This picture reminds me of an encounter I experienced about 20 years ago in the National Wildlife Refuge near Grafton, IL. I was contacted by USFWS about trapping beavers and muskrats from Gilbert Lake, as they were causing damage to the levee system by burrowing into the banks. The damage was threatening their ability to maintain proper winter water level for the migrating waterfowl. They sent me in there in January (when the refuge is closed to the public) wanting me to catch 30 beavers and 150 muskrats. Gave me the gate key, and said to lock it behind me. I took a friend from IDNR (wildlife division director) and we had some fun trapping through the ice. While pulling out some beavers on a sled, a couple bird photographers met us on a levee. Of course they were trespassing, but still went into a tirade because we were killing animals in a wildlife refuge. It was obvious they had zero knowledge of how and WHY certain species must be managed, even in the refuge system. Bob calmed them down a bit (not using my method, which was about to include my ice spud) and asked them the same question as on this sign. Shut them up in a hurry. He also told them to call him at the Springfield office and request some EDUCATIONAL materials on fur trapping as an important wildlife management tool. Funny how the true environmentalists (hunters, trappers, anglers) are viewed as ecological terrorists by the fake environmentalists.

So true

good one

Good post, good sign.

Spot on!

Very Good!

Amen to that!!

Nice sign! Wish they would put those on every piece of public property nation wide!

Yep, I've had a hiker yell at me when I was duck hunting the river in the middle of winter on National Forest land. She said, "you can't hunt here, I come here to snowshoe with my dog! This isn't any place to be shooting your guns! I'm going to call the cops." She had a few other choice words in her 2 or 3 minute rant. I politely reminded her of a law regarding hunter harassment and that she is welcome to call the cops, where I would be the one pressing charges for her harassing me while hunting and interfering with my hunting, as a pair of mallard flew by that I didn't see until the last minute, because of her. Antis have absolutely no clue, and no they don't pay for anything to preserve these traditions and wildlife. They just leach off the teet of us outdoorsmen and women who are paying our dues in the form of licenses, tags, permits, etc.

Ron, thanks for sharing, sir. Good post. Great learning tool for all on here.

In Mo, we have a 1/8 cent sales tax to make sure ALL citizens share in the expenses of Conservation. Good

Unfortunately, "ALL" the Citizens now feel they have a priority for uses' of Gov land, and of course "ALL" citizens are right, and us outdoors folk are "Clearly" in the wrong. Not good.

So now the State has to come up with ways to spend all that money, and they've come up with some dilly's.

Ron: West Alton?

I was on the Illinois side, about a mile upstream from Grafton. Or is there some type of goofy project at West Alton you're referring to?

BigBob, you hit it on the head. Trying to figure out how to pay for users who don't pay. We have rafters/floaters who use fishing access sites, paid for by fisherman yet they don't spend a dime but complain about all the outfitters on the river, etc. Very few bird watchers buy duck stamps, etc. Lots of users, very few paying their fair share.

Forgot to mention, our state legislature is pretty far right, so they refuse to add any type of "tax" on these non users yet sportsman continue to pay for all the nongame expenses, etc. I will mention that lean toward the right, but I can see having others pay, who don't at this time.

The Riverlands Refuge area on the Mo side @ L&D 26. Both ends of the Dam are actually in Ill due to the screwy state lines there from the river meandering. Pretty neat place.