03-20-2010, 12:35 AM
It appears that you are taking offense to my response so I will assume you are part of the older generation letter of the law attitude. So was my father and it makes me crazy. Their is a purpose behind laws/rules and when those purposes are not broken, their is no need to punish to the full extent allowed by the law. It is one thing to take home a dozen 18 inch cutts from the berry or to be intentionally fishing without a license and keeping everything you catch. It is another thing to have an expired license on your person which expired 4 days earlier or to be watching your buddies second pole without a 2 pole permit, especially if you are releasing all of the fish.
I can see the sense in a $20 warning or a fix-it ticket but any ticket over $50 where there was no or very minimal harm and it was unintentional seems very illogical. Most rangers I have come across became rangers to enjoy the control and power it gives them over others (because you know it aint the money). They have quotas, egos and shiny badges that get in the way of their better judgment and logic. Thankfully not all CO's are like this but several are.
If you can't tell, I am a 29 year old male who likes to consider himself pragmatic. I believe all intentional poachers should be thrown in jail and fined thousands of dollars. Those that make unintentional mistakes with no harm to the system should get a warning. Usually it is pretty easy to tell them apart.
Yes my statements were very stereotypical but I stand by them. The older generation in Utah (40+) seem to be very letter of the law minded while those younger seem to be much more pragmatic. The younger generation definitely has its attributes that I don't like, but this is one stereotypical attribute that I agree with.
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I can see the sense in a $20 warning or a fix-it ticket but any ticket over $50 where there was no or very minimal harm and it was unintentional seems very illogical. Most rangers I have come across became rangers to enjoy the control and power it gives them over others (because you know it aint the money). They have quotas, egos and shiny badges that get in the way of their better judgment and logic. Thankfully not all CO's are like this but several are.
If you can't tell, I am a 29 year old male who likes to consider himself pragmatic. I believe all intentional poachers should be thrown in jail and fined thousands of dollars. Those that make unintentional mistakes with no harm to the system should get a warning. Usually it is pretty easy to tell them apart.
Yes my statements were very stereotypical but I stand by them. The older generation in Utah (40+) seem to be very letter of the law minded while those younger seem to be much more pragmatic. The younger generation definitely has its attributes that I don't like, but this is one stereotypical attribute that I agree with.
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