Ravens, Crows And An Unfortunate Decision By The Utah Wildlife Board

I’ve always loved ravens.  I appreciate their intelligence, their adaptability and their association with myth and mystery in human folklore.  I also enjoy their playfulness.

 

common raven 6063 ron dudley

 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

I encountered this juvenile Common Raven six days ago near the continental divide on the border between southwest Montana and Idaho.  The tongue and inner mouth lining of adults are black but those same parts are pink in juveniles like this bird.  Interestingly, the age at which the pink turns black is largely dependent on the social status of the bird – dominant birds have black mouths by their first winter but subordinate individuals often have pink or mottled mouths for two years or more.  I would dearly love to know the whys and wherefores of that fascinating little piece of natural history!

 

 

common raven 6075 ron dudley

  1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

But back to this bird.  Soon after it landed on the conifer it began to fuss and flap around like it was bored and looking for something interesting to do.  Eventually it reached down…

 

 

common raven 6098 ron dudley

  1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

 and plucked a small branch from the tree…

 

 

common raven 6132 ron dudley

  1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

and I swear it was playing with it.  It manipulated the twig in its beak, grasping it in several different places and it continued to do so for some time.

 

 

common raven 6136 ron dudley

  1/800, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

 Eventually it flew off…

 

 

common raven 6171 ron dudley

  1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

and landed on the top of another nearby tree and then seemed to give me hell when I followed to get some more shots.

 

Corvids are fascinating birds – all of them, but here in Utah the future is looking bleak for our two largest corvid species, the Common Raven and the American Crow.  A crow hunt in the state has just been approved and it will surely have dire consequences for both crows and ravens.  Two days ago I attended and spoke at a meeting of the Utah Wildlife Board as they made their final decision as to whether or not to approve the crow hunt.  The proposed hunt allows licensed hunters to kill 10 crows per day and have 30 in possession.  Hunting crows would be allowed Sept. 1-30 and again from Dec. 1-Feb. 28, 2015.  The rationale of the Division of Wildlife Resources and some members of the board for allowing the hunt included increased opportunities in the field for hunters, control of alleged agricultural depredation by crows and an introductory “sport” for young hunters.

I was under the impression that the purpose of the meeting was for the board to accept input from the public and then take that input into account when making their decision.  Silly me…

I’d estimate that 25-30 spoke at the meeting as individuals (as opposed to less than a handful who spoke representing groups with vested interests and a couple of them supported the hunt, mostly for political reasons) and virtually all of them opposed the hunt and gave logical, rational reasons for their opposition.   Following are some of those reasons voiced by the public at the meeting:

  • crows and ravens are notoriously difficult to tell apart and invariably many of our protected ravens (and other black birds) will be killed accidentally
  • there’s no science behind this decision.  No studies have been made to determine how many crows are resident in the state (very few), how many are migrants or what the predicted effect of the hunt will be on the population – this from an organization, DWR, that makes the following claim on the opening page of their website – “The DWR strives to be a highly effective, science based agency with deep connections to the citizens of Utah”.
  • DWR and some board members try to justify the depredation hunt (the hunt is divided into two parts – depredation and “sport”) by saying it allows agriculturists to control damage by crows to their crops but no one, DWR or anyone else, has been able to document any significant crop damage in Utah caused by crows.  Interestingly, there were no farmers or orchardists at the meeting to voice their support for the hunt.  Their silence was deafening.  And telling…
  • legally, ethically and morally, game “taken” by hunters should be eaten and not wasted.  But virtually nobody eats crows
  • in order to “validate” the hunt, DWR has conveniently classified the American Crow as an upland game bird.  Utah hunting regulations specifically prohibit the “waste” of upland game (“You may not waste any upland game or permit it to be wasted or spoiled. Waste means to abandon upland game or to allow it to spoil or be used in a manner not normally associated with its beneficial use” – Utah Code).  Yet no one will eat crows and they will all be “wasted” (in more ways than one).  This quandary is a “catch-22” that was acknowledged and then passed over by the board members at the meeting
  • using a crow hunt to introduce young hunters to hunting and its ethics is a terrible idea given the ID difficulty between crows and ravens and the obvious ethical, legal and moral conflict of leaving game in the field to rot

 

Speakers at the meeting gave other reasons for opposing the hunt but these are the highlights as I recall them.  With one exception the board members and DWR employees who spoke at the meeting conducted themselves appropriately and professionally, whether I agreed with them or not.  The exception was board member John Bair who made us all suffer through a tedious and irrelevant rant that strongly implied that the audience was a biased, anti-hunting crowd who didn’t appreciate the positive contributions of hunters (which was far from the truth as most speakers made it very clear that they were not against ethical hunting – in fact several die-hard hunters spoke in opposition to the crow hunt).  Mr. Bair’s inappropriate, condescending and self-righteous comments were an embarrassment to his audience (he showed no respect for his audience and I will gladly return the favor here).

In the end the board approved both hunts , depredation and “sport”.   All five members voted in favor of the depredation hunt and then John Bair, Calvin Crandall and Steve Dalton voted in favor of the “sport” hunt while Michael King and Bill Fenimore voted in opposition.

In my strongly-held opinion several board members and DWR employees had an agenda and that was to insure that the crow hunt was approved rather than to recieve input from the people and take that input seriously into consideration in their deliberations.  One must consider motivation: as in many other states hunters in Utah are a dying breed – 94% of DWR revenues come from hunting and fishing licenses and DWR sees the decline in hunters as a threat to their passion and even to their livelihood.  DWR and the Wildlife Board need to change and they need to change soon.  There are many more non-consumptive users of wildlife (birders, photographers, wildlife watchers etc) than there are hunters and fishermen and they need to learn to appreciate the wishes of those groups more than they currently do and develop creative ways of allowing them to contribute financially to non-consumptive wildlife management.  Buying duck stamps and similar programs just don’t cut the mustard.

Personally, now that the crow hunt has been approved, I’d like to see board members Bair, Crandall and Dalton be required to eat every last crow carcass that will be left in the field to rot.

After all, there’s more than one way to eat crow…

Ron

 

Addendum #1 – I was curious about how some crow hunters approach the “sport” of crow hunting in other states where it’s legal so I poked around the internet a little.  Here’s an example – there are others that are similar:

When one hunter on a hunting forum (huntingnet.com) asked “If I shoot one of these guys (crows), how many can I expect to get with a rifle? Just one or be patient and keep letting them come back” he got the following response from another hunter – “Kill one (assuming they are crows) tie a length of fishing line to him, pitch him out about 30 or 40 yards and when you see crows circling, drag him to you and use a distress call. The flock will not leave him, you can kill every single one. That guy is right, using an owl or hawk decoy helps to make this scenario more realistic. Kill ’em all”. 

Here’s the link.

 

Addendum #2 – To help my readers better understand the “thought processes” (now there’s a stretch…) of Utah Wildlife Board member John Bair, following is his tag line on Twitter – quoted verbatim.  Draw your own conclusions.

Husband, Father, fun lovin, huntin, auctioneering Mormon Redneck. Weapons and mules…Good.  Anti-American liberals….BAD
Springville Utah

For those who have been asking, Governor Gary Herbert appointed Mr. Bair to the Wildlife Board.

 

 

 

43 Comments

  1. Ron, thank you for following up on this atrocious crow hunt. When I first heard about the issue, I was really hoping it wouldn’t turn out this way. The entire matter is unbelievable to me – I’ve witnessed a crow in dire distress and the accompanying support (hue & cry) from its flock. I suppose I know that there are folks that just don’t actually care about the animals they shoot – but I know there are also folks that truly do care – they need to be educated that Corvids, and other birds are just as dear and living as you and I are. Ethically hunting wildlife, i.e. using what you hunt, is not a problem – but needlessly killing living, sentient beings and discarding their bodies to rot is just plain wrong. I appreciate your posting on this subject.

  2. Jane Chesebrough

    Like the photos, they are amazing to watch and listen to.Been enjoying the crows around here.As for the rest…Hmmm.

  3. In a time when these unnecessary sport hunts need to be stopped, I can’t believe things are going in the opposite direction.
    I hope your state votes out that governor!
    Shame on them!

  4. Seems to me if they’re going to allow that, then they should also allow the “sport hunt” to take place for our state bird, the seagulls and see where that goes. One always sees masses of them wandering freshly plowed fields and extremely dense groups at large landfills. And how often have you rolled in to a Walmart or some other large box store and had them practically attack you when they think you have something in your hand that they can eat. Of course you won’t see that happen. I suppose they’ll have to make the Crows and Ravens the state birds. Just sayin..

    On another note. Really enjoyed the pics and descriptions… I’ve watched them “Play” and frolic around out here near my work and they are a lot of fun to watch.

  5. This news is so very distressing! I cannot believe the right to hunt and kill my favorite bird would be ok. It reminds me of how people in the depression rounded up jack rabbits and beat them to death to get rid of them! Senseless and horrifying!

    Has the humans need for violence and killing really gotten this out of control?

  6. The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live.
    James Oliver Curwood, The Grizzly King

  7. I came across this interesting article about the The Idaho Fish and Game Department’s plan to poison or shoot up to 4,000 ravens. I’d like to discover what links these destructive agendas from state to state… Certainly scapegoating wildlife for destruction of wildlife to shift the focus from issues like overgrazing appears to be one aspect…

    http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/04/27/government-plans-to-kill-the-messenger/

  8. I also enjoy your pictures Ron. What goes around, comes around. People who are cruel, and narrow minded will get theirs in the end someday.
    Poor birds.

  9. Ron:
    As usual your images are so splendid and educational. I love your images of the Raven on the branch. As to this unfortunate decision by the Utah Wildlife Board, I can only say that I find it utterly revolting and disgusting that hunters abuse the natural, social instinct of animals, to then abuse and torture them:

    “The flock will not leave him, you can kill every single one. That guy is right, using an owl or hawk decoy helps to make this scenario more realistic. Kill ‘em all”.

    Only someone so bored out of his/her wits and so full of hatred could actually think of doing this. I really think that some humans take their anger out on innocent and defenseless animals, just to “win at least one battle”, since these kind of acts stem from people who literally have nothing better to do and have lost many battles in their lives. I see it as a desperate measure that some humans have to prove that they are still capable of doing some things “right”. These are the cowardly acts of people in dire need of getting attention from the public.

  10. Charlotte Norton

    Sensational shots Ron!
    Charlotte

  11. After reading all the comments, it has occurred to me that the reason the board wanted the crow hunt was that those intelligent crows could be elected to congress and do much better than the [apparent] humans who currently hold those offices…

  12. And we need more unnecessary suffering in this world, human animals or other sorts?

  13. This is indeed a sad and disgusting state of affairs. The way I see it, there is a problem with having the board members eat all of the rotting crows – it would deprive vultures of food. Of course if they had to eat the crows and that killed the board members, then the vultures would have plenty… 🙂

  14. Hiss and bloody spit. And repeat.
    I am so sorry that this decision was made – probably before the public meeting.
    The air above my head was a deep, deep blue when I first realised the mindless, pointless slaughter had been approved.

  15. Johanna van de Woestijne

    Since it is unlikely the hunters will eat the crows, and some of those corvids will be ravens, is there any legal recourse do you think? This may all backfire on the corvid hunters too, if they get enough bad press for it. BTW I don’t buy duck stamps because I feel it misrepresents my quiet outdoor hiking and wildlife interests, but I haven’t seen a good alternative yet. In my wishful thinking, I sometimes imagine a wildlife stamp that I can buy and in doing so displace the purchase of a duck stamp, so that my interests will finally have funding and representation relative to other interests too.

    • I couldn’t agree with you more about the “wildlife stamp”, Johanna. Or with what you said about duck stamps misrepresenting interests like ours.

      I don’t know about legal recourse but I do know it’s being looked into by others more competent on this issue than me.

  16. Oh….this is beyond sickening. Those of us who subscribe to Ron’s blog have a deep love and reverence for wild things…those of us intimately familiar with corvids (probably most of us here) understand how intelligent they are, their capacity for play, their strong family bonds. So what can we do about this situation? I’ve asked myself if I can have any impact on those individuals who, for example, use leg-hold traps. As a rehabber, I’ve seen first hand the devastation cause by these devices, as well as that of lead poisoning, rodenticides, etc. And I honest-to-god don’t think I stand a chance at “educating” those who apparently enjoy killing something. I’m not opposed to hunting, not at all; but I’ll never understand hunting for “sport.”

    Thanks for this well written piece, Ron-I’m too angry and saddened to put words together so eloquently.

    Leslie Jackson

    • I agree, Leslie. Any attempt at changing the minds of folks who would condone this kind of hunt is hopeless. Beyond hopeless.

      Just for the record, personally I’m not against ethical hunting and many others here aren’t either. I don’t hunt but some of my friends do and I admire the hunting ethics of folks like my friend Jay Banta and others who are highly ethical about their hunting activities. If I were a hunter I’d be embarrassed and ashamed of this crow hunt.

      I’d like to make another point that I should have made in my post. Many states have crows in abundance but that’s not the case in Utah. Utah and Arizona have fewer crows than any other states.

  17. Sorry I’ve been slow to respond to comments this morning. I had to get this crow hunt thing off my mind so I spent the morning on Antelope Island. I’ll respond as soon as I’ve had something to eat…

  18. Shannon McArthur

    Ron, you’ve done a good thing by bringing this to our attention. It deserves more attention, I think!i I suggest putting it on Change! Where many signatures can be added and then presented to government enmasse. I’d be first to sign (right after you!). Bless you for speaking out for those who cannot.

    • Thank you, Shannon. Actually there are others who are better connected and more knowledgeable about this situation than I am and they’re actively seeking solutions. I prefer to let them take steps like that if they deem it appropriate. If they do, I’ll report on it here.

  19. I am astonished. Feeling helpless. Saddened. Angry. Thank you for your effort Ron!

  20. This makes me sick. Just sick. I’ve alerted my social media and maybe we can make a loud enough noise to halt this. So very angry right now.

  21. Why can’t those who hunt for “sport” aka the thrill of the kill, shoot at each other instead! then it truly would be “sport”…once again, blowhards, I’m NOT talking about those who hunt for food…

  22. At least you and many others tried to make a valid point. I really don’t see the need to hunts these birds and hope that it doesn’t take off and become popular. I’ve always enjoyed watching crows and ravens and will be sad if their population is drastically altered for what appears to be no valid reason.

    • Thank you, Josh. I also hope it “doesn’t become popular” among the hunters. I think it could go either way though – especially since the timing of the hunt was designed at least in part to give them something alive to shoot at when most of the major hunting seasons are closed.

  23. I do NOT apologize for my language…if I knew anything worse, I’d use it!!! What is be is a BLACKBIRD SLAUGHTER!!! Not only a cruel crow slaughter…a variety of black and dark colored birds will also be shot…what a dumb bunch of backward bozoa! Not a brain in the bunch…

  24. Cruel, stupid, shortsighted bastards!!!!!!!!

  25. I echo Alison’s comment. It sounds like crows exhibit a similar behavior to that which contributed to the extinction of the Carolina Parakeet. The flock would not leave an injured or downed bird and are said to have circled back, landing in trees near the shot bird, allowing for wholesale slaughter of an entire flock. The Wildlife Board should be ashamed of themselves for approving this. I’d be happy to pay for national, state and regional wildlife conservation (not hunting) stamps and I’m sure the majority of bird and wildlife watchers/photographers would be able and willing to do so as well.

    • An interesting (and frightening) point about the Carolina Parakeet, Sharon. Like you, I’d buy a wildlife conservation stamp (or two, or three) in a heartbeat!

  26. This is just disgusting. Perhaps we should have a wildlife appreciation stamp to be sold to all of the rest of us. I bet we would best the hunters in dollars given, but even then we would have no voice as long as blowhards like Bair rule the roost.

    • Very well said, Tana.

      As you probably know such a “wildlife appreciation stamp” has been proposed by quite a few folks. There’s resistance to the idea from some hunters who think we should simply buy duck stamps. That just ain’t gonna happen from my end…

      Regarding John Bair – he’s an electrician by trade and it’s my theory that he may have touched one too many “hot” wires in his career. (see addendum #2 at the bottom of my post).

  27. And that is “sport”? Ron, thanks or sharing this article. It is one of the most disgusting, despicable acts of so called hunting I have heard of. Incidently, my son lives in Utah and is a hunter. I spoke to him abut this and here is what he said. “Mom, as you know – my policy is NEVER to hunt for anything unless I will eat it. For example I would not hunt bear because I don’t like the meat. Neither me nor anyone I hunt with would shoot crows or any other animal that we would not consider eating”. He went on to say that to teach young people to hunt and kill any animal or bird indiscriminately serves no purpose, teaches them nothing about respect for nature and the environment and (as he said) is simply wrong! It is sad that the board members were not prepared to listen to reason and yes, you are probably right in that the agenda was set before the meeting. We can only hope that it proves to be non-profitable or these “sport hunters” suffer some severe bad karma. Sorry this is long but the act of hunting responsibly has been of interest to me for many years. I am not vegetarian and enjoy many types of meat, game and fowl. However to hunt for so called sport (fox hunts), or pelts (many animals) or body parts (elephants, whales etc) has been proven time and again to do more harm than good. This is such a bad decision on so many levels. Okay, I will get off my soapbox! And thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

    • Very interesting, Angela. Several long-time hunters who spoke at the meeting feel the same way as your son and are very strongly opposed to the crow hunt.

  28. I’d like to know if protests from individuals out of state would be of any use, or merely be considered white noise.

    • They certainly couldn’t hurt, Alison and it just might help. Tourism dollars are a huge interest and concern of state officials and I think they pay attention to how the state is viewed by potential visitors.

      It’s my understanding (I could be wrong) that at this point the only thing that could change this decision, at least in the short-term, is some form of legislative override. That possibility is being discussed.

  29. Horrifying… I’m so sorry. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

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