I Hit A Bald Eagle With My Truck

[frozenchief]

Not something you see every day. Driving in to work and bald eagle swoops down to get some road kill. This eagle and another had been fighting with a few crows. Problem was he went to get it when I was way too close to him. He tried to fly away but there was just no way he could get away in time.

[stevieray]

Kind of kills the term Eagle eye.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by dannybcaitlyn

He does live in Alaska. Last thing you want to do is to be slamming on the brakes on them roads.

Are we sure he was on a road? He may have been driving across a frozen lake or pushing along a forest caribou trail.

[kcpasco]

You killed freedom

[ChiefsFanatic]

So, someone should save that Pic, and any time the Eagles lose, we can photoshop the truck Red, with the Chiefs logo.

Poor Iggles

[In58men]

Originally Posted by dannybcaitlyn

He does live in Alaska. Last thing you want to do is to be slamming on the brakes on them roads.

I would have tried.

[displacedinMN]

I have had one on my house. In the city.

[kjwood75nro]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

the law doesn't technically allow for accidents. It specifies only the taking or killing as an absolute. She was reported because she had kept the feathers and someone ratted her out.

I'm reminded of the guys in Kansas who shot a mountain lion during a pheasant hunt.

The killing was legal due to self-defense, but they decided to take a paw as a souvenir and not report the incident.

Same issue with roadkill deer. Lots of illegal heads were just cut off a roadkill and not reported.

[Iowanian]

Shitbrother….you just turned that truck into a trans am.


East bound and down, bandit.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

Just to answer a few points.

Otter is correct. We have a LOT of bald eagles here. They were originally put on the endangered species list because of DDT. DDT accumulates in tissues and fish would eat bugs exposed to DDT and eagles eat the fish and it created problems. With the banning of DDT and strict protection, they are rebounding. But we have a ton of them.

I hit this one on the highway that goes right past the Anchorage dump. For those familiar with the area, it was just past the Hiland Mountain exit.

I've handled cases involving people prosecuted for unlawfully possessing eagle parts. And walrus tusks. And seal hides. And polar bear hides. I'm familiar with the law. There are 2 aspects to the law protecting eagles: criminal and civil. Think of them as the difference between reckless driving and speeding. Reckless driving involves a mental state - recklessness. Speeding does not. If you are facing a speeding ticket, the only question is whether you were speeding, not your excuse or justification.

To be criminally liable, the government would have to prove I knowingly killed this eagle. It was clearly an accident and they cannot do so. If it had been a non-endangered bird, like a turkey, I would have just thrown it into the ditch and filed an insurance claim. Doing so with an eagle, though, could create a ton of issues. I want to avoid the criminal issues. I do face the possibility of a fine. Before I can be fined, though, I am entitled to present a defense. I personally know the USF&W attorney and I've already called him to advise him of this situation.

I figured my choices are as follows: throw the bird off the side of the road, file an insurance claim and hope nobody finds out. Not likely to succeed and I'd be subject to far more scrutiny than I really want. What if they charge me with keeping feathers? I did not but my failure to report at that point looks very, very bad. Or, I can call APD and document that I didn't keep anything and I reported it as quickly as possible. I might (emphasis on might) be fined but I anticipate any fine would be minimal. Further, the fine is essentially insurance that I won't wind up facing worse charges. Does that suck? Yeah but that's life. I figure it's one hell of a story.

The sad thing is that I love this state, in part because of the unique wildlife. Seeing bald eagles, even if it's as common as a seeing a robin in Kansas, still makes my day. I love to see moose and caribou and even when I hunt one, there's grief over death. That grief, though, is mitigated because I know that animal will feed a number of people. This was just death.

In memoriam, I offer this moving tribute to eagles (Language NSFW):

Thanks for all that, but you're not obligated to defend yourself to a bunch of rerunned bundle of stickss around here. Good luck.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I went to Dutch Harbor once and they were everywhere. They had a sign up that warned people to watch their heads lest they get taloned. It was a temporary sign, so maybe I was there in nesting season or something.

Hope you made good money on the crabbin boat RM

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by Pepe Silvia

I've never tasted Duck. I hear its sweet?

Wanna duck down here and gettcha some?

[ptlyon]

Spoiler!

"Back in the day", in the late 50's, 60', and early 70's coyote pelts around here were running premium.

My father who was a friend with a farmer around the Hartingon area of nebraska, used to help him in his spare time with planting, harvest, etc.

Being literally everyone in Nebraska is related to someone, somehow, someway, and also ****s cats, his friend had a ton of relation and farmer friends in that area.

They made a plan to hunt dem der yotes to have some fun and make a little money.

So they went and bought an old willy's jeep and transformed it into what they thought was a coyote hunting machine. They built a popup top to stand up through to shoot,, changed the horn to be a police siren go go out in dem der country sections to chase dem yotes.

They all installed CB radios in their trucks. They would drive around Sunday afternoons in the winter, glassing the countryside fire coyotes. Being nocturnal, the would usually bed down during the day, and hunt at night.

These farmers that grew up there, knew their land and others. They knew what was a rock on a hill, or what was out of place. They would drive around, looking for movement, glassing hillsides {and most probably, knowing them, drinking beer}.

When one was spotted, dad and his friend would head into the section to chase the coyote out. Meanwhile, on the CB, alert their friends about the coyote.

Coyote instinct tells them to take the low ground to stay out of sight. Those farmers knew all that land, so would surround the section, each at the lowest point. The coyote would go one way, dad and his friend would get on the CB, and say"he's going east" or whatever. They would be ready when it appeared and try to shoot said coyote.

One time, this happened as planned. However the person trying to shoot the coyote missed every time as it approached the highway. The coyote came running out, starting across the "oil". The highway.

When the yote got to the highway, an on coming car got his attention. He leaped directly in the air, coming down only to find said car driving down the highway.

He smashed thru the windshield. They came to a screeching halt. The truck on that side of the section got on the CB, and said "uh, we got a situation here".

It was two older couples, out traveling somewhere. The men were in the front of of course, the women in the backseat. They piled out of the car.

Everyone gathered. The people were in shock. They thought one of the women was going to have a heart attack. They all discussed what happened.

As it was time for all to go. One of the farmers said, "Well, you ain't gonna need this" and grabbed the coyote by the tail and walked over and threw it in the bed if his pickup.

The people in the car asked where they could get a new windshield. They were told the closest would be Hartingon, but it was Sunday, and the dealership was closed. It was bitter cold. They went off, never knowing what happened to them, if they stopped and stayed in a hotel, etc. But them damn people's windshield affected that damn good coyote coat. I imagine after that I imagine they were done hunting for the day.

.

[Rasputin]

You could have just bought a hood ornament you know.

[alanm]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

African or European?

Somebody was on the ball with the Python quip.

[Titty Meat]

Lock the OP up dude bragging about this smh