This Is Why We Need EVERY Game Warden!

[Don Wittenberger]

This quote is from the top story in today's Seattle Times:

“The body count began the moment Tom Sharpe met Mick Gordon. When Sharpe stepped from his pickup, he found four men and a boy in the garage of Gordon's Longview duplex stripping the skin from a big bull elk.

“Gordon retrieved a hunting dog Sharpe was thinking about buying, and they drove toward the woods to test the dog. Along the way, Gordon bragged that he killed lots of bears, cougars and bobcats. He shot four or five bull elk a year. A few months earlier he'd poached a big cougar. He and a buddy tossed dynamite into a creek to kill fish. Gordon declared that ‘he had poached everything there was to poach.’

Shortly after midnight, they turned back, having killed nothing that day. But Gordon invited Sharpe to come hunting again. Gordon wouldn't have been so welcoming if he'd known who Sharpe really was: an undercover wildlife cop.”

(Available online at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... rs01m.html or pick up a copy at a newstand near you.)

The story goes on to say the ringleader got 13 months in prison -- mostly for kicking a dog to death -- and the rest of the poachers served 30 to 90 days in jail. The story noted, "It's hard to excite judges and prosecutors about any but the most extreme poaching cases ... Gordon's prison sentence came mostly for beating his dog, not for illegally killing wildlife." That tells you what we're up against when it comes to holding poachers accountable under the law. (Sounds like we need to do some public education of prosecutors and judges.)

If you haven't sent a letter and check to WDFW for the "Save-A-Warden Fund" yet, please do so now. I don't care if it's only $1, becaue it isn't the amount that matters -- the relatively small number of us who read this forum obviously can't raise the $2 million it'll take to save the 10 or 11 WDFW enforcement officers slated for reduction in force. That requires a major source of income, such as the checkoff system suggested by Craig Bukowski to raise donations from the license-buying public. This newspaper article should be cut out, framed, and hung over every license vendor's cash register for every license buyer to see.

Yes, I know WDFW is asking the Legislature for a license fee increase. But even if it passes, the higher fee won't go into effect until next year, which is too late to save the game warden jobs. By donating to the "Save-A-Warden Fund" you send a message to WDFW that you want something done RIGHT NOW to save those game warden jobs. WE NEED EVERY ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AND THIS NEWS STORY PROVES IT. I don't know if WDFW will implement the Bukowski checkoff system to raise donations. It won't be easy because they have very little time left before people begin buying their 2009 fishing licenses. But that shouldn't be determinative. Sooner our later, we're all asked to do something difficult in our jobs, and we do it because it's important. This is important, too. Even if you can't spare a dollar, at least spend a stamp and write to WDFW to tell them in no uncertain terms that you want our game wardenss spared from budget cuts!

[Ski]

Don,

Great example! I am sure this is only one of many. We all need to get the word out and not just to fishermen, but all hunters and outdoor enthusiasts! If that story doesn't make you sick or angry that people out there continue to rape our resources with reckless abandon you need to sell all your guns, fishing gear, boats, and move to NY city!

[blufin loui]

Hey ya Puyallup Ski
Agree with ya 100 +%, but uuuuh, NY City? Wouldn't that be considered cruel and unusual punishment:dwarf:
Fish (& hunt) on friends

[Ski]

Roger that Loui! I guess I made my point!