Oh the Things You'll Hear
It was a hot windy day on the Missouri River. I had spent the morning and some of the afternoon fishing with a friend of mine. We were fortunate enough to have each kept our limit of walleyes. We finally decided we had enough fun for one day and headed in. The boat ride was a little rougher than we hoped as the waves were quite large at this point, but the occasional splash over the windshield was a sweet relief to the relentless summer heat. Once we got back to the boat ramp I dropped my fishing partner off to back the truck in. I bled our walleyes and loaded the boat. Once we were out of the water and took care of the boat (Clean. Drain. Dry.) we headed to the cleaning station.
At the cleaning station we snapped a quick photo of our catch and began to clean our fish. Shortly after another angler with some success was cleaning along side of us. He finished, left, and yet another boat came into the cleaning station with some fish. These anglers didn’t know me, but I recognized them. As the knife started cutting so did the talking. And they were complaining to each other and whoever could hear them (me being one of them) about this dumb new rule.
What did I do you wonder? Well I listened as they wanted to complain to whoever would listen.(*the following wording used is much less colorful than was spoken by the anglers*) The angler proceeded to say the new fish cleaning/transportation rule was dumb and was only because the new wardens are too stupid to count.
Out of curiosity I asked him if the game wardens make the rules or who does. He said you bet they do. I tried to help him understand how new rules are developed, but I was talking to a wall here. He continued and then found more topics Game and Fish related to banter about. At one point I asked him well what’s wrong with the local game warden?
The response was about as expected, “well I don’t know him I guess, but these new rules are dumb”. By the time we left I had heard enough for my one day off that week and was relieved to be done cleaning fish. My buddy was laughing for miles as he clearly knows what my job is and heard these guys embarrassing rant. He found it was even more hilarious when I told him I know who they were.
Was this the first time I have heard stuff like this? Not hardly. Will it be the last? Nope. I guess that is part of the reason why being a Game Warden is so much fun, you can never know what you will see or what you will hear.
Your local warden only has 2 eyes and 2 ears, but everyone who hunts, fishes, and enjoys North Dakota’s great outdoors has a phone.
Happy hunting.
- Game Warden Kylor Johnston