Yeah, I’ve got a problem with this…
They say invasive species. And they’re right. I say highly intelligent, elusive, challenging…downright one of the most formidable game fish that exists today. And I’m right too.
The common carp has been introduced to waters across our land, and in many cases it has become a nuisance. Destroying vegetation, turning grass flats into mud flats. The fish is on a number of state wildlife management organizations’ invasive species lists. On this we all agree.
But, my colleagues and I have also heard of bowfishing (as well as other like-kind slaughters) where multitudes of carcasses were dumped in nearby refuse bins, or simply left in an obscure backwater to rot. In other words, we’re not necessarily buying the good-guys-cleaning-up-a-problem image that participants in the massacres are trying to convey.
Can’t we find a better way?
Tags: bowfishing, carp, invasive species, wildlife management
Fuck That!
As a card caring carp hugger this is tough to see……as an eradication approach it’s bollox, as a sport, shoot the small ones they’re tougher to hit, leave the big gals for us!
preaching to the choir here. I had an almost similar post a month back and of the same title. For many, bowfishing is a baseless excuse for wanton murder. They funny thing is many of those clowns fancy themselves “christians”. What a fucking case of hypocrisy I’ve ever seen.
http://www.roughfisher.com/2009/03/killing-in-name-of.html
fuck those fucking fucks and the donkey they rode in on.
I take issue with this for a host of reasons. Most of these slaughters take place in early spring when the fish are slow, sluggish, and frankly catatonic, brings new meaning to the term shooting fish in a barrell. I’ll give all these guys the “Helen Keller” sportsmans award here for your great white hunter marksmanship.
So they call this invasive species management,…I think we need to be cognizant of a term called unchecked eradication.
Maybe next time we see a bowhunting event, we can stop by for the Hillbilly fish fry.(Insert hand gesture here).
We can be sure of one thing here, and one thing only: Rage Against The Machine is alive and well in fly fishing circles.
What a bunch of dicks…. someone should tell them that killing a shit ton of fish doesnt make their cocks grow any bigger
Appalling- these guys have a cheek calling themselves “sportsmen”
Shit like that give us a bad name!
I see my arm in the background
If they’re an invasive that is messing up a healthy ecosystem I say eradicate em. Sorry boys
They just put a limit on bowfishing Alligator gar here in Tejas. Sons-a-biches would go out and shoot 3-4 a day. The 200lb plus ones that were a good 20 years old at least. No such luck for carp though. I do think a few need to be harvested though just like every other game fish, to keep populations healthy though. Never see anyone keepin the smelly bastards.
Charliy K, you’re too late. You need to jump on the snakehead bandwagon.
Carp have been around for a lot longer than anyone alive in most fisheries; they are a part of the healthy ecosystem now, except in those places where people have removed too many predator species (bass, pike, gar, etc). Then they are just responding to a drop in mortality by expanding their numbers. Its not the carps fault, its people.
So, certainly in those areas where they have over-reproduced, some exemplary measures will need to be take to restore the balance, but just killing a bunch of carp won’t do it. They only take out the bigger fish, leaving scads of smaller ones that then ruin the fishery for all.