Tag Archives: shot

Pile O’ Dead Birds – Just another South Dakota Day…

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Terry| 3 Comments

I used to be a hunter, back as a kid and through high school.  I wasn’t an avid hunter or anything, but did go out occasionally with friends.  However,  in my current place in life, I can’t imagine ever going out hunting again.  I can’t really say I see the thrill in going out and blasting away, but at least I can somewhat see hunting as one means of putting food on the table.  I REALLY don’t understand anyone’s desire to go out and kill, just for the sake of killing (ala prairie dog, coyote, or mountain lion hunting in South Dakota).  However, I at least have been telling myself for years that I’m not against hunting in general.

It’s getting harder…and harder…and harder…to keep telling myself that I’m not against hunting in general.  Not when it seems every other time I go to bird and take photos that I run into yet another example of South Dakota “hunters” gone bad.  I was recently up birding in the Lake Thompson area of South Dakota.  Lake Thompson used to be a big wetland area with scattered shallow water, but since heavy rains in the 1980s and 1990s, it’s now the largest natural lake in South Dakota.  Ice is just going out on the big lakes, including Lake Thompson.  The lake was a mix of open water, rotten ice, and piles of slushy ice crystals being blown into masses by a strong northwest wind.  Along the ice edge were gulls, several thousand snow geese, as well as thousands of ducks scattered around the lake.

In other words, a nice day of birding!  That is…until I drove along “Oldham road”, a road bed slicing through the lake with water on both sides.  As I started to drive along the grade, I saw a few thousand Snow Geese well south of the road, but near the road was a pair of Snow Geese.  One was obviously wounded, with a wing dragging behind it as it and its partner struggled to walk away on the ice as my car approached.  I drive another hundred yards, and I see a dead goose on the rocks by the road.  A tough winter and a tough migration, I’m thinking.  However, as  I drive a bit further and approach the one bridge on Oldham road, I see a mass of white.  I stop, and on the rocks by the bridge, I see a pile of about two dozen dead snow geese.

The birds were on the rocks, well above the water line, and it was quite obvious the wind or waves hadn’t deposited their bodies there.  I didn’t closely examine the bodies, but when I got out and looked, there was quite a bit of blood on some of the birds.  They had obviously died rather recently, and had died of trauma.  Unfortunately, I’m positive it was a “South Dakota” type of trauma..some redneck or group of rednecks with shotguns, who saw the masses of geese on the lake and started blasting away.

The carnage didn’t end there.  Further down were a few more dead snow geese.  As I headed west from the lake on Oldham road, I approached a large lake, again with water on both sides of the road.  As I started to cross the lake, a single snow goose struggled mightly to move to the water.  It had been sitting on the side of the road, and could obviously barely move.  It wasn’t hard to see why…it’s right lower part of it’s body was covered with blood.  On the retreating ice on the lake, another sad pair of Snow Geese stood…one with a drooped wing, another victim.  As a wildlife lover, it’s hard for me not to anthropomorphize animals at times. Snow Geese mate for life, so with one of the pair shot and injured, the other bird stays behind with it.  It was pretty obvious that mating pair wasn’t going to ever raise young again.

I’m losing count of how many times I’ve run across this kind of thing in South Dakota in recent years.  I’ve come over a hill, only to find two rednecks in a pickup, too lazy to even get out, guns pointing out of the window, and blasting away at American Coots in the wetland by the road.  I’ve gone to a favorite birding spot, having a quiet day interrupted when two young girls pull into the parking area to drop off their two younger brothers, both of whom immediately start to blast away at ANY bird or living creature they come across.  I’ve come across an idiot who wing-shot a goose, but didn’t know how to finish it off, so was chasing it around a field, kicking it and beating it with his fists.

Sadly, I could go on…and on…and on.  There are unfortunately MANY South Dakota “sportsmen” who behave in such a manner, using wildlife for target practice or abuse.

I have some friends who hunt, and I know they are indeed sportsmen who follow the law to the letter.  I know the good that groups like Ducks Unlimited do for habitat.  However, when it seems that I run into examples of South Dakota rednecks about every other time I go out, it’s VERY hard for me to continue to say I’m not against hunting.  Even for groups like Ducks Unlimited, it becomes VERY hard for my cynical side not to come out, for me to view them as simply focused on ensuring a steady supply of targets to blast away at.

It only takes a few idiots to spoil the “fun” for everybody else.  It only takes a few idiots to forever taint the views folks like myself may have about hunting.  However, the more I go out and about, the more my cynical side becomes convinced that there are one HELL of a lot more than just a FEW South Dakota rednecks who think this is acceptable behavior.

 

Posted in Ecosystems at Risk, Environmental Awareness

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Nature Thrives – If we just give it half a chance

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Terry| Leave a comment
Injured Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle near Brandon, South Dakota, with injured bill and missing left eye. Despite all the human activity in the area, despite the injury, I believe he is in one of two nesting pairs in the area. Nature thrives, if we give it just the tiniest opportunity, but given our short-sighted nature and greed, far too often even that tiny opportunity doesn't exist.

I live right next to the Big Sioux Recreation Area, a state park along the Big Sioux River.  I often take walks there, taking trails or going off-trail along the river, through the forest, and through an area of open grassland. This morning I was walking along the river and came across and adult and younger (not totally mature plumage) Bald Eagle, perched on a tree overlooking the river.  Over the next half hour the two would occasionally leave the perch, fly to a different one, or disappear upstream a bit before coming back a few minutes later.  I took a number of photos, and everything seemed fine.

However, when I got home, I noticed the adult bird was missing part of its bill, and it appeared its left eye was also gone.  I don’t think it was a fresh injury, from the appearance, but it was obvious the eagle had undergone some sort of trauma.  Given my cynical nature, and given the idiots around here who blast away at anything that moves, my first thought was a shotgun blast.  What’s amazing though is the bird appears to be doing quite well, despite the setback.

Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota.  OK, at 150,000 or so, it’s not huge by some standards, but there are a lot of folks that live in Sioux Falls and the surrounding area.  The Big Sioux River isn’t exactly the cleanest river in the world.  It’s a typical, slow, meandering, Great Plains river, very muddy and receiving one heck of a lot of agricultural runoff.  Despite the setting just a few miles from the biggest city in South Dakota…despite the cleanliness of the river…and despite this eagle’s injury, there are not one, but two active Bald Eagle nests, including one less than a mile from my house.  What I am always amazed at is how nature can thrive, if you provide it just the slightest bit of an opportunity.

What I find so depressing though is how often human beings are unable to provide even that slight opening for life to thrive.  The USGS center where I work is 15 miles outside of town, and I often used to take gravel roads to work.  It’s all agricultural land here, soybeans and corn, but there were a few tiny pockets of habitat where I would stop on my to and from work, looking for birds.  It’s amazing how often these tiny pockets of land would host a variety of birds.   Nearly all the wetlands on my drive have long since been drained and converted to cropland, but there was one small patch of damp land, not more than 2 or 3 acres, where I would often stop on the way home from work.  Despite being in a sea of cropland, despite being such a tiny bit of habitat, this damp bit of land with some sedges and a few cattails would often hold a lot of birds, including some real exciting birds from a birder’s perspective, such a Le Conte’s Sparrows that I often found there during the fall migration.

This summer, we had a severe drought, and farmers took advantage of the dry situation by plowing up dried up wetlands and installing drain tile to ensure they remained dry in the.  After this summer, I don’t bother taking gravel roads to work any more.  My little damp spot was plowed up and drain tile was installed.  Other little patches of habitat, including brushy fencerows and windbreaks, have also been torn out and plowed under in the last few years, as farmers are capitalizing on high commodity prices by plowing and planting every square inch of available land.

Just a small opportunity…that’s all life needs.  But given our short-sighted, greedy nature, we seem incapable of providing even that tiny opportunity.

Posted in Birding, Birds, Ecosystems at Risk, Environmental Awareness

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South Dakota Redneck fined $85,000 for Killing Whooping Crane

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Terry| 10 Comments
Whooping Crane - Grus americana

Hey...rednecks....does this LOOK like a pheasant or a duck to you? No? Then perhaps you can control yourselves before pulling the trigger next time you see one. Save yourself $85,000....

Well, now I know why I’ve gotten several emails and attempted blog posts from enraged South Dakota rednecks in the last day.  One of their fellow rednecks, Jeff Blachford of Miller, South Dakota, has been fined $85,000 for killing a Whooping Crane last year.

Some brilliant logic from these folks though on why it’s perfectly fine to go out and shoot one of the most endangered birds in the world.  My favorite…the idiot that posted this morning saying that Whooping Crane “mortality rates are high because of natural causes…they just can’t get off the ground fast enough” to  get away from predators (or South Dakota rednecks with guns?).  Brilliant.  They’ve somehow survived for thousands of years despite this “handicap” of not being able to “get off the ground fast enough”.

Surprising, this brilliant person may be the intellectual giant of Miller, given some of the other emails and attempted posts I’ve gotten.  I’m surprised some of these folks are able to log on to a computer and actually produce a message of any kind.

I hope an $85,000 fine has taught you a lesson, Mr. Blachford.  I hope the rest of the Miller redneck crowd realizes how incredibly small and insignificant they are (we all are) in the big scheme of things, and that YES, wiping a species off the face of the earth IS a big deal.

This is South Dakota.  Given the “culture” ( hesitate to use that word here) of the state, you’re allowed to blast away at practically anything that moves.  However, the next time you see an enormous white bird and you don’t know what it is, perhaps you’ll now pause before actually pulling the trigger.  In the meantime, I think I’ll bestow the coveted “scum of the week” award to Mr. Blachford, and to all of the redneck “supporters” who have tried to email or post.

Posted in Birding, Birds, Environmental Awareness, Scum Of The Week

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Miller, South Dakota – Redneck Capital of America?

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment

I do believe we have a winner.  Miller, South Dakota.  I can think of no other place that seemingly has as many rednecks.  Congratulations Miller, it’s an award that is WELL deserved. You are the first TOWN to receive the coveted “Scum of the week” award.

You see, several months ago, I blogged about the rednecks that shot and killed a Whooping Crane outside of Miller.  Other than my blogging about the Sioux Falls gun nuts who think people should be allowed to openly carry firearms anywhere they want in the city, no other topic has received as many attempted responses.

I say ATTEMPTED responses, because nearly all of them have gone directly to the trash bin without seeing the light of day, given the blog filters I have in place.  Even if I did relax the blog filters and allowed all the posts that said “fuck” every other word, it would be questionable whether any of my blog readers would be able to “enjoy” the posts anyway, given that most of them are incomprehensible gibberish.

With 3 more attempted responses by Miller rednecks in the last 2 days, I think there can be no doubt who this week’s winner of the “Scum of the Week” is.  Miller, South Dakota!  Come on down!!  Your whole TOWN is this week’s “Scum of the week”.

OK, to be fair…I’ve never been to Miller, South Dakota.  I can’t imagine EVER going to Miller, South Dakota, and this is from a guy who lives in South Dakota.  To be fair, I’m sure that most people in Miller are good, upstanding, very nice South Dakotans.

But given the volume of attempted posts from redneck Millerites who are DEFENDING the losers who shot the Whooping Crane?  I apologize to the “good” Miller citizens, but the losers in your community have put a black stain across your entire town.

Posted in Scum Of The Week

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My son and REAL life – ObamaCare

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Terry| 23 Comments
Alexander
Our son, the week after coming home from the hospital after being diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes.

Obamacare isn’t popular.  But there ARE key provisions of Obamacare that are very popular.  One of these is a guarantee of insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, a provision supported by 85% of Americans.  Other provisions are also very popular, such as the ability to cover your children until they turn 26.  Despite the popularity of these provisions, about half of America would like ObamaCare to be repealed.  Perhaps that half should look past the political BS and look at the real-world effects of ObamaCare.

My 9-year old son has had Type-1 diabetes since just after his 1st birthday.  We are fortunate enough to have good insurance, but I shudder to think of those in our situation without insurance.  Our son has an insulin pump, which alone costs $8,000.  Supplies for the pump?  $1,800 every 3 months.  And that doesn’t include other supplies for testing blood, doctor visits, etc.  What happens for someone like us under Obamacare, vs. under the status quo?  What are the REAL world effects should Obamacare be repealed?

First, Obamacare extends the length of time parents can cover their children.  We could cover our son until his 26th birthday.  Secondly, once he turns 26 and needs to get his own coverage, he couldn’t be discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition.  But what if Obamacare is repealed?  What happens to someone like my son?  What happens when he turns 26, and has to get coverage on his own?  Could he even GET coverage, given that he has Type-1 diabetes?  What happens if he has to change jobs?  In a post-ObamaCare world, who pays the thousands of dollars for supplies that my son’s VERY LIFE depends upon???

My wife and I both have good jobs, but even so, I can’t imagine trying to pay for pump and other supplies, without insurance coverage.  That nightmare is a REALITY for thousands of Americans, until ObamaCare fully takes effect.  We OURSELVES have heard from families with poor or no insurance coverage, who have had a child diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes.  We OURSELVES have gotten stories from parents whose options are few.  For a parent with a child with Type-1 diabetes, you’re constantly fighting against time and the inexorable march of the disease.  As time marches on, the liklihood of complications rises, be it coronary disease, kidney damage, diabetic retinopathy resulting in blindness, etc.  Your ONLY weapon against it right now?  Controlling your child’s blood sugar as best as you can.  To do that, an insulin pump is indispensible.

But this is America.  We seem to value corporate profits more than the health of our own children.  For FAR too many with poor or no insurance coverage, the only choice is to skimp on diabetic supplies, using constant insulin injections and paying for testing supplies as you can.  Do you have ANY idea how DAMN HARD it is to constantly have to give your young child multiple shots, every day, day-after-day, with NO end?  Do you have ANY idea how DAMN HARD it is when the first phrase your child learns to put together is “No Shot!! No Shot!!!” (something we dealt with). It tears your heart out.  God knows I broke down like a baby the first time I had to give my son a shot, while he was in the hospital after being diagnosed.  And that definitely wasn’t the only time.

For the first year and a half after diagnosis, my 1-year old son had to endure a minimum of 3 injections per day, usually more.  Every meal had to be planned in advance, every carb counted.  For 8 years since, we’ve also maintained a constant regimen of blood tests, including my wife and I taking turns being the one who gets up in the middle of the night to check him.  Despite our best efforts, it was very difficult to control his blood sugars during that first year and a half.  Despite our best efforts, I felt like we were “failing” our son, because we knew that in the long-term, an inability to control blood sugars made diabetic complications much more likely.

When our son was 2, we were blessed with the opportunity to start using an insulin pump.  Instead of 3+ injections a day, he only needed one “site change” every 3 days.  Instead of carefully planning every meal and snack well ahead of time to ensure he was getting the right amount of carbs to match the insulin we estimated was left in his body…he now could now eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants.  We just have to type in the number of carbs, and the pump gives him the correct amount of insulin.  Best of all, his blood sugar control was DRAMATICALLY better.  We’ve at least done all we can to slow the progression of the disease.

But let’s say you’re a single mom without health insurance, and you’re facing the same nightmare we have.  Can that single mom afford a pump for her child?  Or is she forced to choose a life of painful injections, KNOWING there’s a better way, but also knowing that in America, the health of her child isn’t as important as the profits of a health insurer?  What about a middle class family in this situation who is forced into a job or location change?  Will that family be able to get insurance coverage for their child with a pre-existing condition?  Or will they too be forced to choose between incredibly expensive payments for insulin pump equipment, or using cheaper methods of blood sugar control?

Why should they HAVE to make that choice?  Is this America?  Or is this some third-world country with a government, health-care system, and a PEOPLE unable, or UNWILLING to make the health of their children a national priority?

THIS is the reality of ObamaCare.  It is NOT a political tool to be wielded like a weapon by the two parties. ObamaCare is about REAL PEOPLE.  It’s about covering people who’s very LIVES are in jeopardy without insurance coverage.  It’s about Americans acting as if they GIVE A DAMN about the health of their children.

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized

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Scum of the Week – S.D. Whooping Crane Poacher

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Terry| 7 Comments
Whooping Cranes

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.

Posted in Environmental Awareness, Scum Of The Week

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Whooping Cranes shot by red-necked Louisiana teens

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Terry| Leave a comment
L8 - Whooping Crane

A photo of "L8", the USGS name for one of the 2 Whooping Cranes that two redneck Louisiana boys shot.

In February of this year, Whooping Cranes were released into Louisiana, the first time the birds were found in the wild in the state since at least 1950.  The USGS released 10 birds in an effort to reintroduce a non-migratory flock to the Louisiana area.  It only took 8 months for some redneck Louisiana “hunters” to pop off a couple of the cranes, as two dead cranes were recently found.

Authorities charged two juveniles with the crime.  Evidently the two teens were out driving around in a pickup, and shot the birds right from the pickup.  YEEEEE-hAWWWWWWWWWWW!!   What fun these two redneck losers must have had as they personally killed 20% of the entire state’s population of Whooping Cranes!   The story cited above only discusses the perps as “juveniles”, which means they will likely get off with a slap on the wrist.  This, despite that these “juveniles” are evidently entrusted to drive, and are evidently entrusted to drive with loaded guns.

I had a run-in with a VERY midguided parent once (Hi Dave!!) when I turned in some “boys” for treating a live, wing-shot goose like it was a soccer ball.  The “boys” had lightly wounded the goose, but were pretty clueless on what to do next.  They didn’t know how to kill the wounded goose, so were chasing it around a field, kicking it, stomping on it, and hitting it.  “Dave” took offense to my reporting of the “boys”.

Well, I’ll tell you what…Once a parent decides a child is old enough to drive around on his own, that “child” has certain adult responsibilities.  Once a parent decides a child is old enough to HAVE A FREAKIN’ GUN AND GO OFF ON THEIR OWN, then that “child” SHOULD NO LONGER BE TREATED LIKE A CHILD.  If you have the supposed maturity to have a gun, then you damned well better be willing to face the consequences if you act like a redneck and start popping off one of the most endangered birds in the world.

Or even better, CHARGE THE PARENT if a juvenile is charged with a gun crime, if that parent enabled the juvenile by providing the weapon.

Posted in Birds, Ecosystems at Risk

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