!
See the news release I posted above–you have been asked to help catch the scum that did this. If you wish, there is even a reward being offered. Our fish & wildlife and natural resources belong to all of us. What some scum did to this Open Fields/Open Waters area was done to OUR area! To YOUR area, to MY area! It is obvious that whoever did this has no respect for our fish & wildlife resources nor respect for others. They deserve to be caught and deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law; I do not know what extent that might be, but in my opinion folks who do some thing like this should never be allowed to utilize any of our fish & wildlife or parks resources, ever.
I have trouble getting permission to hunt and fish private land for this very reason. There seems that there is always those few idiots who ruin it for the rest of us. And they shuld be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But that’s a problem also. The punishment for these criminal acts is not servere enough and what little punishment there is, the courts refuse to dish out. It is like the gun controversy. All anti-gunners want more laws, when all is needed is for the courts to enforce the ones we have. The judges are way to soft.
Daryl, this just sickens me. I’m an old-fart, and even though I’ve lived here all my life, I have JUST “found” and started fishing our area waters in the past couple of years. And I’m JUST NOW getting the courage to ask landowners for permission to fish their ponds, and would give my “left n%^” to be able to have access to places like this.
So when I see something like this, to say it puts a “burr under my saddle”, would be an understatement!
I usually try to bring a garbage bag with me, and make sure that I “take out” more than I “bring in”… but this…? Pretty much leaves me speechless…
Hope they catch ‘em!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob
My mother and I took my kids who are 9, 4 and 2 to the lake today only to find trash everywhere. They all without complaining helped clean it up, even my 2 year old was helping pick up beer cans and put them in a trash bag. It was sad to see it such a mess considering we where there last Monday and it was nice and clean
Thank you for helping with the problem and being a good example to your kids!!!
Daryl B.
This is just the reason we don’t let folks hunt on our land. My father took some great quail, pheasant, and mule deer in his time but since his death no one has hunted our property. I feel badly about this as I have good memories of time spent outdoors, but I just won’t take the risk of this kind of thing happening since I am no longer living nearby.
Are you sure the vandals were there for fishing? Maybe it was a random act of vandalism!?
Daryl, this just makes me really mad. Over the last few years i have lost some very good farm ponds with nice bass in them for this very reason. I hope they catch who did it, It is sad that these idiots ruin it for everyone.
I have a story to tell you of someone getting caught. One time I was fishing off a point below a dam. The idiot next to me with his wife and 2 kids got done fishing and left their beverage containers and a night crawler box laying on the ground and headed for their vehicle. About 10 minutes later they returned, escorted by a very unhappy conservation officer. He stood over them while they picked up their trash then he handed the dad a littering ticket that ended up costing $250. I knew this person from a distance as he was a regular poster on a fishing website and was publicly complaining about paying the fine for something “stupid”. He said it was stupid to bust him for littering when there are so many people who fish without a license. What is interesting is that this happened in the park below Harry S. Truman Dam in Missouri. And from what I am told the conservation officers down there make a habit of sitting a ways away with binoculars doing surveillance to catch people in the act. This is sadly something that I never see or hear about in Nebraska. Anymore I rarely see a game warden out at the lakes. This past weekend I was fishing my favorite spot at Summit. When I got there it was littered with 3 empty keystone light beer cans, a nightcrawler container and a 5 qt ice cream bucket with some badly decomposed liver in it. And this is common at Summit and pretty much every other place I fish at around Omaha. So maybe you could explain to me why enforcement is way down. Why are there people taking buckets of illegal fish from the lakes and the game wardens won’t answer their phones? I’m beginning to think our commissioners are a bunch of idiots because they don’t seem to notice when their is poor management by G&P. Yeah I know I know just keep calling. I’m calling BS on that. It doesn’t do any good.
its always “the people from omaha /lincoln” most of the time its local s that cause the problem. anyone who hunts/fishs & dosent own land is either stupid or shouldnt be out there if they they cause problems like his . have been enjoyig outdoor NE. for 45 yrs. now & lost just about every place to go because of similiar incidents,& or just dont want people to hunt.
It is sad to see the results of those who vandalize or litter either public or private property. I do make a point of picking up my share of others litter and support conservation efforts. I do hope private landowners realize that they are a super small part of the people who ever use access to any lands. So many times our best neighbors lose their rights and privileges, while a vandal won’t ever bother to ask or obey the laws at all.
Oh- Please don’t confuse me with July 19th’s author. The July 19th Jeff
-Jeff the 20th
I can’t agree more with the comments on this blog. When people are raised wrong they think they are programmed that way for life, I’ll never understand why they don’t break the cycle of stupid. Hey, I like having a beer but it doesn’t create an urge to destroy peoples property or litter! How many signs and trash cans do we need to supply to curb this stuff? This will always be a problem in our society , we must continue to preach ethics on this kind of behavior because thats all we can do.
I feel Jeff’s frustration with this topic, I have also made phone calls about what I see occur in our area lakes. I have had better success than he has making contact with g&parks. I know that these guys have a limited budget to work with first of all. Our state leaders need to hear it from us more than anything else. People need to understand that with numbers supporting a cause we can make a difference. I always wanted more game wardens out there but there is more area to cover and less money to cover the new territory. Our plight is worthless unless we agree to pay more for a stamp or a license, which I always am willing to do. Unfortunately I think that is our only option . I can’t stand it but I always keep a trash bag handy and a calm approach to the jerks I would rather smack in the head than spend anytime talking sense to…