Featured photo by Glynn Harris (Caption: Boys with BB guns should never shoot songbirds, such as this beautiful orchard oriole.)
Why? What makes a normal law-abiding person do some incredibly stupid things when it comes to wildlife?
I can’t point a finger at anybody else until I confess a crime I committed as a pre-teen on a beautiful oriole. This handsome black and orange bird was singing its heart out from atop a big oak in my grandparent’s yard when I raised my Daisy Red Ryder to my left shoulder – I shoot right-handed – didn’t even aim, andfired off a pellet. I was mortified when the oriole tumbled out and hit the ground dead at my feet.
Why did I do it? To this day seven decades later, I still don’t know. How was I able to put a pellet into the little bird so high in the tree from my left shoulder without aiming? Maybe it was allowed to happen to teach me a lesson; songbirds must never be shot even by 10 year old boys with BB guns. It was a lesson that stuck because I never shot another songbird. That, however, didn’t bring the oriole back to life.
There are some people today who do stupid things when it relates to wildlife, and they’re not ten year olds.
I think of a good friend who lived outside Monroe, a dedicated hunter although he was confined to a wheelchair by a degenerative disease that later took his life. Jimmy had been granted approval to keep deer in a pen next to his house. One night, someone slipped up to the fence, shot his prized buck with an arrow, cut the fence and hauled the buck away, undoubtedly boasting to his friends about the fine buck he had taken. Why? How in Heaven’s name could he brag about bagging a big buck when he knew in his heart the dastardly circumstances under which the deer was slain?
The shooter was later arrested and had to make restitution for his act. That was little solace, however, for Jimmy and his pet buck.
Former NBA star and Ruston resident, Karl Malone, had something similar happen to him. On his big buck sanctuary in Union Parish, he has deer with superior blood lines, capable of producing Boone and Crockett antlers. Someone shot one of his prized bucks, cutting the fence and making off with the deer. He, too, was caught and had to make restitution. Again……why?
If you have read many of my articles, you know of my love for hunting wild turkeys. I was literally thrilled to my soul one morning when driving by a woodlot a mile from my house, I saw something that caused me to stop and back up for a closer look. At the back of the woodlot on private property with “No Hunting” signs, a gobbler in full strut was displaying for two hens. Right here close to my house…..I couldn’t believe it. Two granddaughters came for a visit a few days later and I was able to show them the gobbler and hens as they were on display just about every morning.
As much as I enjoyed watching the turkeys, a gnawing feeling began creeping in because the turkeys were so visible. Folks would stop and watch the turkeys that were undisturbed by vehicle traffic. I hoped that nobody with the stupidity of a ten year old boy with a BB gun would do as I had done years ago. My fears escalated when the gobbler suddenly disappeared. He had been there every day for a week or more and abruptly vanished.
I was talking with a neighbor later who mentioned that during the time the turkeys were so visible, he heard a gunshot one morning. After the shot, the turkeys simply vanished not to be seen again. I don’t know what happened but I can hazard a guess. Some opportunistic person with the stupidity of a ten year old with a BB gun probably saw the gobbler, rolled down his window, shot and made off with his prize.
We have plenty of wild game to be hunted during legal hunting seasons so the question as to why some people resort to cheating begs for an answer……why?