Vernon Holt
08-27-2005, 03:49 PM
My, how things have changed!! I was reading an outdoor article written by Ted Trueblood in 1935. He is narrating a fishing experience on a western trout stream. He tell of spotting a water snake with a five inch trout protruding from its mouth. He quotes, "I drew my Smith and Wesson 38 Special. At the report the head disappeared and there was a short thrashing of the snake, followed by the appearance of the snake belly up in the current".
He further states in the next three hours of fishing that he killed four more snakes and missed one. He goes on to attribute the water snake as one of the prime reasons why there are so many barren trout streams.
Not only did he advocate fishermen arming themselves with sidearms for this purpose, but he went on to advocate the killing of s_itepokes. Kingfishers, Herons, Pelicans, Crows, Magpies, stray housecats, and Carp.
He goes on to close his article in this manner, "In conclusion, and I guess it's the Irish in me, it would jolly well please the auther if the "balance of nature" boys raised a howl of protest at the ideas here set forth. Man in killing game animals disrupts the original balance and it is only by restocking and killing the natural enemies of the game and fish that any sort of equilibrium can be maintained"
For those who do not know Ted Trueblood, he was a regular contributing columnist for Field and Stream for forty years. He was a lifelong Conservationist who championed many causes. He established the first Idaho Fish and Game Commission. In 1975, the Interior Department gave him it's Conservation Service Award, the highest award given to citizen Conservationists.
His call for fishermen and hunters to shoot certain predators seems extreme today, but keep in mind that the Pennsylvania Game Comm. was waging a similar campaign in 1935.
Someone has said something like this, "The only thing that is unchanged today is that change is certain". Unfortunately, not always for the better.
Vernon
He further states in the next three hours of fishing that he killed four more snakes and missed one. He goes on to attribute the water snake as one of the prime reasons why there are so many barren trout streams.
Not only did he advocate fishermen arming themselves with sidearms for this purpose, but he went on to advocate the killing of s_itepokes. Kingfishers, Herons, Pelicans, Crows, Magpies, stray housecats, and Carp.
He goes on to close his article in this manner, "In conclusion, and I guess it's the Irish in me, it would jolly well please the auther if the "balance of nature" boys raised a howl of protest at the ideas here set forth. Man in killing game animals disrupts the original balance and it is only by restocking and killing the natural enemies of the game and fish that any sort of equilibrium can be maintained"
For those who do not know Ted Trueblood, he was a regular contributing columnist for Field and Stream for forty years. He was a lifelong Conservationist who championed many causes. He established the first Idaho Fish and Game Commission. In 1975, the Interior Department gave him it's Conservation Service Award, the highest award given to citizen Conservationists.
His call for fishermen and hunters to shoot certain predators seems extreme today, but keep in mind that the Pennsylvania Game Comm. was waging a similar campaign in 1935.
Someone has said something like this, "The only thing that is unchanged today is that change is certain". Unfortunately, not always for the better.
Vernon