Bums

[wildman]

Got so angry yesterday I had to calm down before writing this post.

Doing some after-church scouting, and crossed one of my big canals, in the center of a several-hundred acre field. Spotted a BIG otter toilet on the culvert crossing, and got out to investigate.

Then I saw the buzzards.

I always have to see what the scavengers are working, so I wandered over and found a big otter, its back end blown off with a shotgun, then the remains thrown into the field. Found a shotgun hull 20 yards from the remains. #4, high brass.

This comes after the farmer has already told me the "no trespassing" signs don't apply to me -- just the the nightriding young'uns who blast rabbits with buckshot because they haven't killed anything today. I hate no trespassing signs, since they mean someone has misbehaved, and it reflects badly on all of us.

Wish there was an applicable law here, but I can't find it, and if I could, I couldn't prove the culprit. Likely the same trap-stomper I've been praying over for a couple months. He's about to make me start cussing at him instead of praying over him.
Ahhh. That's better. Venting complete.
Thanks, guys.

[kennydean]

It always makes me feel better too!!!! Just let it out because we have all been there. There will always be morons that we have to deal with.

[rye]

I do believe wanton waste is illegal isn't it?

[varmintshooter]

There is only a Federal wanton waste law pertaining to Migratory waterfowl. NC does not have one. It is illegal to shoot an otter. It's a furbearer and shooting is not a legal means of take. This does not hold to dispatching as the animal was caught legally.

[wildman]

Only charge -- other than popping a furbearer, as you mentioned -- would be for improper disposal of animal carcasses. I have to do a story or two about this every year with my papers because of deer bums who dump beside the road. We've had a few actually prosecuted.
If he's who I think he is, though, he'll brag eventually, and I'll get him quietly evicted from joyriding on the farm.

[7oaksfarm]

I'd make a plaster cast of the tire tracks and place some well hidden trail cameras