OK, I am an azz for picking on the resident biologist...RB. I admit it, but I ain't going to stop.
Here's the deal.
Our DFG is a bedroom in the State's cathouse.
This department is so overloaded with middle and upper level managers, that there are not enough funds for dirt level employees....not the RB's fault.
The RB for this area, has responsibility for some 13,335 sq miles....an area larger than about 8 individual States in this country! He has to work with/for ALL fish and animals in the region. There is no money for overtime; his miles are controlled and his gas is limited.....not the RB's fault.
For over 30 years, most of the information on animal population, location and reproduction, has been based on the guesswork of the, always underfunded, RB.....sort of not the RB's fault. They seldom leave the office and are as rare a sighting in the field, around the valley, as an albino water buffalo.
The problem is, these RB's come here and simply refuse to accept the help of ranchers, sportsmen, resident birdwatchers or whatever. Their attitude is, if they don't see it, then it is an "unsubstiantiated" report.....never mind going after the facts!
The bottom line is, Sacramento bases tags, seasons and zones on the bogus information the RB's provide. That is wrong, but it never changes. Sort of the RB's fault.....business as usual, why change? I hold Sacramento responsible here as well, but the RB is the man on sight.
We have a Federal Mandate on the number of elk this valley is allowed. We are probably 30% above that mandate, but, who cares? There is no money to do a comprehensive count anyway, so what's the difference?
EXAMPLE; We have a herd of 30+,batchelor bull elk, fully mature and healthy, that are so overcrowded, they don't participate in the rut whatsoever. Can't hunt them though....don't ask why.
I posted a picture of this herd last year, but since the RB never saw them they must not exist.....so there are NO tags issued for that zone, any longer.....unsubstantiated report. Definately the RB's fault!
The ranchers, hunters and other groups have tried to get this guy lined out, with no result. He refuses to invest his own time to gain accurate information on the area and it's critters. No passion for the job.
Over the past 3 years, he has spread more misinformation than a Russian newspaper, but since he is the RB, he must be right,,,,,right?
My opinion, along with several others, is that the man has one of the best jobs in the State, in one of the best areas of the State, but lacks any passion for the job.
The mere fact that thousands of hunters are depending on his information to help them, is not relavent. He has clearly taken PR lessons from wherever our resident Wardens got theirs.
I will cut the guy no slack until he invests his own time to learn what he needs to know.....or packs it in and goes somewhere else if he don't like it here.
I can find 10 people to back me up for every 1 tule elk he can show you!
Nothing will change, and I, quite frankly, no longer give a red rats azz if it does or not.
"whackin' a surly bartender ain't much of a crime"