@thinktwice

You dad sounds like a wonderful, kind person. While hiking, we routinely pick up litter.

Litter attracts litter.

Everyone is an idiot at some time. That's what's scary

If someone had shot the coyote that killed my pet goose before he did it, I would still have him in my life.

@Mikeb56

"I am not going to hike Hay Canyon or Tibbetts Mountain anymore," my hiking partner, Gro, said. Gro was the lone holdout. The rest of us had decided never to hike there again.

Every time we went, bullets whizzed over our heads. Gunfire echoed in the canyon walls. At the trailhead, men leaped out of trucks, waving guns. It was terrifying.

Photos: Snowshoeing above Hay Canyon, Cashmere, WA, Jan. 2017.

Cashmere calls itself "Washington's Playground."

But for whom? It is not safe for mountain bikers, hikers, trail runners or families. I wrote a letter to the Cashmere Chamber of Commerce and they ignored me.

@LiterateHiker I have seen some unbelievable behavior by the Callius Hicks out on the water. You call FWC and report it that’s be best you can do. I really hope that the game warden is around for these senseless activities but they can’t be everywhere.

@LiterateHiker I’m sorry that the few can spoil the day for so many. ?

@Flyingsaucesir

Exactly.

@Flyingsaucesir

@PalacinkyPDX was making a point about gun zealots callously slaughtering wild animals.

@LiterateHiker
I'm not against hunting if it's well regulated and done in an environmentally sound and respectful manner.

@PalacinkyPDX
Donald Trump Jr is a wanker for sure. Any who gets their kicks by killing is. But some do it to put food on the table, as their ancestors did for thousands of years. And in areas where the top predators have been eliminated a little thinning may be the next best thing to maintain biodiversity.

@Krish55

Rednecks, hicks or assholes. What do you want me to call them?

They illegally destroy fragile meadows and watersheds with their huge trucks. "Mudding" is illegal in Washington State. Yet they proudly drive trucks covered with mud from wheels to roof. It infuriates me.

Littering back roads with bottles, cans, greasy food wrappers, plastic cups filled with vomit, used condoms, diapers and much more.

Friends help us clean up illegal trash dumps.

Welcome to rural America.

@LiterateHiker Call them polluters, litterers, despoilers etc. - as a "Literate Hiker," you have a wide variety of nouns at your disposal. Call them whatever is accurate as long as you don't disparage their origins, which is not relevant in the matter. If an offense were committed by urban blacks, you wouldn't use the "N" word...

@Krish55

They look like Deliverance movie extras. Smoking, beer-guzzling, dirty, Trump-loving, ignorant, gun-lovin rednecks. Speeding down back roads tossing out beer bottles and cans. Insist the Confederate flag symbolizes Southern pride. They refuse to follow rules and regulations. "Fuck the Man" is their rallying cry.

Dictionary.com defines "hick" as:

"an unsophisticated, boorish, and provincial person; rube." That fits.

@LiterateHiker Meanings don't come from dictionaries; they come from usage in the world which dictionaries try to capture. Many rural people who don't exhibit the behavior you describe would object to the word you use because of its indiscriminate use by others.

@Krish55

Get over yourself. One of my best friends is a Republican. Her sons act like boorish, redneck hicks and are proud of it.

@LiterateHiker "Get over myself"?

@LiterateHiker From Wikipedia: "Though not a term explicitly denoting lower class, some argue that the term degrades impoverished rural people and that "hicks" continue as one of the few groups that can be ridiculed and stereotyped with impunity. In "The Redneck Manifesto," Jim Goad argues that this stereotype has largely served to blind the general population to the economic exploitation of rural areas, specifically in Appalachia, the South, and parts of the Midwest."

@IdenIzzat

Those are wild rose hips. See the thorns?

You're right. Our lovely hike took a sharp turn. Coming upon that dead coyote surrounded by piles of trash was horrifying and sad.

@Rob1948

"Coyotes (prairie wolf) are native to North and Central America although they are believed to have split off from the European grey wolf. They are a species in their own right, differing from wolves in vocalization patterns, ecology, pack structure. The coyote's scientific name, Canis latrans actually means barking dog. Sep 10, 2018"

Coyotes primarily eat mice.

@LiterateHiker Coyotes are native to the prarie and desert areas west of the Mississippi River. They expanded into the Great Lakes area during the 1800s and the rest of the US in the 1900s. They are definitely not native to the southeastern US.

@cmadler A non-native invader? Kind of like you then.

@Gareth Well, almost everyone and everything is non-native if you go back far enough. But both my species and my direct ancestors were in this area for quite a while before coyotes arrived here.

@LiterateHiker they may eat mice but they have gone after and killed cats and dogs here as well.

@Cmadler, I agree with @Gareth. Been here a lot longer than coyotes.

@dahermit

It is illegal to hunt within Wenatchee city limits (it was) and at Sage Hills Trails. Coyotes eat mice. We need our big predators.

Yeah I guess along with that requirement of a hunting license means you don't necessarily have to be a good person, a decent person, a humane person, or have any kind of environmental soundness in your body! I'm sure the person who shot him with a license just laid him out there for everybody to see like put him on presentation yeah cuz that was a legal hunting sure it was! What an idiot what a stupid thing to say! Are you also a trump supporter?

Even if it was legal, an ethical hunter does not put his kill up for display out in the field and leave it there. You take it out of the woods with you and dispose of the carcass in a proper way. This was just “callous hicks” out partying and killing things.

@Stilltrying1964

"If you are a Trump supporter, hit the back button NOW" I wrote in my profile.

@Stilltrying1964

It is illegal to shoot a gun within Wenatchee city limits (it was). Also, it is illegal to hunt in Sage Hills Trails of Wenatchee.

@LiterateHiker no I am certainly not a trump supporter! I loathe that man! He is a disgrace to the Oval Office!

@LiterateHiker maybe I wasn't clear enough about the fact that I think the person from Michigan is an idiot

@LiterateHiker please read that post again with these thoughts in your mind. I thought my sarcasm was clearly showing through!

@Stilltrying1964

Sarcasm is difficult to detect in emails and texts. With sarcasm, you say one thing, and mean the opposite.

Sarcasm is much easier to understand in person by your tone and facial expression.

[theconversation.com]

@LiterateHiker my apologies! I will keep that in mind in the future.

@LiterateHiker you know I just love that you have so many helpful suggestions for me! I actually did read the article on becoming more photogenic and this weekend I might go back to the lakefront and use those suggestions to attempt better photos! Of course, I'll have to read that article again, because it was long - there were a lot of suggestions!

@LiterateHiker "Coyotes eat mice. We need our big predators." Coyote ate my beloved pet gander, "snowball". coyotes will eat your pets and livestock also...they need to be controlled.

@Barnie2years "Taking it out of the field and disposing of it" prevents natural scavengers from doing what they do...it is the job of foxes, opossums, and turkey vultures to deal with carrion your squeamishness with dead things notwithstanding.

@dahermit sure, control them, but not in THEIR own natural habitat, and do it humanely! What kind of sicko puts the carcass on display like that? Act humanely toward all creatures!

@dahermit, the creatures you mention are either predators or scavengers. They are great at cleaning up coyotes and other creatures that die of natural causes (age and sickness). As a hunter and friend with hunters, shooting healthy animals for the joy of killing something with no interest of using the animal for some purpose is the worst of hunters and why many people dislike them. At the very least, the carcass could have been disposed of in a more secluded space, out of sight, if feeding the scavengers was the goal.

@Stilltrying1964 "...their own natural habitat..."? Coyotes have become common in all the lower 48 states where as they were no native to most eastern states before the lumber era. So, where exactly is their own natural habitat? I live in southern Michigan...they are not native here, but have become abundant and troublesome...they ate my pet gander.

@Barnie2years So, it is alright to shoot coyotes and other animals if you do not enjoy it? Who gets to decide if I am enjoying it or not?

@dahermit ok, 1st, I am sorry they ate your goose. 2nd, the lumber era ended 90 years ago (I googled it). I opine that they ARE in their natural habitat at this point in time. If they are a nuisance, like bears sometimes are here in central Florida, there is a humane manner in which to deal with them, that does not include shooting and morbidly placing on display. In more current news, non-indigenous pythons are having a destructive impact on the Everglades. You may kill them all you want. Make boots out of them. Act like a proper upright walking human while doing it. I shall now exit my soap box.

@Stilltrying1964 "...there is a humane manner in which to deal with them..." How is it that YOU get to decide what is or is not a "humane manner"? Here where I live, we have a huge problem with racoons (as well as coyotes), and the normal "humane" methods are not ineffective. Since goody-two shoes have virtually destroyed the fur market, we have found that 'coons have virtually wiped out the ground nesting birds like pheasants and quail as well as 30 or so of my chickens. So, we do what we have to do...poison them with Golden Malrin Fly Bait and Coke. It is a very inhumane method (causes great pain), but it is effective. I still want to know who put you in charge of what is humaine or not when you seem to be unaffected by predators.

@dahermit I am certainly not in charge. However, I have a conscience that leads me and allows me to make proper Humane decisions. If you can lay your head on the pillow at night and go to sleep, more power to you. As a matter of fact, I have an avocado tree in my front yard. For the last 2 or 3 years, the squirrels around here have apparently changed their eating habits, probably due to climate change, and where I used to get 200 avocados off my tree, I now last year got five. So I do have a problem with pests, but I won't be poisoning them anytime soon. There are more Humane ways to deal with the problem of squirrels eating my avocados. I am in charge of that, but not much more. Let your conscience be your guide!