Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!iuvax!inuxc!inuxd!jla From: jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: hunting Message-ID: <1285@inuxd.UUCP> Date: 11 Nov 88 18:20:42 GMT References: <8811101311.AA25068@decwrl.dec.com> Organization: AT&T Consumer Products, Indianapolis Lines: 96 > > > >True. Fees from duck hunters are almost solely responsible for buying > >and preserving wetlands. In Illinois, part of every hunting and fishing > >license goes for nongame wildlife - to buy and maintain wild areas. > >Without hunters, little or no money would be spent for this. A ban on I don't think we can say for sure that that's true. Yes, Ducks Unlimited does spend big bucks to buy and preserve wetlands. But others spend money, too. Monroe County, Florida, is a bird preserve in which the wetlands are purchased for the sake of wildlife. It's true not as much money would be spent, though. > I don't think that someone with an anti-hunting stance is necessarily > "deluded". It all depends on how broad their complaint is. Nor do I think > that a hunting ban would be a "total disaster for wildlife". I think If hunting was necessary for the control of wildlife, nature would have provided each of us with a gun. > finding them in my own yard, a few acres of eastern hardwood forest, > as remnant of the upland game-bird season. This despite the fact > that my land is posted and my property line is less than the state > mandated minimum hunting-to-residence distance. Last year my neighbor's > car was hit by a pellet as he was waxing it. Bottom line, we need > hunting to keep the prey species population in line. We do not need > additional pollution, nor do we need to consider hunting as > a contributor to the goodness of society. I still question whether > rails, grouse and woodcocks need to be kept in check and I honestly > feel that hunting is nothing more than a somewhat necessary evil. > OK, now here goes my soapbox. You can't flame me, though, because I am old and you'll feel guilty. I lived on farms from 1965-1985. I've crawled on my belly (and I was 8 months pregnant at the time!) to dodge shotgun pellets in my HOUSE, I've picked shot out of the backsides of my horses, I've lost cats, and I've been threatened. I am as anti-hunting as Cleveland Amory or any other no-hunting believer (all called "Disneyites" by hunters, no matter what our reasons). Now I volunteer at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Service. I've seen pellets, BB's, and worse inside magnificant birds (a BALD EAGLE, for God's sake--want to see the X-Rays?). Yesterday I amputated the wing of a broad-winged hawk who had been shot. These are NOT isolated circumstances. I contend that the hunting laws cannot be enforced because we don't have enough game wardens. So, I suggest we do away with hunting, and save the money we spent trying to enforce hunting laws to buy wetlands and marshes and other habitat. You hunters figure out how to police yourselves, and we anti-hunters will leave you alone. And don't say that the ones that don't play by the rules are the exception. I know better. Sure, YOU never shoot a dove out of season, but everybody else does. ("Well, I was rabbit hunting, and I saw movement in the grass, and I thought it was a rabbit...how did I know it was a quail...or a pheasant...or a raptor?") One day I walked out the back door of my farm house in Ohio to see why my dog was barking. A rabbit was running TOWARD the house. It was maybe 100 feet from me. A hunter was standing in MY GARDEN and shot at the rabbit, and then cussed me out because I scared the f*****g rabbit. God, living in paradise makes you forget what it's like in the rest of the world. Now my blood pressure's gone up. Maybe I'd better lie down.... But first, let's talk about fishermen. I was called out on a bird rescue last week. A *&^%$#@ fisherman had left a baited hook unattended. Just baited the hook and went about his business, expecting to come back and find a fish on it, I guess. God forbid he should stand there and WORK at fishing. What he caught was a great white heron, who was then flying around dragging a fishing pole. You should see those X-Rays! a huge hook, two swivels, and a wire leader inside that poor bird. She had surgery (I get to release her Monday, thankfully--she'll be out in time to breed this year). Last night I got to go for a moonlight swim to rescue another great white heron who ws tangled in monofilament line, left behind by another careless angler. This one has a severed tendon. We'll operate as soon as he is stabilized. Maybe paradise isn't so great after all. I guess I need a glass of wine before I lie down. -- Joyce Andrews King att!inuxd!jla AT&T, Indianapolis (This message brought to you from the Florida Keys via the miracle of modern communications.)