The Sportsman's Corner: A Major Problem

I like to attend high-school athletic events. During the winter, I manage to get out to a few basketball games. Occasionally at these games, I run into someone who has something to say about "The Sportsman's Corner." Not all of what they say is good.

Recently I ran into a pair of guys who chastised me for ignoring a major problem with hunting. The first of these said, "You know, Rich, you are a real coward. You write about lots of stuff in your column, but you don't ever mention one of the major problems about hunting."

I gave him a blank stare, and then his buddy chimed in. "Yeah, that's right, Rich. You just ignore the issue."

They still hadn't told me what I had been ignoring, so I had to ask, "What is it that I'm not writing about?"

"You ought to know," the first one continued. "You read 'Pennsylvania Outdoor News,' don't you?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Then you ought to know what we're talking about," the second one said. "In the 'Cuffs and Collars' section where the game wardens write about illegal activities they deal with, the issue they write about most often is obvious. You ought to have it figured out."

"Well, I'm pretty dense. What is it?" I wanted to know.

"Baiting," the first one responded. "You have written about guys shooting too many deer and their greed. You have written about how their overharvesting of animals negatively affects the public-land deer herd. But, you never mention how they kill so many animals.

"You know Game Hogg and his friends shoot way too many deer. How do you think they kill so many animals so regularly? They use bait to lure the deer in front of their stands. Then they shoot them."

"And, just how do you know this?" I asked.

"Just last year, a landowner I know who allows Hogg to hunt on his land told me that Hogg shot a big buck during bow season that came in to the piles of apples Hogg set out every couple of days. Hogg and his friends apparently do this regularly in the places where they hunt."

"Well, if that's the case, why don't you report him to the game warden?" I asked the two guys.

"We don't know how," the second one said.

At that point, I gave them the game commission's "Turn in Poachers" phone number.

If anyone knows that baiting is going on, he should call (888) 742-8001 to report the poachers. Some sportsmen think it's a major problem.