Bob Marshall has never been professionally bashful. Some loved him for it; some, well, didn’t love him so much for it.
But he stuck to his guns.
Some years ago, The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association, held its annual SHOT Show in New Orleans. Naturally enough, Marshall covered it as a writer on the outdoors beat.
He explained what happened.
“As I was going through the show, I saw a row of ‘black booths’ — military gear, .50-caliber weapons, sniper stuff,” Marshall recalled. “I wrote a column asking why this stuff is at a shooting, hunting and outdoor trade show. My point was that if they wanted a show for military, sniper and assassination — fine.
“But hunting is already under so much criticism, so doing this at the same show doesn’t help its image. “Assassination isn’t recreation.”
The column didn’t go over well with others in the industry.
“Next day, in the press room, Grits Gresham (a legendary outdoor communicator) and some other members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America came up to me and told me how disappointed they were in my column. They thought that I was too critical.
“I replied that I don’t work for the firearms industry. They asked what I would do if hunting and shooting dies. I said, ‘I’m a journalist. I will cover the death of hunting and shooting, and then I’ll cover something else.’”
That was classical Bob Marshall.
On another occasion, B.A.S.S. (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society) held its annual Bassmaster Classic tournament in New Orleans.
“They publicly requested that the local fishing population give the pros a break and stay off the water so the tournament could be more successful,” Marshall said. “I said in the paper that’s an unreasonable request.
“Competitive fishing for money is an occupation different than sports. It is a public resource. I suggested that we should look at the impact before this gets out of control. People said, ‘You should see what they are saying about you on Web sites.’ I shrugged and said, ‘It’s a free country.’”
During his career, in spite of having many guides as friends, Marshall was never shy about comparing charter guides to commercial netters.
“It’s a business,” he said. “I took fierce heat from GCCA (now CCA) over my position that they shouldn’t outlaw commercial netting by brute force. They should use science.”
He didn’t hold back on charter fishing, either.
“I was a big proponent of limited entry for guides,” he said as he turned and eyed Junior, grinning. “It removes a source of conflict, reduces competition and creates license values. I got nothing against guides, just like I had nothing against commercial fishermen.
“Sure, people get PO’d at you. That’s part of it. I enjoyed it all. I got a letter that started, ‘Dear *$%^@$ ^)!$!+, and it got worse from there.”
