Rich Landers: Publishing outdoors stories can be risky business

Should newspapers print photos of bicyclists without helmets? Or run a story about a blind girl with a wish to shoot a bear? Or feature wakeboarders that ride a wave of popularity perhaps at the expense of eroded shorelines?

If that is what’s happening out there, of course we should.

If it generates discussion, all the better.

A photo of a kid without a lifejacket rafting on the Spokane River probably should include a caption noting that county law requires lifejackets to be worn.

We also could ask if the kid had been protected with sunscreen, but we probably wouldn’t.

What about a fly fisher casting on the Coeur d’Alene River without wearing sunglasses? I have a photo that would illustrate a blurb about how many anglers I know who’ve impaled an unprotected eye with a hook.

I wouldn’t feel compelled to go that route, but readers would be free to make the point.

Everyone has an opinion about what goes on in outdoors niches, the choices people make, the examples they set. A good number of folks will make their thoughts known. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Discussion often paves the way to progress. Should every story about hiking in grizzly country recommend carrying bear spray? Probably not, but don’t hesitate to remind us.

Anyone who offers a thought in a public arena will soon learn a truth newspaper staffs learned even before Facebook and Twitter: Nothing is sacred.

Even when we write about “mom and apple pie” we have to brace for unflattering comments about mom’s past. Others will favor rhubarb pie.

Do we need to have tips on safety or a discussion on deep moral issues in every story? Even if we could, readers would get tired of it pretty fast.

Sports editor Joe Palmquist points out that sports writers don’t try to balance every football story with the latest information about concussions.

Similarly, we won’t necessarily discuss shoreline erosion in every story about powerboating. However, at the suggestion of readers commenting on last week’s feature on wakeboarding, the S-R Outdoors Department is looking into a followup on the environmental impacts.

A loose-knit group of Wallace-area retirees dubbed the Over-the-Hill Downhillers were featured in last Sunday’s Outdoors pages. Their one rule: Never pedal uphill.

A couple of readers suggested it was inappropriate to write about bicyclists who drink beer during tour breaks and run photos of them riding without wearing helmets.

The critics didn’t mention whether they noticed the senior riders were a fun-loving group that leaves the outdoors at least as good or better than they found it.

For the record, I highly recommend helmets despite research that indicates they might not offer as much safety as once reported.

Helmets are irrefutably important for young riders who often are involved in low-speed crashes. And I was well beyond youngster age when I crashed my mountain bike, broke a collarbone and cracked my helmet on the pavement. I was glad to have the protection.

I was the only one on that Downhillers coasting descent from Lookout Pass who wore a helmet and quenched my thirst from a waterbottle rather than a beer can during the tour. But I saw no point in proselytizing on biking safety to some mining industry veterans, some of whom had survived a career deep underground in a hard rock life most of us can’t imagine.

A blind teenager who shot a black bear with the help of volunteer sportsmen and video technology is featured this week in a story out of Yakima.

Critics have been piling on, shaming the girl and condemning the Youth Outdoors Unlimited group that sets up hunting and fishing dream trips for Washington kids with terminal diseases or major handicaps.

Generally, baiting and too much technology in hunting are unsavory to me. But in this case, a 14-year-old girl was given one shot at doing something other family members do every year.

She had to pass a hunter education course and practice before the hunt. Black bears are legal game for hunters and she had a tag.

She paid her dues with 13 hours of sitting in a blind, not to mention a lifetime of being blind. Her family supported her all the way. The bear meat is being processed for family feeds and the hide mounted for memories that will go down in family legend.

As a newspaper outdoors columnist, there’s a lot of possible ways to go with this story.

But the most important thing I’d like to say at this time to this young lady about hunting, shooting and killing a bear is – nice shot.

Contact Rich Landers at (509) 459-5508 or email richl@spokesman.com.