One Nation, Under God
There’s a lot of hate out there.
And it’s not all directed at members of the human race.
Forget cops and thugs, Muslims and Christians, liberals and conservatives. This isn’t Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore or New York. Folks out here are on the fight over critters. But it’s not just grizzly bears, bison and wolves that raise our tempers.
We get fightin’ mad about birds and fish, too.
Sage grouse top the list. For reasons no one completely understands, the birds are vanishing from much of their historical range. Folks say efforts to save sage grouse will hamper their ability to make a living. We fear the bird will turn into Montana’s spotted owl.
So the bird is belittled, called stinky and stupid, and deserving of extinction. That’s some serious racism directed at a Montana native.
Northern pike also feel the hate. I know guys who won’t let a northern in their boat. “Too slimy,” they say. They’re derided as “snakes,” said to be hard on tackle, and questionable as table fare.
The haters also look down their noses at bass. They taste “muddy,” I’ve been told.
I should mention that nearly all the piscatorial racism toward pike and bass I’ve encountered came from anglers who prefer to catch only walleye, a fish with the fighting ability of a boot.
But mountain whitefish are squarely in the crosshairs of racial profiling, too. The fact that they live and eat in the same waters as trout means little to the anglers who angrily toss them on the bank, disappointed their catch wasn’t a trout, but unable to tell the difference until they actually landed the fish.
A thriving whitefish population, however, is a good barometer of the health of a fishery. Whitefish lives do matter.
I suppose I should accept the hate and not let it bother me. After all, I live in a town where we place signs in our yards to let the world know what we don’t like. Visitors to Malta might not have any idea what we’re for, but they’ll sure know what we’re against.
I have a decal on my boat trailer of a shark with a slash through it so I’m as guilty as any of fomenting hate. I just thought it was a cool decal, but anyone seeing it would peg me for a shark hater. And I really like sharks.
But not as much as sage grouse, northerns, whitefish and bass.
Parker Heinlein is at pman@mtintouch.net
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