i'm totally puzzled as to why guys feel that we sportsmen look bad in this situation. insecure pussys! you don't feel that way when you put a arrow through a cow elk.... you don't feel that way when you put a bullet through a 4point buck... you don't feel that way when you wood shampoo a 35# king.... you don't feel that way when you put in for a trophy tag and putt a bullet into that animal and have it put on your wall... you don't feel that way when you do any killing of any sort in the name of sport. crabbing to hunting bear up in alaska. your killing something.

listen i kill fish frequently... i don't hunt cause i'm to lazy. but if i did i'd put a bullet into a elk no problem. and not have a concern for how i look doing so.

if the friggen seals were taken off the liberals endangered lists.... HELL YES I'D KILL THAT CUTE BASTARD!!! then move on to the next.

any way you look at it "WE" sportsmen are killers. thats the way the public has always viewed us.

so quite with the how we look crap.

everytime i see a sealion thrashing a oversize in the columbia river i get rather pissed. yet i don't fish sturgeon. so yes if given the oppertunity to go out and pop them seals i would....

I hope he or she gets somemore.

Well said Aunty..............

No matter how you cut the cake, we as civilization have offset the balance of the wildlife. By taking this country we've eliminated a part of the food chain. Seals/Sea Lions used to be harvested and eaten. The numbers need to be balanced just as the numbers of Terns and Cormorants do as well. Another predator that was hunted and eaten before we got here... Until we balance the predators we'll never see the runs we used to. Pretty simple really..........

If they ever need someone to step up and do the job, I'd be willing and ready. Come to think of it, I'd do it for free or "fun"....

Keith

i'll tell you what constitutes the STUPID IN KILLING, the guys who go to places like africa and kill a lion(s) or the guy who finds a elephant just lumbering along searching for water and drops the beast. i'm assuming that elephant fed his family real good that year. filled the freezer with elephant burger,steaks, and sausage real nicely.

to go out and shoot 25 sealions for the sake of killing them is a great idea and a thoughtfull one at that.

there's just some of us who prefer the "comfort zone setting" of being P.C.

Whoa there Brewer! While never having hunted Africa I have both read and seen a lot of media footage about current legal, sport hunting there.

First, game meat does not go to waste. If the families of the PH's (professional hunter) employees don't take it all the rest goes to the locals. That is a win/win deal especially when crop damage may be involved.

Secondly, the hunter fees are quite high and a large part of that goes to efforts to protect the resources from poachers taking game for sale as bush meat or for the ivory (elephant) or horns (rhino).

Finally, some of that trophy fee money goes to land owners who find that there is value to maintaining habitat suitable for wildlife even when that wildlife competes with their cash crop. No different than here - example Wyoming that kicks back some license money to ranchers who allow hunting on their properties.

It is too bad that so often being P.C. is both factually wrong and, worse, when it adversely impacts sound wildlife management through both erroneous bad publicity (i.e. your comments about the "guy" just "dropping" the beast) which may result in hunter dollars not flowing to that area. Same with regulations resulting from or impacted by such attitudes.

http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/prules/75fr5575.pdf


Navy Guys testing new toys?

I want the range extended to Washington, we pay taxes for defense too.

+1

I think sealions would make excellent nutrients up in the headwaters.

Or in Maine

http://www.sealionsushi.com/menu.html

I'm just against some hooligans taking matters into their own hands. If it is attributed to sportsman (Frank Urabeck, sportsman advocate, was quoted in the Seattle Time stating it could've been fishermen...who often get frustrated with sea lions stealing their catch). If it is attributed to sportsman...its gonna look pretty bad...a group who advocates selective harvest, but shows support of whacking an animal on the ESA threatened species list...
Doesn't it make ya think....

moravec,

You are thinking the right way. It was probably someone who does not play well with others. But,the current laws frequently make reasonable people just a little wacky. That is no excuse for illegal acts.

The ESA stuff gets slippery and sticky really fast.

Keep going, Keep posting.

Suppose we could get some eskimo's to immigrate to Washington, Native peoples that eat seals........PROBLEM SOLVED.
Now what eats cormorantsss?

California sea lions!hahaha

This is a funny thread Really... People are so quick to point fingers at fellow sportsman. This is why we as sportsman will never get ahead in the fight to save our fish. Why Cant we Agree on one thing? My Money says the Tribal Netters or Commercial boats of some type were responsible for this. I have heard many stories of commercial boat capt. shooting these thing until the barrel is red hot.

Just for the record while Steller sea lions are ESA listed harbor seals and California sea lions are not ESA listed. They are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Aunty as usually is the case is correct; the federal government does allows the killing of ESA species every day. Here in Washington we all kill ESA listed salmon daily as we turn on our power or water taps on.

Tight lines
Curt

For those who approve of this action - its simple. We must control the overpopulation that we created. However, they don't see the inherent contradiction. Man screws up when we create the overpopulation, but somehow we expect that we will be perfect when we seek to control the population. Hubris and pride - two of our worst characteristics!

Stopping fishing might be the only answer at this point, its already happening with the Sturgeon and Smelt and SF Herring..Somebody got alittle frustrated is all.

I keep saying it over and over... We've got 5-8 years of fishing left.... "The sky is falling".... So enjoy what you can while you can. Sooner than later we'll be managed out of fishing........

Keith

I pick Sooner than Later...