No worries, Marc, I completely understand, and thank you for your very
reasoned reply. I was more responding to a concern that some folks
would take this in too broad a manner. In fact I find the sign quite
hilarious, the only change I would make is to add "irresponsible" and
broaden it to include more than just photographers :-).

You also make an excellent point regarding the legitimate debate and
what does/doesn't constitute "too much" stress. I really can't think
of anyway to "prove" this, other than to examine the birds in areas
that are frequented by hunters and dogs. Even then I'm not sure that
would have a direct correlation to non-resident birds such as the
Snowy Owls.

Thanks again for reasonable discussion.

Quoting Marc Hoffman <lists at dartfrogmedia.com>:

> Hi Retief,
>
> I hope I did not offend you in my criticism of off-trail
> photographers. If they all stayed 30-50 yards away from the Snowy
> Owls as you do, I probably would not have raised any objection,
> though some of my concerns would still apply.