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road kill feathers?????
Papa Matt:
Nobody would ever know. Just don't let 'em see ya picking it up. You can always say the feathers are not the original color and that you died them. What are they gonna do, confiscate the arrow to do a DNA test? Just grab 'em and run. Besides, they really do look a lot like goose, especially to the untrained eye.
~~Papa Matt
Pat B:
That's a chance you guys can take but it is not worth it to me. There are too many sources for legal feathers and if they do catch you, it is $1000 fine per offense(that could be each feather :o ). It's not your local DNR guy you should be worrying about either but the undercover federal wildlife guys that know their stuff about these things.
JackCrafty:
That's a chance you guys can take but it is not worth it to me.
Pat, I'm glad you said that. I was starting to get the idea that most guys think it's OK to use illegal feathers. It's not so much the feathers, but the attitude as a whole that bothers me......if it's OK to use whatever feathers you want, then it's probably OK to hunt wherever you want, use whatever weapon you want, and kill whatever critter crosses your path, etc....as long as you don't get caught and that it doesn't offend too many people. I'm not offended by the use of roadkill, so I won't call the DNR guys if I see someone doing it, but I hope that people disregarding one law (and getting away with it) don't go ahead and disregard similar laws.
OK, I'll get off my soap box now. ;D
JW_Halverson:
Thanks, jackcrafty, for that no nonsense approach. I think it is best to take the high road on this issue. Ya just never know who is gonna be looking at your arrows next. I was at a muzzleloader shoot this summer and a nondescript short fat guy was looking at my arrows, he finally smiled and said "two snow goose feathers and a sharptail grouse, right?" Well, right he was. He was also a Fed that has busted poachers and similar lowlifes that we have all peed and moaned about on other threads here. I look at it this way, sure - chance of getting caught is near zero. But if it is a Statey that catches me I lose all hunting and fishing rights in the state for at least a year. Then there are the 30 some other states that hold reciprocity with South Dakota. Then there is the stigma of a conviction, every game check and road stop means a detailed search of my person and vehicle because I am a known lawbreaker at that point.
I have a certain bond with the kestrel. Used to have a tail feather from a young female, used it as a bookmark for years. I gave it back to the prairie years ago when I thought about what severe consequences I would face if I was busted with it. It wasn't worth it.
If you want cheap feathers there are other sources, some good ones mentioned earlier in the thread. Use your imagination and grit you teeth as you pass up the raptor feathers on the roadside. Now, as for the roadkilled turkeys...better hope I don't see 'em first!
jape:
This isn't an easy one, it is similar here in Oz as I found out when I posted a pic of a crow-fletched arrow I was soooo proud of making, and when I was told I could get fined $4000 for killing a venomous snake that struck at me twice and wouldn't retreat! I understand and support the law in so much because despite my own feelings and personal morality, it is a very sad and bad world and in the end there is little sane choice to do otherwise, at least until it all finally lets go and we have anarchy. (not long now). :(
I hate waste and could protest truly it is part of my own personal spirituality to respect the death by using the carcass. I don't know if it would be the same for you there but I went so far as to get an email from our local game-rangers dept. equiv. that said it was OK to use shed, found feathers .... so it stretches the point but satisfies me. I don't like stretchy morality but I don't like too much oppression of my rights as an intelligent and responsible adult either!
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