Public Access Vandalism: Are We Our Brother’s Keeper?

We’ve all seen them, signs shot to kingdom come, ravaged beyond use, standing as a blackeye to sportsmen in general. 

I’ve never shot a sign, my dad would have beaten me within an inch of my life if I had and he’d found out and it sickens me to see the proliferation of shot up signs at public access points across the West. It is a problem and a threat to the privilege of public access. 

State agencies, read taxpayers, pay a lot of money to purchase and erect signs and their wanton destruction by troglodyte morons is an issue that responsible sportsmen need to be incensed over. I personally report this type of vandalism every time I encounter it and you should too. Unfortunately, there isn’t much agencies can do after the fact, but reporting this abuse of the public trust can lead to awareness and increased patrol that can and does head off future offenses. 

Outside of that, we ARE our brother’s keeper in the hunting community as the nefarious actions of a couple bad apples does indeed spoil the entire barrel. What does this look like? It begins with teaching zero-tolerance respect for our resources and privileges to new and young hunters. However, it also means being hard on our own ranks by calling out bad actors. 

I’m not saying that we need to physically confront armed idiots who display no regard for the law or responsible citizenship, but we do need to actively report bad behavior when we see it and publicly condemn it loudly and often. If we fail to police our ranks then we will continue to lose our hunting and public access privileges thanks to a handful of juvenile delinquents with a penchant for vandalism. 

Yes, being a responsible sportsman means we self-police. 

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