Gun Goons

Deer head displayed near CNP golf course
RJ Pisko photos

RJ Pisko, Columnist

I may be the minority - well, I’m sure of it – because I’m about to express an opinion (please bear in mind that an “opinion” is a point of view - belief if you will - based on evidence that may be just short of provable fact, formed by a person of reasonable intelligence and free of extreme emotional bias) – about hunting in the Crowsnest Pass and generally, I suppose if a similar problem exists elsewhere.


It certainly does at Burmis, as exposed by an article in the Crowsnest Voice (click here for that story) about carcasses being disposed of in parking lots near inhabited neighborhoods. I have no problem with hunting for food - I do not hunt - but consider hunting for meat a preferable alternative to the meat industry in general. Providing meat protein for oneself and one`s family is noble and perhaps sporting to some, as long as it`s done within the bounds of reason, sustainability, the law, and consideration for others.

I really believe there is a profound and noticeable difference between hunters and gun goons (my phrase). Hunters are folks who enjoy the outdoors, like using firearms perhaps, have experience and training, compassion for their prey, are a damn good shot, and enjoy a good hunt and a good harvest. (`Harvest` is, I think, a legitimate term as used here - as opposed to the random slaughter of animals nobody wants to eat – like wolves and bears and other important predators. Gun goons just like to kill things.

RJ Pisko photo

But our area – Dave and Eva Welsh’s neighborhood at Burmis, and the Crowsnest Pass – is plagued with the ignorance of gun goons who shoot, slaughter, and dispose. I’ve come across no fewer than eleven (so far) carcasses and hides disposed of within the municipality limits of Crowsnest Pass, most of them in plain sight, and many on the Crowsnest Pass historic trail route. I’ve counted and photographed the waste of at least five hunters smack dab in the middle of the Old Frank road, three on the Crowsnest Pass road past the golf and country club (a public road to private residences) including a deer’s head impaled on a tall snag – some kind of gun goon badge of honor, no doubt. Two carcasses disposed of beside a dumped couch and other trash (another column, pointing my finger at the Pass’s previous Municipal Council) in an Alberta historic site.

Complaints are responded to with a promise of clean-up. To quote from a PC Voice article, “MD of Pincher Creek Agricultural Fieldman Shane Poulsen was contacted by the couple. He said it was out of the norm for hunters to dispose of carcasses in a public area like this. "We consider it a littering problem," Poulsen told me. "Public Works will go out and clean it up." Sorry, but it’s way more than a littering problem, and I’m upset that an official with some authority (I assume) can reduce an immediate danger to humans and animals alike to “a littering problem”. It’s a real problem of safety for both the predators and residents where such disposal can be an immediate attractant.

RJ Pisko photo

Dave’s right – there are cougars in the area, just as there are in the Municipality of the Pass, not to mention Lynx, Bobcats, wintering Eagles and other omnivores and carnivores (I’m certainly not too worried about Crows and Ravens; they are much smarter than other scavengers and won’t get in the way of humans unless invited).

Properly disposed of hunters’ waste belongs away from human inhabited neighborhoods. Dump your waste within the Municipality or close to an inhabited area? Don’t call yourself a hunter. You are lacking the common sense and courtesy of a hunter. You are a gun goon.

Related story:
Discarded carcasses cause concern for Burmis residents