MCgunner
Member
KILT AM in Houston has an outdoor show in the wee hours. I usually listen to it when I'm headed out deer or duck hunting. This morning I headed down to my place with my favorite rifle to sit in my big stand for a while and tuned in in route. The guy says there's a group advertising themselves on the net called "Cast and Blast" that advertises over seas for "hunters" (using that term very loosely) to come and kill a whooping crane. They have taunted the wardens, dare 'em to catch them. They get a HUGE fee, of course. If (and I hope it's when) they get caught, they won't be able to spend that money for a long, long time, though, if they actually do kill a whooper. There was a lawyer hunting down near Aransas a few years back accidentally (hard to believe, but I guess) shot one. Said it came out of the fog and what with the black wing tips and white body, he "thought it was a snow goose", like about twice as big, but what ever. The guy turned himself in and did time, I think he got 10 years. They don't take kindly to you messing with them birds. I was duck hunting a pothole with a friend out on Matagorda Island once and there were two whoopers on an adjacent pothole and there was a warden up on the beach with a spotting scope watching our every move.
The Whooper population is at a high of 270+ birds right now. But, with populations that low and such a low natality rate, they can ill afford such crap. The guy on the radio said there were something like 40 federal game wardens and Texas Parks and Wildlife wardens tasked to this. They have helicopters and such and they're REAL serious about the game laws and serious as a heart attack about them birds. I just hope that catch 'em before they cause too much damage. This ain't the kind of thing sport hunting needs for its image, either. The animal rights crowd will point to it as being typical of hunters, no doubt, much as will all the stupid fenced canned hunts and such, only worse! We're talkin' the most endangered species extant and a bird that tens of millions of your and my sport dollars and tax dollars has paid to intensively manage. I just don't understand people who would do such a thing as this. It is beyond belief.
I think I've seen a pick up with "Cast and Blast" on the back window running around here. The area has about 2 fishing/duck hunting guides for every three population. Everyone and his brother has a captain's license, so it might be someone else. Most of these guys work at the plants around here and do it as a sideline on their days off.
The Whooper population is at a high of 270+ birds right now. But, with populations that low and such a low natality rate, they can ill afford such crap. The guy on the radio said there were something like 40 federal game wardens and Texas Parks and Wildlife wardens tasked to this. They have helicopters and such and they're REAL serious about the game laws and serious as a heart attack about them birds. I just hope that catch 'em before they cause too much damage. This ain't the kind of thing sport hunting needs for its image, either. The animal rights crowd will point to it as being typical of hunters, no doubt, much as will all the stupid fenced canned hunts and such, only worse! We're talkin' the most endangered species extant and a bird that tens of millions of your and my sport dollars and tax dollars has paid to intensively manage. I just don't understand people who would do such a thing as this. It is beyond belief.
I think I've seen a pick up with "Cast and Blast" on the back window running around here. The area has about 2 fishing/duck hunting guides for every three population. Everyone and his brother has a captain's license, so it might be someone else. Most of these guys work at the plants around here and do it as a sideline on their days off.