Post by BOBOBOnoBO®There is a stunningly beautiful creek in _____ County called _____ Cr.
We'd love to go out camping on it next weekend, but we know what is
going to happen there. In violation of the law, people are going to be
driving not only ATVs, but jacked-up trucks right down the middle of
the creek, and MDC almost certainly is going to do absolutely nothing
to stop them.
The section of creek that they are going to joyfully rape next weekend
is between the ______ R. and ______ Co. Rd. __. This is truly AA
quality water until they commit their crime. Afterwards, it's a muddy,
oil-slicked mess. This 7 mile section happens to be adopted by my
friends and myself through the Stream Team program, and we have fished
quite a few tires and other junk out. It hurts to know that nearly
every holiday weekend from Spring through Fall, this is going to
happen.
I see such activity (and evidence of such activity) on a regular basis.
Often on float trips, one can see tire tracks on gravel bars going
into the river. In addition to ATVs and jacked-up trucks, there are
SUVs and off-road motorcycles.
Have you ever tipped off the MDC about the rednecks? Perhaps you
already sent your above letter to the MDC.
The MDC has a lot of problems and wrong priorities. They spend way too
many resources overdeveloping and overmanaging their land, when they
should allocate more man-hours in enforcement.
In their taxpayer-funded political propaganda magazine the
Conservationist, they brag about using a helicopter to nab people who
drive ATVs and 4x4 trucks in streams. They brag about issuing dozens
of citations. Most likely, the fines paid by the rednecks don't even
cover the costs of operating the helicopter.
The proper punishment for driving in streams is confiscation of the
vehicles plus a huge fine. Ditto for poachers: all poachers should
have their vehicles, all their guns and ammo, and other possessions
confiscated. The MDC should use your Stream Team chemical data,
photos, etc, as evidence the stream was impacted by the redneck scum.
Almost every time I visit a conservation area (or county park or
similar public land), the peace is disturbed by idiotic mowing.
Instead of wasting gas on mowing and paying people to sit in the huge
mowers, have more agents crack down on illegal activity. Often MDC
workers/contractors drive trucks off the road on trails, ruining the
serenity. It's not unusual to see evidence of so-called "controlled
burns" and other destruction by the MDC.
The MDC has ruined many conservation areas by building boat ramps,
handicapped facilities, and other unnecessary crap that makes it easier
for a-holes to drive vehicles off road. Instead of wasting money on
overdeveloping accesses, focus on enforcement.
The MDC is overly permissive to bad activity, for example they allow
noodling, a non-sport in which rednecks reach into catfish spawning
holes and grab the fish by hand. The MDC doesn't do enough to crack
down on the murder of protected species. It's extremely common for
Confederate rednecks to shoot bald eagles, owls, and other birds of
prey and nail them to the sides of roads the way loggers do with
Spotted Owls in the Pacific Northwest. Much shooting of hawks and
other predators occurs near gun clubs. Most gun clubs have Cheney
style canned/fenced "hunts" in which tame pheasant are released from
captive cages into the gun club land. The gunloons shoot all Hawks and
other predators in the area in an attempt to prevent the predators from
harvesting their tame game. Gun club membership is Freudian, done in
an attempt to compensate for having nothing between one's legs. I
cheered when gunloons removed themselves from the gene pool by driving
in front of a train near Robertsville about half a year ago. Good
riddance to bad rubbish.
In addition to ruining streams, the rednecks also drive their ATVs and
off-road motorcycles in woods. Wouldn't it be great if people erected
traps that wouldn't harm wildlife or walking hikers, but would wipe out
the ATVers!
One problem with ATVs is they don't have license plates. All ATVs and
similar vehicles should be forced to register with a huge license fee.
It's extremely common to see ATVs on streets, often driven by underage
brats whose parents condone the illegal activity.
One entity to blame is the vehicle manufacturers, especially GM and
Ford. Most of their ads for trucks and SUVs show the vehicles
off-road, often driving through rivers and streams.
Missouri isn't the only state where a-holes drive off road. A few
years ago when I visited a state in the far west and kayaked down a
"remote" stream in a national forest, every few hundred yards there
were SUVs and 4x4 trucks along the bank with no roads in sight.
A bit over the top at some points, bt not off target at all. Terry has
brought up some very good points. Traps though are a no go even though the
idea sounds inviting, it just opens up a whole field of litigation.
Confiscation on the other hand doesn't stray from existing law enforcement
practices. Losing a $20,000 truck with an additional $10-12,000 in off-road
add ons has got to hurt. Add a sizable fine to that and maybe the lesser
offenders will take notice. The true assholes though are a completely
different problem. For hard core offenders there is the jail time option
and even that won't phase some of the denser heads involved
As for the gun issues, the conservation department has long had a
problem with the original make up and staffing in the field. A lone agent
in the field has a hard time dealing with multiple armed offenders.
Conservation teams of two or more agents ould help but then the teams would
need to double their area of responsibility unless greater funding wa
provider to increase man power in the field. Usually out gunned and aout
numbered desretion is often the better part of valor. They can't act like
old time Texas Rangers and simply shoot all of the offenders and they
certainly don't want to get shot themselves. I've read where several states
have formed bonds with hunting clubs, the ones that really hunt and obey th
law that is, to tighten legislation against the clubs that are out of
control and outside the law. A larger fine could and should be assessed
against club that condone or allow the law to be broken from their land by
their members. Confiscation also isn't out of line for both the clubs and
the individuals. I know at least one sruffy little hunter who just happens
to still use grandpa's old guns which are beautiful collectors pieces at
about 100 years of age. If he lost them through any malfescense on his part
his whole family would administer a form of corporal punishment known as
tthe good ole' fashioned family ass whoopin'. The hardest part though in
bird shootings if to prove who did the shooting. High caliber rounds are
rarely retained in the corpse and the conservation agents are rarely in a
position to see the shooter and the target. Additionally confiscation and
fines agains thte clubs would force them to tighten up their memberships
rules of conduct as well as encouraging them to enforce the rules as a
matter of self interest.
Requiring some form of ATV licensing is not a bad idea and it could be
required at the point of sale. A non-road tag would help identify offending
vehicles as well as helping to reduce theft of ATVs, an all to common and
hard to track crime. Again confiscation and increased fines could help.
Implementation is a key issue in getting such measures in place. The
measures taken must be done in such a manner as to have the minimum impact
on the law abiding public. They need to be presented in such a way as to
emphasize the benefits not just to the public at large, but also especially
to those directly effected. Much of the cost can be off set by making sure
that all fines and revenue from disposal of confiscated property goes
directly back into the enforcement effort. Where and when local law
enforcement is utilized, they to should share in an returns from fines and
confiscations. Getting local help in enforcement never hurts and very often
they have more man power in the field than MDC at the local level. At the
upper end there is always the feds and not just BLM and DOI. The ATF has an
interest in the guns as well as the DHS and FBI in the folks using them.
Based on federal reports, just about every county and small town in MO has
at least a few gun toting radicals from either side of the political
spectrum. Urban areas are more divers, but then the opportunity to
practice/use fire arms is reduced, so they travel out into the more rural
areas to get in a little shooting.
All of this needs to be done with the minimum impact on the family
vacationers that flock to the great outdoors every spring. Access and
management need to be reviewed and some places need not be mowed, planted
and managed into state level city parks. Many folks like going to places
where the rough edges have not planed down and sanded to velvet smoothness.
Additionally, space needs to be made for the ATV/4-Wheeler crowd some where
in the system. People are going to buy and drive them any how, providing a
place where their impact is minimized and legal is one way to reduce the
illegal activities that might take place else where.
My thanks to Bryan and Terry for bringing up such a good topic.