6 ILLINOIS AUDUBON BULLETIN 
came the increase in conservation offenses at a rate which many true 
sportsmen cannot believe. In fact, the true sportsman has coined a term 
“slob hunter” to designate those persons who with no regard for the law 
or rights of others take any quantity animal they desire and in any season 
regardless of limitations. However, this disregard for law and moral 
principles extends into all areas of conservation activity. Some fishermen 
in our rivers and on Lake Michigan and other lakes have used every type 
of illegal device invented to the point where major restrictive efforts 
have had to be instituted to prevent the complete disruption of sport 
fishing activity and commercial fishing on our major waterways. 
In addition, during the summer months the Department receives 
hundreds of complaints of drunken and reckless boaters who not only act 
in a reckless manner but literally injure and kill, sometimes in collisions 
with other boats that are almost unbelievable in their force and destruc- 
tion. 
During the winter months a small and vocal minority of snowmobile 
operators, operating in a drunken disorderly manner create terror on 
some of our more well traveled snowmobile trails preventing the consci- 
entious and reliable snowmobiler from enjoying outdoor activity with his 
family and friends. However, does the above activity result in a deluge of 
offers of assistance to law enforcement? Does it result in an effort by 
wildlife clubs, boating clubs, or other associations to prevent this type of 
activity by active prosecution of the offenders? On the contrary, although 
the Division of Law Enforcement of the Department of Conservation 
receives hundreds of complaints every year from throughout the state, 
only a handful of people will actively offer assistance other than the 
description of a vehicle or the fact that an offense has been committed 
possibly hours or even days prior to their complaint. 
Certainly among the hundreds of thousands of people engaged in 
outdoor activity throughout this state there must be a desire to protect 
the few remaining square miles of public ground available to the hunter, 
fisherman, boater, or other outdoor activist, but after many years in law 
enforcement I view with sadness and almost a sense of despondency the 
very little support that law enforcement obtains from the very citizens it 
attempts to protect. 
Since it is apparent that a definitive plan of action must be taken if 
we are to protect our natural resources, I am therefore taking this 
opportunity to charge every sportsman, every outdoor enthusiast, every 
