Skinner,
most of the MBTA prosecutions are unintentional “incidential” takes in the oilfield and there are more than a few of those. Just making a cursory pass through Westlaw revealed a Vietnamese shrimper shooting pelicans resulting in multiple felony indictments. He was appealing his bond which was set at $360,000, the estimated cost of restitution to be paid if convicted, on top of the penalty amount. That was in 2011 in Victoria, Texas. The court lowered it to $50,000 as a bond as that was the most the defendant could afford. That was just the most recent reported appeal, excluding the oilfield incidental take cases.
You and don really ought to reconsider, I am trying to help educate you and others on the law. It’s way easier to stay out of trouble than get mixed up in the nightmare of the court system, especially the criminal process.

And maybe I am a simpleton, but I try to follow the law whether someone is watching or not. Deciding whether to knowingly commit a felony based on the likelihood of getting caught means a person is a criminal, just one that has not been caught yet. I’d rather go to sleep at night broke with a clear conscience than knowingly commit a crime to have more money in the bank. Just my simplistic outlook on life.

Lol, yeh you can’t shoot pelicans or gulls for eating your shrimp. Shrimp are not his livestock. I’ve seen several people get in pretty big trouble here on the coast for killing gulls. Way different than protecting your livestock, atleast that is the way it was explained to me by a Texas Game Warden. I know I’m not gonna be the quinea pig in this court case.

You need a permit to kill depredating bald and golden eagles. I don't know about caracara. It's not illegal to kill them, just illegal without a permit. Here's a link: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SI...23&rgn=div8

Oh man. If you think the average game warden knows all the state wildlife laws, much less all the federal wildlife laws, you simply haven’t met enough game wardens. And if you EVER think they’re “your bud” and will give you a pass when you break one of the laws they do know about, I know several people who could educate you if you’d listen.

I don’t agree at all with the federal laws concerning avian predators, but I’m not about to give a fishcop a reason to slap a fed felony on me.

What happens on my property stays here. It is not advertised. It is not discussed at the OST. I will protect my property like I said. After I do protect it there is no sign of whatever might have been done happened. I am a firm believer in following the S S and S rule. If somebody shoots something that is not supposed to to be shot just for the hell of it they should be cited. Same as if you go out in the street and shoot somebody just because you don't like the way they look. You should go to jail. But if that same person broke into your house and was hurting one of your children and you shot and killed him that would be a whole different story. And opinions of doing what is right or wrong differ a lot if you live out in the country and are trying to raise animals from those opinions from some who live on pavement.

Hey you gentlemen are forgetting what the final S in SSS stands for. You are boasting on a public forum about committing felonies. Consider what you write.

The hills have eyes and you have neighbors that do not like you...that is what got the man in trouble in the 90's.

Do you really believe you can shoot raptors for depredation, and do you always believe LEO just because they are LEO?

Sneaky,
did you quote the wrong post?
No to both questions.

[u][/u]
Sooooo......bears are protected in Texas.....if a rancher finds a bear attacking his cattle does he just have to stand there and watch? When the feds reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone we’re not the ranchers outside the park allowed to kill wolves attacking their livestock....how is this any different....

No kidding

If folks read the earlier post, Jeffbird does this stuff for a living. I am betting on his version being correct

I’ve met more than one fish cop who didn’t know the laws. It amazes me how anyone could believe anyone could know all the laws considering the volume of our state laws and the CFR.

Closest I ever got to being banned from this site was when I was arguing for personal property rights. But the fed laws carry outrageous penalties and they don’t play. No way I’m telegraphing anything on a public forum.

I will say that jeffbirds dig about “being a criminal whether or not you’re caught” falls on deaf ears to most who invest their lives into stock of any kind. But I know fishcops, and they don’t think like normal people. And the laws they enforce don’t givachit about what we’ve spent our lives trying to do.

Actually it’s a regional term. People where you and I are at call caracara’s Mexican Eagles also. People out west call golden eagles Mexican eagles. I have several friends in West Texas and New Mexico who call Golden’s Mexicans. Took me a while to figure out what they were talking about. [/quote]

It is a regional term for sure. I grew up in S Texas with my family calling them Mexican Eagles, and I have been corrected numerous times by Mexican American folks later in life in S Texas that explained to me it was an insult to call them Mexican Eagles. Why I asked? Because they are smaller birds and they are mostly scavengers unlike the big proud Golden Eagle, so I was told. Well, alrighty then. The owners of the place I've hunted for over 20 yrs still get their feathers ruffled when someone calls Caracaras Mexican Eagles lol. We have tons of them. Sometimes hundreds when we're dumping a lot of guts, year round. [/quote]
Where I grew up in Bee County and Live Oak the Caracara was called Mexican Eagle. I found out later on in life they were not the same. I saw my first Golden Eagle in Kendall County and up there they called them Mexican Eagle or Golden Eagle. Growing up we did not see a lot of Caracara's like there are today. They are far more numerous today than back then. They will catch more live things to eat than people realize. I have seen a group of 3-4 Caracara's take a Turkey Vulture down one evening in La Salle County. After they took it to the ground they proceeded to eat it. I have seen Caracara that was flying carrying a Horned Lizard, Coachwhip and a pair of them trying to eat a Texas Tortoise alive. I was able to scare them off the Texas Tortoise while it moved into thicker brush/grass. [/quote]

Funny you mention they took down and ate a turkey vulture. Just 2 days ago I saw a couple attacking a buzzard. I thought they were just harassing it.

I’ve taken pictures a few years ago of a juvenile bald eagle as well as one of the parents in Winnsboro behind my sisters house . There is a railroad pool at the edge if the city limits that’s like a small lake and they use to hang out around that lake . Juvenilez are large like the adults but they are all brown in color until they mature out which takes a couple years , then they get their white hood and bigger yellow beak . They definitely are bigger than any hawk or buzzurd in Texas . The only thing bigger is an Osprey Eagle and the California Condors .

I live within 3 miles from a bluff that was listed on birding sites as one of the best eagle viewing spots in Texas. In the winter about 75 bald and golden eagles were nesting there. Many still do and we see eagles every year on the ranch here.

I have at least one bald eagle that shows up at my gut pile each year after big hunts. Once I was driving through the ranch with a hunter and his wife and was talking about the eagles and 30 minutes or so later a big golden flew up (20 yards away) and barely made it over my interior high fence into a deep draw. He had been eating a turkey and was almost too heavy to fly.

Yes, I did. I believe you know what you’re talking about. I recall your vocation and avocation. I also have a fair idea of how migratory bird laws work. There isn’t much flexibility.