Ran into regular game and fish commission employee that I hunt with 2-3 times a year Sunday at church. I called to talk to him about what was going around our game and fish regarding Bowfishing. During the phone call we discussed fish dumping, rich folks complaining about noise and potential restrictions. Sunday we caught back up since it had been about 4-5 weeks since we spoke on the phone. The 2 complaints they get are idiots dumping fish at the boat ramp and noise of air boats. People dumping fish right at the boat ramp is equal to a kick in the nuts to those of us trying to be responsible.
We touched on a little of this in a Facebook post regarding Bowfishing in AR about a month ago. The complaints are from the rich people with real expensive lake houses or condos on the water. Lights rarely come up but noise always does if air boats are present. He said the thing that will sink the ship will be a confrontation that gets out of hand and turns violent. You hear of land owners pulling guns from time to time on people in boats. I ask him what are potential restrictions if people don't start acting right. He said they can't regulate the Ammt of lights you have on your boat or when you are on public waters. He did say the only recourse they will have will be a decibel limit. He likened it to deer hunters and dogs. He said you can hunt deer, you can use dogs, but in a lot of places in the state you can't use dogs to hunt deer. That will be the argument used if they ban airboats. It won't be in the wording, no airboats but a decibel limit will eliminate the air boats.
To those that have air boats, have you seen a trend be it negative or positive towards the noise they put off. If you knew a decibel ban was coming would you give up your air boat to be able to keep fan boats around. I'm not saying we are there or we will ever get to that point, but it seems there are some real dip ****s in this sport that can ruin it for a lot of us. Would you fight a decibel restriction. I'm afraid If it gets to that point, the level may also take fans with it. Where do you guys see this thing going. Would the airboat community fight this or go quietly to avoid further restrictions. Lets be honest, most of us are glorified ********. We go complain vs a group of rich well dressed, well spoken professionals, we lose every time.
I guess the moral to the post is, do you guys feel change is coming and is getting out in front of restrictions a wise bet. I would hate Bowfishing to be reduced to trollers nationwide.
Thoughts
We touched on a little of this in a Facebook post regarding Bowfishing in AR about a month ago. The complaints are from the rich people with real expensive lake houses or condos on the water. Lights rarely come up but noise always does if air boats are present. He said the thing that will sink the ship will be a confrontation that gets out of hand and turns violent. You hear of land owners pulling guns from time to time on people in boats. I ask him what are potential restrictions if people don't start acting right. He said they can't regulate the Ammt of lights you have on your boat or when you are on public waters. He did say the only recourse they will have will be a decibel limit. He likened it to deer hunters and dogs. He said you can hunt deer, you can use dogs, but in a lot of places in the state you can't use dogs to hunt deer. That will be the argument used if they ban airboats. It won't be in the wording, no airboats but a decibel limit will eliminate the air boats.
To those that have air boats, have you seen a trend be it negative or positive towards the noise they put off. If you knew a decibel ban was coming would you give up your air boat to be able to keep fan boats around. I'm not saying we are there or we will ever get to that point, but it seems there are some real dip ****s in this sport that can ruin it for a lot of us. Would you fight a decibel restriction. I'm afraid If it gets to that point, the level may also take fans with it. Where do you guys see this thing going. Would the airboat community fight this or go quietly to avoid further restrictions. Lets be honest, most of us are glorified ********. We go complain vs a group of rich well dressed, well spoken professionals, we lose every time.
I guess the moral to the post is, do you guys feel change is coming and is getting out in front of restrictions a wise bet. I would hate Bowfishing to be reduced to trollers nationwide.
Thoughts
