There is NO mistaking the sight of a Whooping Crane standing in a field. Didn't stop one South Dakota redneck from popping one off with a high-powered rifle. (Photo by Larry Johnson - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License)
There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind who my “scum of the week” award is going to. I had a post about a short birding trip I did Sunday morning, where I was pleasantly surprised to find 3 Sandhill Cranes west of Sioux Falls. Such beautiful, large, majestic birds, they CERTAINLY stood out as something “unique” that you don’t see in this part of the state that much.
Imagine that same creature, but even larger, and brilliantly white. That would be a Whooping Crane, and there would be NO doubt that’s what you were looking at, if you saw one standing around. Well, in South Dakota, there’s a certain percentage of the population that believes it’s their god given right to take a shot at anything that moves. Near Miller, South Dakota, someone saw a Whooping crane standing in a field, HAD to have known what it was…but decided to get out their high-powered rifle and kill it.
Don’t get me started on the “hunting culture” of South Dakota. YES, there are many hunters who ARE true sportsman. But…just in the past few years during my birding and fishing trips I’ve seen 1) two guys shooting out their pickup windows and killing a bevy of American Coots 2) Two young teen boys being dropped off at a Wildlife Protection Area who proceeded to start shooting all the songbirds they saw, 3) Some complete IDIOT who had wing-shot a goose but didn’t know how to finish it off, so was chasing it through a field, stomping on it and kicking at it 4) Three dead hunting dogs lined up under a tree, shot by…presumably a hunter (out-of-state?) who didn’t need their services any more 5) and fishermen on the Missouri who caught their limit of walleye, left, came back “empty-handed” an hour later, and immediately started to catch their SECOND limit.
And those are just some of the illegal things. There are also the hunters that really disgust me, even when they’re doing something that’s legal in this state. I have zero stomach for people who kill just for the sake of killing. That is NOT “sport”. Best example…those who stop in prairie dog towns and just start popping them off, leaving there to rot. I remember one memorable day when I went to one of my favorite prairie dog towns for birding, and lined up on the fence were three dads and about 6 young boys, all resting their guns on the fence, shooting all the prairie dogs they could see. Another of my favorites…the local goose “hunters” who ”hunt” just outside of Arrowhead Park by Sioux Falls, a place where hundreds of VERY tame geese hang out. Hell, if you wanted to “hunt” them, you wouldn’t need a gun, you’d just have to bring a piece of bread and grab the stupid thing by the neck when it came up for a bite.
Gotta love “sportsmen” like this who think the natural world’s purpose is to satiate their own selfish desires. As I said, NO, I don’t want to paint all hunters or fishermen in this light. I’m a fisherman myself and greatly enjoy the resource, and know that most folks ARE law-abiding citizens who appreciate the resource.
But…when I see stories like this jackass who popped off the Whooping Crane with a high-powered rifle, it’s VERY hard for me to remember the ‘good’ sportsmen, and VERY easy for me to remember all of the other horrible sportsmen that I’ve run across.
Congrats, Crane killer…you are hereby awarded a VERY well-deserved “Scum of the Week” award.
I grew up on a farm near Miller, and I know there are some real jackasses in that neighborhood. I’m guessing the shooter came from south of town. Those people seem to have much redder necks.
How embarrassing, the only way Miller makes the news is when some dumbfu** kills a beautiful creature. Argh!
(BTW, there are a lot more great folks in Hand County, who are just as embarrassed as I am about the dumbfu**.)
Maybe all you tree huggers should move California maybe you will do some good. I am from miller to and I think you people don’t know the circumstance s just yet but I guess the peta people like you stupid fuckers just jump to conclusion no matter what.
Way to go bud, you just proved there ARE red-necked losers in Miller. Bravo.
There are no “circumstances” involved when a harmless, incredibly rare, and incredibly OBVIOUS bird like a Whooping Crane is shot. I’d LOVE to hear any rational story on why such a bird was shot. Something tells me you’d have to look up the word rational in a dictionary first.
MODERATOR COMMENT: Note to preserve young eyes, I have substituted the words “French Toast” every time “Get a LIfe” used the “f-”word. Also note that in most cases, this person also misspelled his swear words.
Who the FRENCH TOAST knows what a FRENCH TOAST wooping crane is anyways unless u study FRENCH TOAST birds…I know about 30 FRENCH TOAST people that know about the FRENCH TOAST shooting and all of them said I don’t even know what the hell a FRENCH TOAST wooping crane is….some people have jobs and don’t have time to study what the FRENCH TOAST kinda birds we have in south Dakota let alone what FRENCH TOAST travels threw the state. So “scum of the week author” for all I care u can go FRENCH TOAST urself. Also who the hell new there were only 600 or whatever of them in the god dam USA or whatever. We have a lot more FRENCH TOAST concerns in this world than a god Dam bird that got shot. Get a FRENCH TOAST job and worry about urselves. U guys act like someone shot Someone else… I bet half or more of miller doesn’t even know what a wooping crane is and now all of a sudden everybody’s FRENCH TOAST tweeting and face booking about the FRENCH TOAST bird that everyone else has to put there two sense in an act like they know what the FRENCH TOAST thing is and act like they know what’s going on. Get a FRENCH TOAST life people. The person that wrote the “scum of the week” bullshit GET A FRENCH TOAST LIFE and mind ur own FRENCH TOAST business
OK, this post by the BRILLIANT Mr. “Get a Life” went straight to my trash bin. I thought of leaving it there, but then thought no, this is a VERY thoughtful blog reponse that deserves to see the light of day.
Miller, South Dakota…You must be proud. This is just a SAMPLE of the wonderful blog post attempts from self-professed Miller natives, or other redneck supporters of the loser(s) who shot the Whooping Crane.
I do agree with “Get a Life” on one thing!! That “Half of or more of Miller doesnt’ even know what a Whooping Crane is”. That’s the edited version of what “Get a Life” said, edited because most of the sentences are incomprehensible.
Is it any wonder I’m a CYNICAL scientist? When I see that THIS is the level of intelligence of seemingly three-quarters of Americans?
You voted for Obama didnt you Terry?? Just a stab in the dark because while real people make America grow by the jobs they do. Your just a scientist that hasn’t really helped America. Oh sorry scientists figured out medicine to help with oh I dunno back aches for instance. Just a luxury, not a need. While other people are growning food to feed people your wasting government money to kill innocent little innocent mice or rats for nothing really. I’m from South Dakota and what this guy did was wrong and he has paid his debt to society but this also pisses me off because their are a lot more important issues out there like just stripping our guns away from every American. That would be smart wouldn’t it?? NOT or how about Obama care and how retard that is…. Before you start pointing fingers, maybe you should look at yourself and the rest of American instead of zoning in on one person. While there may be “rednecks” out there and “hillbillies”, there are also the other 80% of America that’s is ruining the whole country…. Not just their own lives and a life of a bird as this shooter did. In retrospect, both of you discussing this article are both wrong and right in some instances and it doesn’t make either of you any better than that guy that pulled the trigger. Now I looked and found out that it costs around 21,000.00 a year to keep each of these 600 birds alive. That’s gives you 12.6 million dollars a year in saving birds. Now before I get to my next point….. Whopping cranes were endangered for a reason…. People did hunt them and kill them in the past but mainly they have a hard time breeding and also mortality rates are high because of natural causes….. They can’t get off the ground fast enough to get away from, lets just say, a coyote. Now you can argue that a coyote killing one is… Nature taking its coarse. But also you can argue that people were put on this earth as well. We are animals just as much as that bird or coyote. Just a more developed and sophisticated type of animal so us being animals and killing another animal is really no different in that sense. They are a dumb bird to say the least…. They have to be taught out to fly, how to migrate, and even have a hard time mating theirselves. Now getting back go the money situation, 12.6 million dollars is a lot of money per year to spend on birds in my eyes. I believe in God and nature running its coarse and God along with nature once already said that the whopping crane has ran it’s coarse… Hince the endangerment and why they almost died off. Now we have homeless people on the streets in America….. People without jobs….. People who want to work and we are spending 12.6 million dollars a year on birds instead of our own people. That just proves my statement above that we ARE animals. This guy, although guilty of a crime, is paying for 3 whopping cranes to stay alive this year instead of feeding his family. Although he did wrong its also wrong to take food away from his family and give to a bird to survive that technically should be deceased and not exist because of nature taking its coarse on them. I’ve went on long enough about this and I hope I have good enough reasons why you both are wrong and should feel like failures. Get out there and feed the hungry and cloth the naked. If you have any part in believing in God, you will understand everything I said. And always remember… When you point a finger, there is always four more pointing right back at you (and yes i know i have pointed a finger or two myself and there are that many pointing back at me and all that so you dont have to comment on that) so look at yourself and quit worrying about the .00000001% of America and worry about the other 99.999999% of America. If there is anything misspelled or not written correctly…. Apple is to blame because iPhones are hard to type on and throws words in where you don’t want them.
Sincerely,
The guy that sees both sides like every good American should
Woo-hoo! Way to GO, buddy! You’ve outdone yourself!!
It’s been hard to choose just WHICH Miller responder is the biggest redneck.
YOU, sir, are the winner! Congrats! I do apologize for one thing though, Miler redneck. I’m “just” a scientist, who “hasn’t helped America”.
CLEARLY, it’s the redneck Miller losers who are the TRUE heroes of America. Bravo, Miller redneck. Now go out and shoot something…it will make you feel a lot better.