I quit hunting public land because of this very reason, along with (and I am not making this one up), booze.......the last time I hunted the closest public land two morons were drinking a fifth while sitting on TOP of their blind. Guess what? Here in Oregon it ain't illegal. the Fish & Wildlife guys aren't cops, State Police generally aren't around, and I wasn't a cop then. They won't throw the idiots out for skybusting, they just make rules like 25 round shell limits which no one pays attention to anyway.
The very last time I hunted public land the guys across the slough from me blasted a Bald Eagle.......blue bird day, nothing flying (but the Eagle), Eagle flew right over their blind....POOF........he exploded in a cloud of feathers......started loosing altitude and landed out in the sage. Total laughter from their blind. My partner and I sat their easily for a full minute staring in disbelief. Then the war of words started......picked up, went to the check station, of course its manned by an idiot female civilian that just gave me the deer in the headlights look "are you SURE it was an eagle"? "Well, you're right....its a turkey isn't it? Guess I'll take it home and cook it......how would that be?"
I had no cell phone, she wouldn't call the State Police, wouldn't give me the blind info even though I badged her myself. The US Attorney who deals with these things happens to be a fellow duck hunter. He went through the roof over it, and I am sure someone's head rolled over it. He told me if anything remotely like that ever happens in the field again, to do whatever I thought was appropriate, he'd back me on it. Translated that means that one way or another, someone IS going to jail over the weekend (with emphasis on the "one way or another" part). Cellphone is with me in the blind, restraints in the truck.
If there was just a way to deal with skybusters.
RR
