[TN-Bird] Hunting the freakin' things in Tennessee
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-birds" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:26:08 -0500
TN-Birders,
A Sandhill Crane hunting season has been on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources
Agency's radar for a good while. Birders had begun to create enormous
influence
over the public's perception and interest in Sandhills and now Whoopers.
It was no surprise that the chief promoter of crane viewing and the public's
love
affair with the cranes, Ken Dubke of Chattanooga was politely informed that
he
would no longer be allowed to be in charge of the sandhill crane weekend
festival
in the Hiawassee area.
Bureaucrats were needed to make sure everything goes just right in the
future. Now a Knoxville newspaper columnist says the future is right.
Bob Hodge of the Knoxville News-Sentinel is not a blind hog that suddenly
discovered an
acorn. When seeds are planted in the right places, new ideas seem to sprout
right up.
It doesn't matter how long wildlifers have been jockeying for the right time
to pull the
trigger.
For starters, the biggest concern with a Sandhill Crane hunting season is
the threat of Whooping Cranes being shot either unintentionally,
intentionally or
otherwise.
It seems to me that, at least, all counties along the Tennessee flyway lanes
of the
Whooping Cranes and all known wintering counties of Whooping Cranes in the
state should remain closed to hunting of any species of cranes. Those
counties
need to be left closed for at least five years after any crane season is
opened
before they can again be reviewed. Counties with historical records of
Whoopers
in the previous five years should be included in the counties closed.
Any state lands that have wintering Whooping Cranes should be designated as
a Tennessee wildlife refuge rather than a state wildlife management
area. All hunting seasons of any kind during the time the Whooping Crane
wintering
season is in effect should be closed. That should be extended to waterfowl,
deer,
Wild Turkey and maybe more. It should include fishing at the Hiawassee
area.
Bob Hodge wrote that we should hunt Sandhill Cranes because
"the freakin' things are everywhere." I guess that sort of speaks a mouth
full about the intelligent approach to wildlife management in Tennessee that
many TWRA constituents either entertain or understand. Hodge knows his
audience. He knows the language they speak and understand.
The goal at TWRA should be to get that kind of thinking and top of shelf
awareness
filtered out of their management vocabulary. It wouldn't hurt for TWRA to
have
an "intelligent correctness" class for their managers to learn not to listen
to
such public outcries -- considering the source.
Hodge maintains that the freakin' things are probably in every county south
of Knoxville. He has discovered that there are thousands.
He is encouraging TWRA to require hunters to "pass a bird identification
test
to ensure they aren't banging away at everything from pelicans to swans to
endangered whooping cranes." Perhaps they might include something
like a test to recognize highway signs and all the other targets
accidentally
shot at during big game season.
State testers probably should be required to pas the test. If,
in any year, more than 25 percent of the state testers fail the test, then
the
legislature might require that every state wildlife employee be required to
also take the test.
His' is a concept that is probably 30 years overdue. Perhaps we can
set up state testing centers in each region. Something similar to driver's
licenses testing centers.
In addition to blood alcohol testing, drug testing, literacy testing and
bird
identification testing there would be plenty of other needed tests. Each
state hunter should have to show that they have passed the Governor's
minimum educational requirements for their age level.
Perhaps the state could give a test as to whether those with waterfowl
hunting licenses can tell the difference between a duck on the water
and a duck flying.
Just as hunting weeds out the sick, injured and unhealthy segments of
the wild population, testing would assure a more healthy and intelligent
populations of hunters. In the near future, the state might require a
random urine sample at state-managed boating access areas and
at state hunting areas -- including the Cherokee National Forest.
One test that might be too stringent would be to give out a "testing
coloring book" with a big drawing of a Whooping Crane. A hunter would
be provided a box of color crayons and given a timed test to color in what
a Whooping Crane looks like. Those who fail will not be allowed to have
a state permit for a gun rack in the back window of their pick-em-up truck.
They would not be allowed to have a permit to hunt the freakin' things.
Other pages in the book would include an albino Red-tailed Hawk, large
owls, Pileated Woodpecker, Osprey and Bald Eagle. Failure to color
these correctly would require a hunter to come back in 12 months for
retesting and another chance to pass the test. Any hunter who confuses
a Whooping Crane for any of the above species should have his/her
hunting license suspended for a mandatory 5 years until the test could
again be administrated.
In addition, the state should get some life size dummy Whooping Crane
decoys to place around various fields which would be staked out by
wildlife officers, any drive bye shooting at the decoy would result in
arrest, taken to the county jail for a magistrate to set bond and go before
a rural county judge to be fined $50 and $2,700 court cost. That will
take care of a few judicial retirement and payroll shortfalls.
The state has lost control of it White-tailed Deer, Wild Turkey,
Raccoon, Black Bear and a lot of freakin' things. They are in everyone's
backyards and running all over neighborhoods and city streets here in
Northeast Tennessee and probably many other places. We don't have
any other freakin' things except coyotes, tailwater trout fisheries and
Canada Goose poop (in everyone's driveways and swimming pools) that
are driving property owners up the wall.
Let's get the Sandhill things under control. Let's kill most of the
Sandhills
in the counties south of Knoxville. The meat could feed the poor and
affluent hunters, and get more families off food stamps.
The Tennessee Ornithological Society needs to take a definite public
stance on the issue of Sandhill Crane hunting and assure that, while
we are shooting them, we are not spending millions to get the Whooping
Cranes well established only to have some rural judge in the crane
area south of Knoxville fine a hunter $100 for killing a Whooper.
Let's go birding......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcia Davis" <tennwren@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 9:36 AM
Subject: [TN-Bird] Hunting Sandhill Cranes in Tennessee
>I know many of you have been expecting the issue of hunting sandhill
> cranes in Tennessee to come up sooner or later.
> Read Bob Hodge's column in the Jan 27 Knoxville News Sentinel suggesting
> that hunters propose sandhill crane hunting in Tennessee to TWRA.
>
> http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/27/lets-hunt-ribeye-in-the-sky/
>
> Marcia Davis
> Knoxville, Tennessee
> --
> Marcia Davis
> Birdlife Column, Knoxville News Sentinel
> 865-330-BIRD, tennwren@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Creating a Bird-Friendly Yard
> University of Tennessee Winter Course # 282923
> 2/26 and 3/04/2008, Tuesdays 6:30-8:30 PM
> 3/01/2008, Saturday Field Trip 8:30-10:30 AM
> www.outreach.utk.edu/ppd
> 865-974-0150
>
>
>
>
> =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
>
> The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
> first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
> You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
> you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
> appear in the first paragraph.
> _____________________________________________________________
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> ______________________________________________________________
> TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
> Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
> endorse the views or opinions expressed
> by the members of this discussion group.
>
> Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
> wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> ------------------------------
> Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
> Cleveland, OH
> -------------------------------
> Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
> Rosedale, VA
> __________________________________________________________
>
> Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
> web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
> ARCHIVES
> TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/
>
> EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES
> Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
> Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
> Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com
>
> _____________________________________________________________
>
>
>
=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
endorse the views or opinions expressed
by the members of this discussion group.
Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------
Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
Cleveland, OH
-------------------------------
Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
Rosedale, VA
__________________________________________________________
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ARCHIVES
TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/
EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com
_____________________________________________________________
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