Octopus hunters in Cove 2 ...

[Jaksonbrown]

You guys all know me and my stance on spearfishing. Guys like this make me beyond furious. It drags us all down. If someone will provide me with this kids name privately, ill take care of it. Besides that..... I have personal friends in the WDFW that I have been working with on spearing rights and seasons whom are also spearos that will not take kindly to this kids actions. He has violated the law on several fronts. They will make it personal.

You can email me at divelist@hotmail.com so it does not effect this site whatsoever.

[lundysd]

Ben,

As usual you are correct What I was trying to convey was that his actions were likely not illegal (though I can't imagine him getting a mother on eggs to leave the den without an irritant)... they were, on the other hand, deplorable on every other moral and ethical level.

[Blitz]

Let me just point out that I have no proof that the octopus this guy took was really on eggs ... given what was revealed on his Facebook page it's possible he just said that because he knew it would get an even stronger reaction from people.

Sociopaths feed on stuff like that ...

... Bob (Grateful DIver)

He sounds too dumb to be a sociopath.

[CaptnJack]

He sounds too dumb to be a sociopath.

Agree. I was there last night but missed meeting this twit.

Cory, I'm sure someone has sending you his name as we speak...

[Dusty2]

Unfortunately we as rational human beings tend to over rate the human species. Sorry to say we are among the sadist animals on the planet. We are one of the only animals capable of taking pleasure out of killing and doing so in such an evil way. We are not as far from the cave as we would like to think. In fact some have degraded below that. At least our cave dwelling ancestors had conscionable reasons for killing animals. We are one of the few animals capable of knowing something is wrong and doing it for the mere pleasure of offending others and getting away with it.

[Fishstiq]

Speechless....

I don't know a single hunter, underwater or otherwise, who would ever consider taking a mother with young. I also don't know any hunter who wold go hunt at Northwest Trek or the equivalent. This idiot is a black eye to any organization he attaches himself to.

I've posted a link to this thread in a hunting board I frequent. Some folks from there will undoubtedly be visiting here. The folks on that board by and large show strong moral and ethical beliefs in harvest and fair chase, and I'm sure most will see this the same way most here do. If he "hunts" as he claims, it's possible someone there has had interactions with him as well. Any other groups we could notify?

Cory, lemme know what the plan is.


*Note-
To those calling for a change of harvest season or a moratorium on harvest.... maybe ease off the throttle. I agree with the idea of a cove 2 protection plan similar to what Keystone has in place. It shouldn't be necessary, but this asshat clearly shows that it is. I would caution against overreaction though, especially based on one isolated incident. There's a saying, "Extreme cases make bad laws".


Edit -

A very important point was made on the hunting board I mentioned...

One thing I would mention is that I would be very carefull confronting someone on the beach or even villifying (spell?) them online when they are legally taking game whether I, we, or anyone else agrees with it. He could easily dial 911 and report you for harrasment. It would be no different if somebody was harassing you for legally shooting a sow with cubs or a doe with a yearling when done legally with a tag. YOU, the one doing the harrasment, would be in the wrong...not him.

Now....I don't condone what he did.........don't misunderstand me.........just saying.

[Sea Goat]

Richard, that guy is lucky you didn't meet him, in my opinion.

Though I am not opposed to hunting, I am opposed to hunting GPOs in Puget Sound, sustainable or not. I would rather see them protected. I know that's an emotional response on my part. But that's why I would like to see these pictures end up on the news, and have a reporter go to this kid's house (or, likely, his parents' house where he still lives and mooches off them) and interview him about the backlash he prompted in the Puget Sound dive community through his actions, and roll footage from the birth of Olive's babies. That's what I would like to see.

Agree. I was there last night but missed meeting this twit.

Cory, I'm sure someone has sending you his name as we speak...

[Linedog]

Yes he's an Asshat, Jack Knob, insert name here. Perhaps now is the time to rally and try to establish a few more underwater parks, such as Redondo, Les Davis, Three Tree, Sunrise, just to name a few.

[TCWestby]

I was under the impression that the Coves were protected like EUP? If so SPD and WFW might be interested. I'm not necessaraly anti hunting but like any other animal if it has young it needs to be left alone, and yes dumbass if it was sitting on eggs then it needed to be left undesturbed. Her young use her carcass for food as they hatch.

[CaptnJack]

As Joe points out. Be careful about harassment, the law is very board and favors the one claiming harassment.
If he says, "get away from me and don't talk to me" all additional contact generally falls under harassment. I doubt he'll say that since he's obviously such a tough guy. But just be careful.

[CaptnJack]

Cove 1,2,3 are not marine protected areas. Somewhat obviously, there's a fishing pier there.

[sitkadiver]

Speechless....

I don't know a single hunter, underwater or otherwise, who would ever consider taking a mother with young. I also don't know any hunter who wold go hunt at Northwest Trek or the equivalent. This idiot is a black eye to any organization he attaches himself to.

I've posted a link to this thread in a hunting board I frequent. Some folks from there will undoubtedly be visiting here. The folks on that board by and large show strong moral and ethical beliefs in harvest and fair chase, and I'm sure most will see this the same way most here do. If he "hunts" as he claims, it's possible someone there has had interactions with him as well. Any other groups we could notify?

Cory, lemme know what the plan is.


*Note-
To those calling for a change of harvest season or a moratorium on harvest.... maybe ease off the throttle. I agree with the idea of a cove 2 protection plan similar to what Keystone has in place. It shouldn't be necessary, but this asshat clearly shows that it is. I would caution against overreaction though, especially based on one isolated incident. There's a saying, "Extreme cases make bad laws".


Edit -

A very important point was made on the hunting board I mentioned...

One thing I would mention is that I would be very carefull confronting someone on the beach or even villifying (spell?) them online when they are legally taking game whether I, we, or anyone else agrees with it. He could easily dial 911 and report you for harrasment. It would be no different if somebody was harassing you for legally shooting a sow with cubs or a doe with a yearling when done legally with a tag. YOU, the one doing the harrasment, would be in the wrong...not him.

Now....I don't condone what he did.........don't misunderstand me.........just saying.

I have to agree with Fishstiq: You divers are definately pushing the legal limits of open and free discussion of a relavent issue here.

I agree this kid is a total dip-wad for taking an octopus from a poopular sight. And I think he should be labelled something worse for taking a female off a clutch of eggs. I think we all agree his ethics need to be brought back in line with the rest of the hunters/fisherman we know.

That being said, I want to caution everyone about the legality of doing things like running a license plate number for the purpose of I.D.ing someone simply becuase we didn't like a specific action. My first thought when I saw that was, "Holy Crap, I'd get fired for just writing that on an internet forum!"

I cannot speak for WA state law, but saying things like, "Send me his name so I can deal with him privately." sounds an aweful lot like a threat to me. All that person has to do now is go to SPD or WASP and say he is in fear and the person who posted that could be in trouble. A fear assualt is still a misdemeanor crime, as is harassment etc.

The vast majority of divers who use Cove 2 know this was not acceptable and peer pressure should get the point made. Heck, maybe the kid needs a mentor more than he needs an ass whopping, who knows. Either way, some of what's been said on this forum is, IMVHO, crossing into the backwater of illegal and unwarranted responses. I would hate to see anyone get in trouble becuase of an emotional over-reaction.

[CaptnJack]

His name is quite freely available. Most douchebags nowadays post their exploits widely lol

[dewmercer]

Hope Silent World sees this.

I just let them know.

[Fishstiq]

His friends seem real impressed with how brave he was to do this...

[sitkadiver]

His name is quite freely available. Most douchebags nowadays post their exploits widely lol

What he decides to make public on Facebook is one thing.

Using B79767B and information from a DMV website is another. All I'm saying is, be careful.

[Linedog]

What did Silent World have to say?

[Sea Goat]

All I'm saying is, be careful.

Agreed. But I do hope that all legal means are brought to bear to make him aware of the extraordinary and visceral reaction his actions provoked. I mean, there's a huge diversity of polar opposite opinions and views on this thread but this incident brought everyone together. We're all mourning a sick tragedy.

It's like seeing pictures of Barack Obama holding hands with Chris Christie.

[Norris]

I like the idea of gathering together, getting some news coverage, and just trying to protect certain areas of the Coves. As stated this douchebag did nothing wrong given this Octo was not on eggs and it was the only one, he most likely just stated that this GPO was on eggs to get a rise out of someone confronting him. I would have to assume that this Octo was not harvested for consumption, and that just sickens me.

Would it be possible to set up areas of the Coves as a sanctuary? Is someone already getting this going? Just go dive the coves on any weekend and this verifies just how many people could be brought together for something like this.

It seems that hunters and non-hunters alike agree here that hunting Octos is ok, but we should get together and protect some popular dive sites from punks like this one.

If someone is actually spearheading a plan to get these Coves protected I think this is a perfect thread to post!!!

[Krake]

So, this is one of my all time favorite quotes: "When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" ~ Eleanor Roosevelt. Maybe in this situation, people will work to prevent this ...... work to protect the cove and work to protect the octos ...... just a thought.

[Tangfish]

I talked to someone I know who's involved in Tahoma Lacrosse. They say they know who the kid is, and graduated about 2 years ago. They said he's generally known as a lowlife punk/troublemaker and when I told them why I had asked about him, they said "I'm not surprised in the least bit".

[AlSchumer]

The diver's names are Dylan Mayer and Jake Whitbeck, both of Maple Valley, WA. They have been banned for life from our dive shop.

[bm5w]

Sad. I watched this diver repeatedly punch the GPO on his surface swim back to the Cove 2 beach and listened to him and his buddy discuss the logistics of killing the octopus so it couldn't escape the bed of their truck. Although a moot point, I'm glad he and his buddy lost their dive knifes.

If there is a bright side to this story, it's this: While Bob was confronting one of the divers, there were two giddy tourists, probably seeing a GPO for their first time, taking pictures of this proud diver and his prize. While these tourists were not patting the "hunter" on his back, his ego was being stroked. After the GPO hunters left, Scott and Bob calmly explained why this was lame. Bob explained how these octopuses see many divers a day, get use to them, thus it's like hunting fish in an aquarium. I saw the light bulb go off. These two tourists understood why we were mad.

As the above photos and video support, these creatures are beautiful. During my first open water dive, with only one contact lens (I lost the other one while doing the mask removal drill), I saw a GPO, in Cove 1. This was the only positive moment in an otherwise anxious and overwhelming dive, but it was enough to start my addiction to diving. Every diver can relate to this. Every new diver should have this same opportunity.

Perhaps we should look at new divers as Bob and Scott looked at these tourists: innocent but impressionable. There is a lot to learn as a new diver, but I distinctly remember my instructor clearly and confidently telling us it wasn't cool to hunt at dive sites. As a community we can set the tone; these sites are magical and we should preserve them so others can get excited about diving as we do.

[John Rawlings]

The diver's names are Dylan Mayer and Jake Whitbeck, both of Maple Valley, WA. They have been banned for life from our dive shop.

Thanks for doing this. If you have contacts at other shops it'd be great if you could let them know what's happening as well.

[northwestdivenews]

Hey everyone,

John from Dive News Network here. I feel this is an extremely important issue and topic which all divers should be aware of and discuss openly. For this reason (and, well, because I happen to have a penchant for octopus and sustainable hunting laws), I'd be glad to write a news article on this. Obviously, I won't give out the guys' pictures and names, but I am certainly going to get the word out.