[crobertsbmw]

I have a weakness in that I always give people the benefit of the doubt. So I suspect that people are shooting these birds “for sport,” not realizing they are protected birds. I wonder if posting more signage to educate shooters that there are bald/golden eagles or whatever in the area, if that would help mitigate this at all. Maybe I’m too optimistic.

[anigbrowl]

I have a weakness in that I always give people the benefit of the doubt

I had that too. Grow out of it. 30-35% of people are assholes.

[lost_tourist]

I think sociopathy is a spectrum and at least 10% of humans are members

[eigh0xohyeib6Te]

All birds of prey and migratory birds are protected under federal law and I've never met anyone plinking at birds that didn't already know it was illegal.

[WD-42]

Why would you shoot any bird sitting on a utility pole, protected or not? There’s no sport in that.

[BurningFrog]

The hunting urge runs deep. I've felt it.

[WD-42]

The urge to hunt? Are you kidding? Plinking a bird off a pole is about as close to hunting as playing go fish is to catching dinner.

What you are describing is sadism and/or mental illness.

[gcheong]

That’s not hunting. It’s target practice.

[throwawaylinux]

Our ancestors who evolved to hunt did not "play fair", they killed animals any way they possibly could. Running them off cliffs, into pits, setting fire to the forest to burn them alive. Might as well say guns and knives aren't hunting, that you have to use your bare feet and hands and that's it.

[bmitc]

Our ancestors, although containing the equivalent or even greater intelligence as us, were unlikely to consider morality or ethics when it came to survival.

[throwawaylinux]

And neither does the evolutionary drive to kill animals consider those things.

[quickthrowman]

Our ancestors didn’t have grocery stores…

[yongjik]

Ah, the deep-seated caveman urge to hunt down utility poles, shoot the electricity out of your neighbors, I mean, enemies, and hear the lament of their melted ice cream ...

[rolph]

grouse are tasty, but hitting utility equipment can be quite expensive.

[_Microft]

If someone has no idea what they are shooting at then maybe they shouldn’t be wielding a weapon at all?

[gcheong]

Shooting road signs is illegal. Go to any rural area and count the bullet holes in any road sign with a deer on it.

[NoZebra120vClip]

Where I used to live, when we took a road trip, we always looked forward to passing the sign where some joker had stuck a round red reflector to the nose of a prancing deer road sign.

[effingwewt]

Used to live by an area with a 'caution falling cows'[1] sign. Was never there longer than a few hours before being stolen again. Sure, you can buy them, but I guess it's not the same?

Never did see it more than a handful of times over many trips/years.

[1] https://www.roadtrafficsigns.com/caution-falling-cows-funny-...

[NoZebra120vClip]

There is a freight train grade crossing nearby, and there is an official sign which reads "NO TRAIN HORN" and then below it, there is very meticulous lettering reading "EXCEPT SOMETIMES" and I swear I have never quite figured out whether it is official, or some joker's joke that's been permitted to stay there for years on end.

[bigbillheck]

Pretty much all birds in the US have been protected for over a century.

[LinuxBender]

Many of them since 72 anyway. [1] The birds I've had challenges with are Magpies. They kill the Finches including one breed that is the state bird Western Meadowlark that I feed but I found that if I can lure some Crows here they scare off the Magpies. I wish I knew how to keep the Crows around all the time. It's fun listening to them talk to one another. Farmers used to get paid to turn in Magpies but now they are under federal protection.

[1] - https://www.audubon.org/news/the-history-and-evolution-migra...

[behringer]

That has nothing to do with education... Education is in an egregiously pitiful state at this time. Why would you expect people to even know birds are protected when a quarter the country can't read and another quarter can barely do so?

[systems_glitch]

Just as likely someone's shot at them due to killing chickens or something. Not that it makes it right. We had a neighbor back home get a huge fine for shooting at black vultures after they'd killed several calves one year (unlike turkey vultures, black vultures will kill, rather than just eating carrion).

[jsiepkes]

How is shooting animals for sport any better then shooting them because they are a nuisance? Sounds way worse to me actually.