Op-Ed: Of Wolves & Inconvenient Truths

Devin Rokyta’s spluttering, hate-filled editorial of April 5 bashing wolf trapper Josh Bransford marks a new low in journalistic depravity at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Opening his screed with a personal insult (“Despicable people like Josh Bransford … “), Rokyta signals readers they are in for yet another ad hominem attack on Idahoans who hunt, fish, trap, shoot and generally act like Westerners rather than big media wannabes. As we shall see, Rokyta’s self-indulgent invective may be fueling the fires of madness amongst the unhinged who lurk on the fringes of radical environmentalism. First, set aside Rokyta’s hysterics and review some “inconvenient truths” he and his fellow travelers might like Daily News readers to overlook. Josh Bransford is not the redneck caricature depicted in the press. He is a professional conservationist who earned his degree at the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources. His choice of vocation was heavily influenced by a love for Idaho’s environment developed through a lifetime spent afield hunting, fishing and now trapping/ Dan Blanco , Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.

Question: Does a tradition of hunting run in your family?