Jimmy Houstans shame

Hunts like the one Jimmy was on certainly leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I can't believe the number of people who are comparing shooting a drugged deer in a pen to catching a bass in a farm pond. The attitude seems to be that someone fishing in a pond is in some way taking advantage of the bass he catches. I would agree that in some ponds a 5lb bass is easier to catch than a 5lb bass from Laurel lake, but I'm not about to say that the guy who caught the pond bass in some way violated the rules of fair chase. Ponds are where bass live. Shooting a drugged buck in a 3 acre enclosure is a whole other situation. That's just buying the priviledge of slaughtering an animal and then bragging about what a great hunter you are. I think there's a huge difference.

I really have no dog in this fight, but I find that I am curious about your position. What is the appropriate size of water that makes a fish catch viable?

Also, why do you keep calling them ponds vs. lakes? What is your definition of the two?

When I was in school, Biology class actually, we were taught that a pond is any body of water, regardless of size where the water allowed sunlight penetration all the way to the bottom at its deepest point, while a lake, regardless of size, did not allow light penetration to its deepest point.

From what I've read, there is a HUGE difference in drugging a deer, and herding it toward a hunter vs. fishing in a farm pond or lake, that may not meet a certain size limit. In order to meet the same criteria, you would have to somehow sedate the fish, while not taking away the hunger and/or bite reflex, and you would then have to pen them in a small area, and then you would have to actively herd those fish toward the fisherman's bait, and then you would have to make the biggest fish bite. How do you do that?

And to whomever said you can't force a bull to go where you want it to, well you obviously never were a cow farmer. I've helped herd the cattle, I've cut the young of the year out from the herd, I've even herded a huge bull up the ramp to our truck to take it to market. I assure you, the bull did not want to go up the ramp. And no, we never used electrical stimulation. However a bucket of cracked corn, and a trail of the favorite food of the animal will do wonders to get the animal to go where you want it to go.

Danny

[url]http://www.judici.com/courts/cases/case_information.jsp?court=IL075015J&ocl=IL075015J[/url]. Click on dispostions and you will find Jimmy is no rookie to game violations.