Second bald eagle killed in northeastern South Dakota

I just don't understand what some people are thinking. For whatever reason growing up in the area mentioned a lot of people hated raptors and claimed that they were responsible for all game problems known to man. Of course this is pheasant country so people loved to blame the problem with pheasant populations on everything but habitat.

In the hay day of CRP there were more pheasants than most people could remember, now that only 10% or less of the CRP remains I guess they are back to blaming pheasant problems on raptors.

You won't get that from the link to the article below, but I'm pretty confident having grown up in that area back in the 70's it probably has something to do with it.

Of course it gives the rest of us another black eye with the public, "just another redneck being irresponsible with a gun".

Hope they find them and throw the book at them!

http://www.argusleader.com/story/ne...le-killed-northeastern-south-dakota/99862514/

That's really crappy.

Ideally, we wouldn't be judged with them, but unfortunately I don't think that's the case.

You're probably correct. The first time I hunted South Dakota I was 14 and hunting with some locals. A big owl flew over and, while I was admiring it, they opened fire and killed it. That was the first of a few raptors I saw get killed that trip by the group. It was an eye opener for me to see a group of adults doing something clearly wrong and very much illegal.

I never hunted with them again and never wanted to. Given their attitudes I'm guessing they still do this crap.

I won't condone someone killing an eagle. But, as to predatory birds, there was a time (not long ago) in this country when hunting owls was considered a challenging sport. And it was perfectly legal.

You have to kill the native species for the non-native pheasant to flourish. Haha makes sense : ) unfortunately this is not an uncommon sentiment in pheasant country

I lived in Western ND for years and noticed people still practiced the same type of idiocracy you have mentioned. Watching people blast raptors and other non-game species simply because it "could" kill a pheasant is insane. I haven't hunted with them since. Some people have a really hard time grasping that nature is cruel and plays a crucial role.

Very much the same type of people who think SSS in regards to wolves.