S
sportsmanlio
0
Up until this year, I had never reported a hunting or fishing violation. I had seen them before, but I had never known the culprit, or thought there was anything that could be done. I know differently now.
On June 15th, the last day that the Klamath River was open, my friend and I discovered an sickening sight. Six large trout ranging from 15" & 1.5 lbs to 20" & 4 lbs had been killed and left on the bank. Additionally, two chubs were killed and left there. Chubs are rarely caught on lures, so we knew they had used bait. Seeing this really upset us, and as we explored the area, we found numerous worm containers along with other garbage.
Most of the fish had slit throats, and were partially dried from the sun.
This river has a 1 fish limit and is restricted to flies and lures only. There were numerous game violations, as well as an inordinate amount of garbage strewn about. This is a pristine stretch of river that spits out fish that average 1.5-2 pounds, so seeing this is upsetting.
I reluctantly called the OSP the next day, and they found another violator fishing the river (which had closed that day). His violations included: fishing a closed water body, fishing without a license, using bait, continuing to fish after taking a limit, keeping more than the limit, failing to kill the fish retained, and then lying to the officer and saying that he thought it was free fishing weekend. Free Fishing Weekend had ended days earlier, and this was a Thursday, anyways.
To quote the great Theodore Roosevelt, "Game butchery is as objectionable as any other form of wanton cruelty or barbarity."
Though I hated to be the whistleblower, I am glad this violator was caught. The OSP and game wardens are few and far between. They help keep our fish and wildlife available for our lawful use. Please report fish and game violations to the OSP Dispatch. The Klamath Falls area dispatch can be contacted at 541-883-5711.
On June 15th, the last day that the Klamath River was open, my friend and I discovered an sickening sight. Six large trout ranging from 15" & 1.5 lbs to 20" & 4 lbs had been killed and left on the bank. Additionally, two chubs were killed and left there. Chubs are rarely caught on lures, so we knew they had used bait. Seeing this really upset us, and as we explored the area, we found numerous worm containers along with other garbage.
Most of the fish had slit throats, and were partially dried from the sun.
This river has a 1 fish limit and is restricted to flies and lures only. There were numerous game violations, as well as an inordinate amount of garbage strewn about. This is a pristine stretch of river that spits out fish that average 1.5-2 pounds, so seeing this is upsetting.
I reluctantly called the OSP the next day, and they found another violator fishing the river (which had closed that day). His violations included: fishing a closed water body, fishing without a license, using bait, continuing to fish after taking a limit, keeping more than the limit, failing to kill the fish retained, and then lying to the officer and saying that he thought it was free fishing weekend. Free Fishing Weekend had ended days earlier, and this was a Thursday, anyways.
To quote the great Theodore Roosevelt, "Game butchery is as objectionable as any other form of wanton cruelty or barbarity."
Though I hated to be the whistleblower, I am glad this violator was caught. The OSP and game wardens are few and far between. They help keep our fish and wildlife available for our lawful use. Please report fish and game violations to the OSP Dispatch. The Klamath Falls area dispatch can be contacted at 541-883-5711.
