Poaching Story

[skeeter]

On 10/27/2017 at 8:52 AM, fshndoug said:

we need laws that allow total confiscation of everything involved with taking fish and game illegaly.I think Ontario does that,why can't we do the same?

M 

 

[MoCarp]

9 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I'm not fully aware of everything they have going on, but if it were up to me I would dump the Paddlefish program immediately and auction off everything associated with it to the highest bidder.   The next thing to go would be the urban trout rediculousness. And the breeding and stocking of Hybrid Stripers.  The LO walleye efforts are a huge waste of time and money....after 26 years it still ain't working so let that crap go.  The 2 brand new "discreet I/O runabouts" they bought to spy on folks crappie fishing off their docks on LO.....just sell them before it freezes, because they haven't even written enough citations to cover the cost of winterizing them..... And besides, people fishing off their docks couldn't hurt the Crappie population on LO even if they all were Capps & Coleman types.

Quit with the Elk stupidity.  Spend the time, money and energy associated with that on giving more attention to bobwhite quail.

Quit with the deer paranoia for awhile and spend some real time protecting our river smallmouth better. If they can stay out all night worrying about guys spotlighting deer then they can monitor these giggers a little better.

That magazine? Gone. And fire the full-time photographer.  Nice enough pics, if you really need them, are free.

Next up: train the maintenance crew better and quit buying brand new trucks, boats, dozers, mowers, brush hogs, and backhoes every year. That equipment can last 10 year+ just fine, you don't have to buy new ones just because the blades are dull or they have a flat tire. And stop putting miles on fully loaded 3/4 and 1ton trucks if all your doing is hauling around a clip board and a laptop.  The trucks they auction off at 130k miles don't even have a scratch in the bed for Christ sake.  Put THOSE GUYS in little Jeep Liberty's or something.

How's that for a start? Prolly saved us about 60 million right there, and you never even felt it. 

You have some very good points....how to stretch the $ more is prob going to happen, because of Gov. Eric Greitens' executive order issued in January, the MDC is undergoing a thorough review of all rules & procedures..Im sure others have noticed how they may have been spending the state wildlife sales taxes and license fees. Think they may have closed a couple of "new" offices/ "parks" in our part of the state already

The mission of the Missouri Department of Conservation is:

To protect and manage the forest, fish, and wildlife resources of the state; to facilitate and provide opportunity for all citizens to use, enjoy, and learn about these resources.

Urban outreach is a mandate, I was told once they even stock common carp in some urban fisheries..Paddlefish get a big chunk of federal funding..and since the creation of Truman dam it inundated traditional paddlefish and walleye spawning areas....I agree that smallmouth bass should be a priority and the last convo I had with a MDC biologist efforts on research is on going on SW Missouri SMB with fin clipping/DNA sampling as well as hellbender habitat /population studies (now that they have bred them in captivity in St louis zoo)

I always though we got very little of our state dollars to expand opportunities in SW Mo....I am sure they figured with all the major lakes in our area we didn't need more...however Joplin is an hour from any major lake, St louis has more close opportunities than SW Missouri...if you want to fish right after work close in joplin your options are limited and those places have suffered in quality of fishing in the last 15 or so years

Other states are doing a few radical things like the no-harvest ban on Mille Lacs walleye in MN

or the reassessment of traditional length and harvest (bag limits) on species like Sunfish and Muskie 

or even the common carp Trophy regulations in Texas and now Connecticut....things are changing and will evolve to make the changing publics desires...fishing for a fish dinner will get pushed farther down the ladder because harvest can't be sustained over time without supplemental stocking in a lot of waters..its a complex issue..someone in the state hierarchy is a big gigging fan..or someone with political pull...or it would be gone by now....just like the fact you can spearfish gamefish in Arkansas... a tiny user group at best, but it seems a well connected one...shooting a limit of 8# walleyes to me is akin to spotlighting a 10 point buck...at least with the buck you can have another in 4- years..that walleye might be 10 years or more old....same deal with 4# smallies

food for though on what new changes we might see in the MDC

[snagged in outlet 3]

Great start Wrench!  Especially the elk. 

How much did they spend on otter's?  Spend money to reintroduce them to eat fish you're trying to protect or that you spent money on to grow.

[fishin_addict]

On 10/27/2017 at 10:55 AM, Haris122 said:

darn. That is some bs. At least it wasn't just $116. $300 is still weak for 40 something extra fish but at least it’s not as much a joke as 116 would've been. But yeah, 2nd participant should’ve got just as much. 

What’s that come to, about the same price as he would’ve paid buying that many rainbow trout at the store? 

That's what I was thinking too on the $/lb at the store.

[Gavin]

MDC took in $189 Million during FYE 6/30/2016, and they spent around $16 Million on the Protection Division (which includes the salaries for 160 full time CA's and 18 trainees to cover 114 counties and the City of St. Louis). That's only 8.5% of collections. They could trim other areas and have plenty of money available to increase enforcement activity, but it is obviously not a priority.

 

 

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, Gavin said:

MDC took in $189 Million during FYE 6/30/2016, and they spent around $16 Million on the Protection Division (which includes the salaries for 160 full time CA's and 18 trainees to cover 114 counties and the City of St. Louis). That's only 8.5% of collections. They could trim other areas and have plenty of money available to increase enforcement activity, but it is obviously not a priority.

 

 

That's the part that drives me crazy.  Everytime you criticize the MDC there's always someone that gets all defensive saying "How can you complain about them after the cool things that they do?"

Well hell yeah they do some cool things!  Who wouldn't if they had even a fraction of the amount of funding to play with?  They also make sure to propagandize it to death so that everyone knows that they do the occasional cool thing.  

" Awe look, they did something sweet for disabled children"..... can't criticize them NOW or you're just a politically incorrect, unpatriotic dirty rotten heathen that has no heart.   

 That's called head games in my book and you can think whatever you want about me, but I just don't gobble that BS up like most people do.   The fact of the matter is that THEY didn't do it, you and I did.... because it's our dough that they did it with....and THEY profited (got paid) while doing it.

[MoCarp]

Just now, fishinwrench said:

That's the part that drives me crazy.  Everytime you criticize the MDC there's always someone that gets all defensive saying "How can you complain about them after the cool things that they do?"

Well hell yeah they do some cool things!  Who wouldn't if they had even a fraction of the amount of funding to play with?  They also make sure to propagandize it to death so that everyone knows that they do the occasional cool thing.  

" Awe look, they did something sweet for disabled children"..... can't criticize them NOW or you're just a politically incorrect, unpatriotic dirty rotten heathen that has no heart.   

 That's called head games in my book and you can think whatever you want about me, but I just don't gobble that BS up like most people do.  

LOL never though of it that way but they do don't they???.......public outreach co-ordinators....our side of the state goes to wanting....I have less places to fish than I did in the past...I hate commercialization and we are going to see TR go all LOZ on us....maybe Al has the right idea..go west young man go WEST!

[MOPanfisher]

There are a lot of thing I would like to see them spend more $ on such as accesses to rivers and enforcement.  One thing to remember is that those population centers such as Stl, KC etc. Have a lot of leople, hence a lot of votes and yes MDC does a lot in those areas.  Elk yeah if everything else was great I wouldn't complain but there a lot of places that could benefit from the $ spent on elk.  

[fishinwrench]

2 minutes ago, MOPanfisher said:

There are a lot of thing I would like to see them spend more $ on such as accesses to rivers and enforcement.  One thing to remember is that those population centers such as Stl, KC etc. Have a lot of leople, hence a lot of votes and yes MDC does a lot in those areas.  Elk yeah if everything else was great I wouldn't complain but there a lot of places that could benefit from the $ spent on elk.  

You might LIVE in STL or KC....but you don't experience nature there.    

[MOPanfisher]

Well any agency whose funding is based upon approval by voters every 10 years or so had better be aware of them and play to them to some extent.  There are many people in urban areas who greatly benefit from MDC funding, even if it is only through educational efforts and keeping urban kids aware of of the benefits of having places where folks can go and enjoy nature.  As for nature in the cities, fishing, bird watching, and other non consumptive activities are quite popular.  Besides if none of those folks came out to the lakes and such the economic effect would be bad.