Clocked at 107 mph — guess what happened next
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A tiger is seen in an enclosure at the In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Education Center in Wylie, Texas, Monday Feb.. 10, 2014.
Photo: Mona Reeder / APA tiger is seen in an enclosure at the In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Education Center in Wylie, Texas, Monday Feb.. 10, 2014.
A tiger is seen in an enclosure at the In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Education Center in Wylie, Texas, Monday Feb.. 10, 2014.
A tiger is seen in an enclosure at the In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Education Center in Wylie, Texas, Monday Feb.. 10, 2014.
The highway patrol clocked a buddy of mine, an outfitter from Idaho, at 107 mph on a state highway. What happened next shows the different worlds in which people live.
In the Bay Area, 107 might get you a night’s stay in the hoosegow, plus a fine, a hike in insurance rates, and perhaps driving school and probation. On U.S. 95 in Nevada, from Winnemucca north into eastern Oregon, my buddy instead got a ticket for “wasting energy.” The fine was something like $100 and the violation didn’t go on his driving record.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been on vacation, and the strongest take is how practices, prices and customs vary from region to region.
Double take: In Texas, driving from Kerrville to Luckenbach, I saw movement to my right behind a fence, turned and saw a kudu from Africa. Turns out imported exotics are so common on ranches in Texas that there are 2,000 tigers kept as pets, compared with roughly 4,000 tigers in the wild around the world.
Park fees: In Washington, you pay $30 for an annual pass to get access to all state parks and lands managed by Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources, including boat ramps. I fished Rufus Woods Reservoir, one of the best lakes for trout in America; with the pass, it was free with unlimited visits. In California, the annual “Explorer Pass” for state parks costs $195, plus $100 for boat ramps.
Lake access: If you pop a kayak on your rig and roam across the Sierra Nevada, Northern California and beyond to Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, you can pretty much hand-launch, paddle and fish at any lake you choose. For those outside the Bay Area bubble, it is inconceivable that of the 73 lakes in the greater region, no access of any kind is permitted at 17 lakes and no boating of any kind at 38.
Licenses: In Idaho, the “Sportsman’s Package” license includes all fishing and hunting, with tags for salmon, steelhead and all big game, including wolf, for $138. In California, the same package, purchased by item, would cost you roughly $1,000, and shooting a wolf would land you a $100,000 fine and an extended stay in the hoosegow.
Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicle’s outdoors writer. Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom