Poachers next door?

[Terry]

if it's legal..then it's right for them

the law and personal morals have nothing to do with one another and I don't think they should be discussed in the same threads....as the law is the law and morals are what you believe in, what you find OK, not what is the law

 

so hate the law

not the guy fish/hunting/getting food within the law

so change the law.....IMO

[Fisherpete]

Wow, tough call, but I think I would have done the same thing in that situaution. To me, the compassion aspect would not really have been the deciding factor. By the time you saw that fish, it was already dead, and hopefully you giving the lecture to the son will have impacted his future behaviour.

 

Now, If I was out on the lake, and I saw my neighbour (or anyone else for that matter) with an OOS fish in his pail/livewell, and that fish still had a chance to live, I would not have been so forgiving... explain the regs, ask nicely for the fish to be returned, and then out comes the cellphone...

 

I have had NUMEROUS instances on Rice Lake and Simcoe where I have had to advise shore fishermen that the fish in that pail better go back or else the authorities will be called. They always claim "Oh, I didn't know it was OOS" but ignorance is no excuse. You have to know the regs or don't put out a line!

Edited April 23, 2007 by Fisherpete

[Wes Bender]

I totally don’t think it is right. There are seasons for a reason to preserve the resource. If they want to take more than the daily limit then so be it, that’s their ‘Right’. But they should still have to obey the seasons.

I later found out that a person can go to the reserve and buy a 20 lb bag of walleye fillets. A fishing buddy of mine told me he bought some. I gave him heck too. He is responsible for creating the flippin demand.

A few days later I was talking with a CO about the issue and trying to find out what actions were taken on the incident I reported. He had no details but gave me a bunch of numbers to try. He mentioned that a bunch of calls came in a few days before mine about some people camped out under the bridge with a deep freezer and a generator. The freezer was full of walleye. What the @!#&@! How much fish does one need? Unless, they are selling it. They were 'legal' so nothing was done.

 

Niagara earlier in this thread made the comment, "they do it once and get away with it...

they will do it again over and over..." How true it is. I understand that it was a pretty awkward situation for Pigeontroller to be in, Call the hotline or not. Me, I hate my neighbours so I would have turned them in. Those sots put 1 too many bags of garbage out on garbage day, and my fingers are on the dialer..hahaha

I can’t say yeah or niegh on Pigeontroller’s decision. But he at least let the guy know that he didn’t approve and reminded him of the legality of the situation. Good on ya!

[Big Cliff]

Your decision was based on compassion, good for you! I probably would have done the same thing although I might have added the warning that if it happened again I would feel obligated to advise the MNR.

 

I think you made the right call under the circumstances.

[Roy]

You called it as you saw it on the spur of the moment and you did right IMO. Pigeon Fisher, very good post.

[kennyman]

if it's legal..then it's right for them

the law and personal morals have nothing to do with one another and I don't think they should be discussed in the same threads....as the law is the law and morals are what you believe in, what you find OK, not what is the law

 

so hate the law

not the guy fish/hunting/getting food within the law

so change the law.....IMO

Terry, I never said I was hating anybody. That's out of your mouth,not mine. I never said I like it either. Also my morals have everything to do with my opinion. Sorry, but this is a FORUM, not a court. I thought this was about discussing our opinions Terry? I'm sorry if you don't like my opinion. More about the incident my customer was obviously disturbed my. He is a farmer,hunter and fisherman and loves the sport. He has seen it happen over and over, can do nothing and was frustrated. We get along well,so we were talking about it. Discussing OUR opinions. Apparently they had gutted a bunch of them for their eggs and just left thrown on shore. All I'm saying is although that may be the letter of the law,I'm sure it wasn't the original intent of the law. By the way I have alot of native customers and I would say as a rule that most respect nature or are at least much more aware of it than my average customer. Most would be appalled at the waste. Most are very respectful of their enviroment and nature. A few however take whatever they can get with no care for the consequences and can only see dollar signs. This in my opinion is wrong. I'm sorry if you think it's off topic Terry but to me they are very similar with the same consequences to the enviroment and fishery ........ just one is called legal, which to me is unbelievable. Wrong is wrong no matter who is doing it.