Tag Archives: whooping

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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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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