KeviR
Active member
On a hike-in trip to the back country in Yellowstone, my buddy and I set up our tent and camp and fished for a few hours after the long hike in. late in the afternoon were were laying on the bank next to the lake napping when the back-country ranger on duty rode up on his horse and woke us up to check our permits. He had already checked our tent which had the required back country permit affixed to the outside. My buddy produced his permit ($15 for the week, I think). I rifled through my pockets and couldn't find mine. I explained that in getting set up I think I left it on the dash of the car. But I assured him that I did have one. He was skeptical, as I imagine he must get all kinds of excuses from all kinds of jack***es. But I thought logic might help me, so I pointed out that I flew across the country, planned to stay the whole week, bought the required camping permit (and carefully read the instructions of how to attach it to the outside of the tent as soon as i put it up.) After all that, when my buddy was buying his fishing permit, how would it make any sense for me to skip doing so for a measly $15. After my speech, the ranger looked at me intently for a good 5 seconds without saying a word. Then he simply said - well, don't let me see you fishing.
I said yes sir, and he rode away. I was livid because I had hiked a difficult 10 miles just to fish this back country creek. But in hindsight, my feelings have changed. Because he didn't say I couldn't fish. He said "don't let me see you fishing". He had previously said he was responsible for all the (several) camping areas around the 25 mile perimeter of the lake. So once he rode away, I could be pretty sure that he wasn't going to be hanging around in the weeds to watch me. But to finish the story, I didn't fish that evening or the next morning. But in the morning, neither did my buddy - we got out of camp in a hurry when there was a grizzly moseying past. Hiked the 10 miles out and I made sure to put my fishing permit in my wallet.
I said yes sir, and he rode away. I was livid because I had hiked a difficult 10 miles just to fish this back country creek. But in hindsight, my feelings have changed. Because he didn't say I couldn't fish. He said "don't let me see you fishing". He had previously said he was responsible for all the (several) camping areas around the 25 mile perimeter of the lake. So once he rode away, I could be pretty sure that he wasn't going to be hanging around in the weeds to watch me. But to finish the story, I didn't fish that evening or the next morning. But in the morning, neither did my buddy - we got out of camp in a hurry when there was a grizzly moseying past. Hiked the 10 miles out and I made sure to put my fishing permit in my wallet.
