Perhaps I'm wrong, and I know some anglers know the difference, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the majority of those mass sightings of "Gar" (from bass, crappie, etc, anglers) rolling on the surface at Falcon are "Longnose Gar".

I think it's common now days to call "any gar sighting" an Alligator Gar, from those who simply do not know the difference.

As far as the wanton waste issue goes. Bait or consumption is right but it dosent say BAIT FOR WHAT. Bait for coyotes? Bait for varmits? Bait for buzzards? Bait for turtles? ............ So DUMPING fish (carp,gar,buffalo etc) in a fertilizer pile or pasture to "BAIT" varmits is 100% legal so why the argument????

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks"

Am I right or wrong?? Y'all wanna jump on people for wasting well wasting in your eyes and by law may be different. There are several ways to determine what is and how to use "BAIT"......

Please go discuss it with your Game Warden. I asked the question at the Hunstville meeting and dumping them is not legal. There are easier, less expensive ways to bait varmints and to fertilize your yard, and the Game Warden knows that. You are not going out with the purpose of collecting bait or consumption, you are going out with the purpose to kill for thrill and then try to skew the law to justify your actions. We can go round and round about this, but in the end it's about ethics. I was raised to kill for for a purpose. I'm sorry that you weren't.

When I wrote my letter to the Commission about the proposal, I included the Wanton Waste issue and stated that I thought the wording should be clarified. I didn't say how, I just said that it should be clarified. Because to me it is clear, but there will always be people who try to interpret laws to justify their actions. Everyone complains about laws being difficult to read/overworded. This is an example of a law that was simply written and easy to understand. Get ready for a big, long, difficult to read one!

Where a person needs to watch their definations of game and fish laws, is to remember you get a little booklet that has 112 pages. The game warden has a book about 6 inches thick. He and the judge decide what the defination truely is. And ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

I also asked the question at TPWD's 1-800 Game Thief and they confirmed it was waste of game.

As a stated before, if your beef with bowfishing is a moral issue, I can not defend it.
I too was brought up to only shoot what you are going to eat. I was also brought up Baptist. Some people are Catholic, I don't argue with them as long as it's not hurting anyone.

You are wrong. First, TPWD passed a law saying you could not release carp, gar or buffalo taken with archery equipment. This was in 2011. It was in response to bowfishermen shooting holes through these fish and throwing them back in the water. The majority of folks who use these reservoirs are not into seeing fish killed and thrown back.

Then the bowfishermen started retaining all their kills and dumping them at the boat ramp for SOMEONE else to clean up. Probably because they were pizzed about the "no release" clause added to the regs. So TPWD classified all three species as "edible" bringing the "wanton waste" portion of the law into place to hopefully prevent the aforementioned practice. I guess bowfishermen need to get thier act together or get regulated right out of business. I have no issue with the sport. I do take exception to those who release fish with holes in them or leave their stinkin' mess behind for the taxpayers to clean up. I know that is not all bowfishermen. My experience would indicate it is the majority, though.

maglite, your clue as to definition of bait is that you were reading fishing regulations. That means bait for fishing. Of course, feel free to debate that with your local Game Warden.

i went fishing Friday night on Lake Palestine. I was in the boat and didn't launch the boat, but when we got back I went for the truck. Low and behold there as a whole stringer of white bass and a few crappie. Been laying there a while. I think this is epidemic and we should shut down all white bass and crappie fishing.

True story.

Point is, I see way more catfish carcass or crappie guts then I ever have of non-game bowfishing kills, which would be zero. I heard of it though, went down to the lake to verify and clean it up, but there was nothing there but some catfish bones. Go figure.

Let me make sure that you understand that I NEVER said I wanted to shut down bowfishing. I would expect a Game Warden to write tickets for leaving game fish to rot, as well as carp, gar, etc. I'm not singling anyone out here. I have just as much disrespect for the guy that leaves a stringer of white bass to rot as I do the bowfishermen that digs a hole to dump his haul in. I don't care how a person legally takes their fish, it's what they do with it afterwords that I have a problem with. Nobody has a use for 200lbs of carp taken in one night, and you can't tell me they ate all that or used it for bait by the next weekend when they are back out again.





can't speak for others here, but this doesn't bother me. There are lots of places that have cleaning stations where you dump the guts and leftovers back into the water. Sometimes they wash up on the bank. It means that someone cleaned the fish, and if they took the time to clean it they are probably going to eat it. You just stated that you NEVER see carcasses or gut piles from non-game fish. That indicates to me that very few of them are being cleaned. Personally, I would rather clean fish at a public cleaning station than take them home to clean them.

[/quote] Nobody has a use for 200lbs of carp taken in one night, and you can't tell me they ate all that or used it for bait by the next weekend when they are back out again [/quote]

Used it for BAIT for what????? Are you saying it HAS to be used as fishing bait or like I previously stated what about COYOTE bait or trapping bait ???

Please reference my last response to you:

I have spoken with my game warden about it plenty of times and he see it the same way as I do. "BAIT" or using them as bait dosent necessarily mean fishing bait but bait and baiting animals like varmits is legal in Texas and I wasn't in any violation using carp or gar or buffalo as "BAIT" to varmit hunt anymore than using them as cut bait to fish with.