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Re: Endangered Cranes Shot

From:

"George M. Jett"

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:00:11 -0500

Chris

I have never killed anything with my binoculars.  If you make the wrong 
identification with binoculars, it does not harm the bird, butterfly, 
whatever.  Guns are more dangerous and you are supposed to be more careful 
with them.  If you can't see what you are pointing your weapon at, don't 
pull the trigger.

From one of the earlier posts it sounds like these hunters (seven) left the 
birds in the farmer's field.   Birds that are shot don't usually fly away. 
Is this standard hunting ethics - shoot the wrong thing, regardless of its 
endangered status, and walk away?  Aren't hunters supposed to eat what they 
shoot?   Bad or unethical hunters don't help their image either.

George

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "OleBuck" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 5:38 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Endangered Cranes Shot


> There are certainly some idiots hunting who have no business being afield.
> Of course I've seen my fair share of idiots birding who can barely tell
> which end of the binocs to look through. Perhaps it's not which sport they
> choose to participate in, an idiot is an idiot in any arena.
>
> And I can't imagine how someone could mix-up a sandhill and whooping crane
> in (possibly) bad lighting without binocs! I mean heck, none of *US* has
> ever made a bad call on a bird id before! When a hawk blasts by me at 
> about
> 40 mph *I* can certainly identify which hawk it is on the first try, 
> without
> binocs, or a field guide, in low light, when I'm excited... Bad id skills
> are no excuse in my book (for birds or ungulates), if I can't id something 
> I
> keep watching until I can but sometimes mistakes do happen. That's why we
> call them accidents, and *every* reader of this list is guilty of an
> accident of some sort.
>
> Yes I hunt AND bird. One of these days the folks who partake in a variety 
> of
> outdoor sports who insist on degrading the image of hunters by labeling 
> them
> with less than average intelligence will finally do a little research (try
> here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=sr495&dbname=cp106&)
> and learn what hunters have silently done FOR them for decades. When the
> folks who enjoy the outdoors the hunters have been preserving for so long
> start to pay there own way I'll pay a little more attention to their
> opinion. Until then the complainers and degraders are filed in a category
> right behind the guy who doesn't know which end of the binocs to use!
>
> Happy Birding. Happy Hunting.
> Chris Ordiway
> Callaway, Md.
>

Kansas hunters shoot endangered cranes
Thursday, November 11, 2004 Posted: 9:44 AM EST (1444 GMT)

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Two of the world's roughly 500 whooping cranes were 
shot by a group of hunters who said they mistook the endangered birds for 
sandhill cranes, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent said.

Farmers found the injured cranes Saturday near the Quivira National Wildlife 
Refuge in south-central Kansas. One crane died Wednesday; the other is still 
recovering.

Charges have not been filed against the seven hunters, and authorities won't 
release their names until the U.S. Attorney's office reviews the case, said 
wildlife agent Kenny Kessler.

Killing a whooping crane could lead to a sentence of up to a one year in 
prison and a $100,000 fine.

The hunters said they thought the birds were sandhills when they opened fire 
on the first day of goose and sandhill crane season. They said they believed 
the birds would survive after watching them fly off.

The cranes were part of a flock of about 230 that migrates from Canada's 
Wood Buffalo National Park to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the 
Texas Gulf Coast each winter.


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