Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Phrase of the Day

I may have mentioned that one of my offspring works for the Department of Natural Resources.  They do a lot of things including enforcement of game and fish laws.  I guess they have a special freezer where confiscated things are kept while cases are ongoing. Once they are resolved the materials are disposed of.

They had a going away party recently for an old timer.  I asked what was on the menu.

"Evidence Fish".


probably not the Godfather variety...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's disgusting.

You son is part of a gang that robs and steals from people, they take money and 'revoke' rights for made up 'offenses'. (You dare to kill a deer in the king's forest?!?)

And you're OK with them throwing a party while feasting on ill-gotten goods?

Seriously?

If I ever find myself in a situation where I can't afford food for my family, I will go out and hunt whatever animal I can find on my property--and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow the government to tell me I can't.

Tacitus said...

Actually my kid is on the research side of things and supplied the other entree on the menu...experiment fish.

But you do have to be honest about controversies and I can't argue with you, that is how some view the DNR.

I worry about the future of our country too, and desperately hope we never come down to a state where people have to either poach or starve.

But to continue an honest discussion, you have to also have an eye to future generations. Our interests and theirs need to be in balance.

Sure, I can see how this would look like "the cops' kid" riding a swell bike that was confiscated or some such. But we are talking about some fish that had been in the freezer for quite a while. Maybe the same in principle, but in practice the kind of stuff I toss out when I find it.

T2

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised. That's not the response I expected. Most people change their principals the moment it applies to them.

While I agree we need to have deer (for example) for future generations, one of the best ways to protect a species is to make a demand for it.

Cows and pigs aren't going extinct--people want them. Lots of them. Mmm...bacon.

Anyways--I'm not against the government having 'wildlife preserves' either...to a point. But when you start looking at the huge land-grab that is the DNR, it'll make you sick. A huge percentage of my state is Federal land.

Meh. I've never had any dealings with the DNR, but I'm sure it'll come up some day. I almost can't afford to feed my family the way prices have skyrocketed over the last 4 years--and I'll shoot a deer on my property before I would ever consider government cheese.

Tacitus said...

Lots of deer were taken out of season back during the Great Depression...old timers remember calling them "Hoover Chicken" in an ironic reference to the chicken in every pot quote.

Enforcement was appropriately loose back then.

Hey, I remember having "Reagan Cheese" once or twice as an impoverished student. It was...interesting.

More to the real point, the research side of DNR tries to figure out which species are doing well, which are not. The answers are not always apparent. Deer btw, doin' very well indeed. Invasive wild boar hunting also makes everyone happy. Some good baconage there.

But as I mentioned, the DNR knows that to some folks it means Darn Near Russia. There is a need for tact, diplomacy and, yes, respect.

T2