Hunters, Fishermen In Frightening Face-Offs

Differences between anglers and hunters have gradually escalated from arguments and name-calling into dangerous threats of violence the last few years.

And some disgruntled hunters and fishermen, particularly those who believe public officials are “jack-booted thugs,” regard wildlife agents and fish and game agencies as their enemies.

For many years, confrontations during steelhead runs have been common between boat and shore anglers along the Snake, Clearwater and Columbia rivers. Most considerate boaters stay a couple of hundred feet or so out from shore anglers, knowing shore fishermen have relatively few spots to fish. A few, however, move close to shore when they see a shore angler hook steelhead.

When boaters have moved into shore anglers’ water, shore fishermen have shouted at them to move out. Some shore anglers have even thrown rocks at the boats. Now the confrontations seem to have escalated.

For example, while I was fishing for steelhead with two friends near Lyons Ferry hatchery on the Snake recently, my partners and I witnessed a disturbing incident.

As we chugged along more than 100 yards out from five anglers, we saw a small boat moving slowly along the shoreline about 50 feet from the shore. The young couple in the cartopper must have been shocked at what happened next.

One of the shore anglers picked up a high-powered rifle that had been leaning against a chair. He didn’t point it at the couple, but, by his posture, implied that he might use the rifle.

The couple quickly maneuvered their boat away from shore, and the rifle-wielding angler put his gun down.

I learned later that other shore anglers now threaten to shoot boaters who invade their water. Phil Cooper, Idaho Fish and Game Department officer, reported a confrontation on the Salmon River.

A father and son were casting from shore, he said, when a boat pulled into the run and the occupants began backtrolling.

Without a word, Cooper said, the man aimed a rifle at the boat, then pulled off and shot into the bank across the river. As the roar faded, he shouted at the alarmed boat anglers to get out of “our hole.”

Cooper said such confrontations “are no longer remarkable” in Idaho. Every year, he said, conservation officers and sheriff’s deputies report confrontations among fishermen and hunters. Sometimes, “these clashes escalate beyond harsh words to brandishing of guns, knives and even fish whackers.”

Cooper assumes that pressures of modern living are carrying over into recreation. He quotes an Idaho conservation officer as saying, “There are a lot of angry people out there.”

Confrontations between hunters and fishermen have always been part of hunting and fishing. Every veteran sportsman can tell stories of hunters tagging deer and elk that other hunters shot, duck hunters setting out decoys a hundred yards from other hunters’ setups, trollers cutting the lines of other trollers and anglers moving too close to other anglers at lakes and streams.

In the past, however, the confrontations involved only shouting and name-calling. What’s changed is the apparent willingness of some short-tempered persons to resort to violence or damage to another person’s property.

Washington’s wildlife agents and other officers are aware that many hunters and anglers, some of whom have been arrested for breaking fish and game laws, regard Fish and Wildlife Department officials as enemies. However, unlike anglers and hunters, they’re trained to deal with troublemakers.

A chilling incident that illustrates the mind-set of a few so-called sportsmen occurred at the department’s Olympia office soon after the bombing at Oklahoma City. A man became agitated after he learned that he didn’t qualify for a program.

“Now I know why people rent Ryder trucks and park them in front of government buildings,” he said to Peggy Denny, a department officer. His comment could have been interpreted that he might bomb department headquarters. Calmly and professionally, Denny explained the regulations and why they were necessary. The man left.

Washington’s wildlife agents are prepared to defuse potential violence. They’re full-fledged peace officers and take the same kind of training as do state patrolmen, city police officers and sheriff’s deputies.

However, they know that it’s possible that an agent or law-abiding sportsman some day soon may be shot by an angry, disturbed person.

Most hunters and anglers, aware of the increase in violence in today’s society, try to avoid confrontations. Any kind of confrontation, they know, can spoil a satisfying and relaxing day of hunting or fishing.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review