At 07:59 PM 10/20/98 -0700, Kelly Mcallister wrote:

>However, I know that what I found contradictory was not the basis for the
>plea to stop hunting spruce grouse. It is clear from Denny's statements
>that his basis for wanting protection is the lack of sporting qualities
>to this bird.

As a non-hunter, I always try to keep in mind that the chicken I stalk
in the supermarket also doesn't run away, and the ease of killing it
isn't an issue as it's already dead.

I've never eaten grouse, but I've eaten pheasant, and it's pretty good.
I'm not vegetarian, but tend to eat chicken and fish rather than red
meat (though I like the latter).

If we should only eat food that runs away, most of us are going to
quickly lose weight. As unsporting as shooting a spruce grouse might
be, it can't be any less sporting than killing a chicken or cow in
a processing factory. After all, some escaped Stalin's conveyor
belt to death, but I've never heard of a chicken escaping a Tyson's
plant in the south. I'm sure hunters miss more spruce grouse which
then live than Tyson's misses and allows to escape chickens. Unless
one believes in speciesm, that chicken has every much a right to life
as that grouse.

So - if you're going to argue against hunters shooting meat that is
too tame to fly away while munching on meat at home, spare me. If by
some chance the poster is vegetarian, well, I can respect the consistency
of that philosophy though I don't happen to share it.

What pisses me off are trophy hunters. I see no merit in shooting simply
to score a mount (though Portland Audubon's building is filled with mounts
that have been donated to us! Tax writeoffs, I guess!) Those who eat
what they kill don't bother me, though. Not in the least.

Given the scarcity of knowledge of spruce grouse in the state, though, I'm
a bit surprised at Kelly's claim that they're underutilized. Isn't one of
the basic tenets of sound wildlife management a thorough understanding of
their underlying ecology, including things like long-term trends? I know
that many species of grouse, i.e. sage grouse and others, are hunted and
are also trending downward over the long term. I know a couple of folks
studying such birds, and our understanding as to why they're declining
is ... well ... lacking. So, a conservative approach rather than a
declaration that they appear to be underutilized would seem prudent. Heck,
until recently we argued whether or not they were actually in your state!




- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net