A SAD SIGHT

[JIG-A-WHOPPER]

Coming home from the holiday week end yesterday I saw a hen pheasant that was apparently hit by a car on Hwy 22 north of New Auburn. Not far off the road, her brood of pigeon-sized chicks were just standing there staring at her and watching as more cars passed by. I'm not sure if the chicks are old enough to survive alone. The fact that they were all still bunched together tells me that they probably won't survive, if they weren't all killed already by another oblivious driver.... Saw a dead fawn whitetail on the road just outside of Cross Lake on the same day. Too bad.

[kc0myy]

I was coming home from a friends house today. on county road 6 and hwy 55 2 miles east of annandale. Then I was coming over a hill then I saw a hen I locked up all 4 tries and never hit the hen. I was almost 3 feet from hitting I am SO glad I didnt hit the hen!!

[woodview]

Had a hen run out a little ways in front of me yesterday - hit the brakes hard, and sure enough here comes her clutch - timing would have been just terrible if I would've kept going. Meanwhile I see a car coming the other way - guy behind the wheel speeds up and I can see him yelling WHOOO!

Even if it's on purpose someone hitting baby pheasants wouldn't justify possibly causing a crash, but I think I'd have followed through throwing the donut I was eating at em - know I started to before I realized what I was doing, and that my window was still up.

Actually looked at the road after he was past to see if any were down - he was that close. All clear.

Not a sad sight so much as a sick one - though that could be considered a little hypocritical by some based on what I've got planned for them in the future. At least the boys that is.

[FOOT]

Unfortunately, we see that all too often here in the Rochester area, what with the goose population being high.

A couple of years ago I was driving along when a gaggle of 6 adult geese and numerous gosslings decided to cross in front of me.

I slowed and stopped but looked in my mirror only to see a car speeding up and then they plowed right through. I had even rolled my window down and extended my hand but the driver ignored my signal. There was no mistaking he wanted to hit the geese and kill as many as he could.

I followed the driver for several blocks, got his license number and was able to flag down a policeman who pulled the driver over. Turned out to be a 17 year old kid with 4 friends egging him on.

7 geese killed, all gosslings. Driver fined $650 ($350 stayed if no problem for one year) and lost license for one year. Not nearly enough.

[fishtrap3]

I agree not enough but maybe a lesson was learned by all the kids in the car that day. As i said MAYBE.

[kevfish]

you guys are making it sound like it is always the car drivers fault! Sometimes there is no avoiding it with out putting yourself in danger. I have seen several very serious accidents where the cause was someone slamming on the brakes or swerving to miss wildlife. I do not know about you but to me human life takes priority. When given the choice between hitting the birds or making a very unsave move--- I will hit the birds

[Northland Sportsman]

Last weekend we were swimming at a local lake and on the way home came across three dead geese in the middle of the road. I think this was a sensless cruel act. There were some kids buring tires and stuff in a truck driving around the lake. I don't know for sure that it was them, but I wouldn't be surprised. They weren't dead about two hours before onour way to the lake. A sad site!

[FOOT]

Kevfish, if you read my earlier post you will see that there was absolutely NO reason for these kids to go plowing through the geese. They were clearly in the road, there was no visual obstructions or anything else that would have caused the driver not to see the geese.

Of course there are times when you can't swerve, slow down or stop. This was clearly not the case. These punks deserve everything they got and more.

[Dean Schellinger]

I've seen it happen before as well. I would say the majority of the time it is possible to slow down and let the birds cross. I was coming back on the highway a few months back a hen pheasant and her brood were crossing the road. It was a divided highway so hopefully the other lane slowed down too.

Although they are predators, 2 or so years ago I was driving down the road and a racoon was dead in the middle of the road. Along with 2 baby racs. But 2 more were laying right next to her, perfectly alive. And I mean these things were pretty dang small still. That was pretty sad, I wanted to help them but didnt know how, plus I was on my way to a basketball game.

[WAG416]

Next time you get into some baby raccoons, send em my way

WAG

[Dean Schellinger]

Will Do

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

I saw a young woman on the side of the road crying last year. She had just hit a coon and it was alive and suffering. Very disturbing site. I was on the way fishing after work and it took a while to shake that image. The older I get the more it affects me. Pretty sure that's normal. When I was young I was a killer. I still get the instinct but nothing like when I was a kid.