I'm grounds manager and rifle range chairman at our gun club. Today myself and a few members were at the club tearing down back boards for upcoming berm repairs when I looked in a shallow ditch and found a dead hawk. There is NO HUNTING of any kind on our club and I'm pretty sure the hawk was killed shortly before we started on the tear down. This really pizzed me off and I'm pretty sure its against the law to kill birds of prey in Oklahoma. We have an electronic gate that records who comes in and out with date and time but its still going to be hard to find out who killed the hawk. If we do, he just lost a $1000 membership and maybe be looking at a stiff fine. whats your thoughts about this? Personally I don't like it.

hawks taste better and are more tender than eagle. get cooking.

It's a federal law (killing/possession of birds of prey) and the conservation LE types I've been around really get horned up about the chance to make a case in federal court. How you would prove who shot it is your problem.

Post a note about it in the bulletin.... Don't worry about it unless it happens again. It's not worth the stress trying to prove who did what and when.
These things get hit all the time on the highway, don't let it ruin your week.

When confronted by the game warden with just a mere whisper of evidence, alot of people end up telling on themselves. Knowing who all had come in most recently would give the wardens a place to start and I'm betting it wouldn't take them long to figure out who did it. In a situation like this though, my guess would be a younger person. If so, this kind of thing could really get them jammed up.



Tex

I'm in this camp...

short of finding a witness, having the guilty party come forward or a very low attendance count for the previous couple of days... probably not much you can do but post a "someone was naughty" note around the club and move forward.

i suppose there's always the option as a future thing to install security camera's looking downrange toward the berms to prevent future issues too.

its awful that someone would do that and hopefully a little public shaming in the club news / bulletin board will prevent it from happening in the future.


i would use it as a "scared straight" moment where you make up some fliers to go along with the note in the club bulletin/newsletter that clearly state not only is it a club rules violation that will cost you your membership, but also the max legal penalty's (ie: is it a FELONY and cause you a permanent loss of your gun rights?) be posted - in bold, large print! - and hang up the fliers all over the place - clubhouse, shooting benches, parking areas, etc.

and then let the club gossip-grapevine do its work for you.

Well......the shooter came forward and confessed to shooting the hawk. Bad part is he's a really good guy that used to be a club officer. Said he just had a moment of stupidity. (We have lots of wildlife on our club property and there is NO HUNTING or killing any game animals or wildlife on the property.) Now the club officials have to figure out what to do. It could go several different ways.

Just a little FYI....

If it goes to the Feds he's fried.
Any penalties imposed by the club will be the very least of his worries.
Not to mention the fact that the club officials now have knowledge of a USFWS violation concerning the killing of a protected raptor.

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Painting yourself into a corner is never good...

Yep.
The Marble Courthouse is rather intimidating.

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It was reported. He was given a six month suspension from the club. Now he will deal with the wardens. We have no control over that.

after posting that ^^^ on here there is not to many ways it can go. now you pretty much have to give all the info to the wildlife folks.

the guy is going to have some major financial loss and likely lose his hunting privileges for a good while.

No that it's all known, I'd step back & let the game wardens handle it.

Yes, shooting it at the gun range was wrong, illegal & all. One can go back in time when very few predators were protected, now we are almost awash in them. There was a time when hawks, owls, & most any predator had zero protection, may of even had a bounty. Look at all the hawks one sees now just driving the freeway.

No I'm not condoning illegal activity, I just don't see it as a guy who shot the one & only Bigfoot. He can work it out with the warden, the lesson will be a reminder to the rest of the club.

I had a Sharp-Shinned hawk hit our window a few years ago, knocked him out. Even though he liked to make a meal out of birds at our feeder I nursed him back & let him go.

When I was a Kid, IN the 50s It was imperative that you kill every hawk you could get in your sights. They were all chicken hawks then.
BD1