What I thought was going to be the start of a great day on the ice to do some ice fishing turned sour quickly. My oldest son Mikey and I headed to our local state part to do some morning ice fishing with some new gear we had gotten right after Christmas. We were eager to try out our new underwater fish camera to see what it looked like under the ice.
As we pulled through the park entrance I could see what looked like vehicle tracks in the snow off to both sides of the road. They all resembled the usual donut shaped outline as if someone had purposely drove into the prairie grass area and proceeded to tear it up! Likely some bored youth out on the night before with nothing better to do. I thought well the grass will grow back next spring. Then driving a little further in I could see where it looked like a truck had gotten stuck off of the side of the road. You know that is going to leave some deep ruts in the grass. Not thinking any more about it I drove on into the park. We were approaching the guard shack that had been closed since waterfowl season and I could see the window frame hanging by a thread on the side of the shack along with the glass broken out of it! 
Seeing this set me on fire! Doing a few donuts in a restored habitat area is bad enough, but when you start destroying property you’ve taken it to a new level. To go and destroy something for the simple fact of being bored is simply asinine! The photo below is after the park workers closed it up with a piece of plywood until spring repairs can be made. What these people don’t understand is that these parks will eventually close if things of this nature keep happening. Budgets are strapped as it is, they don’t need to be using what little money they have to fix and replace things that other people feel the need to destroy! These parks and rec areas will be gated and closed if these types of things continue to happen.
This same park previously let waterfowl hunters use a small lake at the campground after the camping season closed. That was until someone decided to shoot up one of their out buildings! Now the access to that lake is gated off and is off limits to hunting. I’ve seen signs in the park shot full of holes as well. I don’t consider people like this to be hunters, anyone who would destroy what they are using isn’t an outdoors man in my eyes. Not only do we need to worry about the youth who get bored, but we need to watch for so called hunters who like to destroy our outdoors as well!
It is our money that pays for these parks by purchasing state park passes, outdoor gear (Pittman Robertson Act 1937), hunting and fishing licenses, etc…. It is our money that restores ares of habitat and pays for the wages of park workers and CO’s. I know that this was only a window that was broken and a few donuts in some restored habitat area, but it is continuous acts of outdoor vandalism that will spark the beginning of some of our favorite outdoor places to being closed! If you see someone destroying property, habitat, trees, or even littering say something and report it! This is your land too!
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