24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,005
S
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
S
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,005
Mother always said that I think different than most people, so here's my question;

Who, what, where and when was it determined as to what critters are considered game animals and game birds?

I've never read or heard that anywhere and often wondered why some are considered game and others are not.

For example, whenever I've hunted quail there seems to be as many meadow larks as there are quail. Flush a covey of quail and meadow larks often flush with them. At least where I've hunted them. They share habitat and apparently food sources, so why is it illegal to take meadow larks. I have seen meadow larks taken by accident when they flush with quail. (Not by me of course) I'd guess they would probably taste like quail. Seems to be a wasted resource.

Anyhow, I'm sure there is a good reason, just like to know what that reason is.


"An open message for all Democrats; "Look you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable."
Isaiah 41:24 (HCSB)












BP-B2

Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 38,611
Campfire 'Bwana
Offline
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 38,611
Could be population numbers for some things, other critters are probably judged on taste... wink


Me



Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,330
Campfire Regular
Online Content
Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,330
State bird here in Montana. Definitely a no-no.



I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.


John Wayne
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
M
Campfire Kahuna
Offline
Campfire Kahuna
M
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
It's rather arbitrary, actually. In Italy they regularly hunt a bunch of birds that we'd call songbirds.

For years mourning doves were considered songbirds in many states (including here in Montana) and were illegal to hunt. But that's changing.

A century or so ago almost all "shorebirds" were considered gamebirds in the U.S., including some that rarely went anywhere near a shore, such as curlews. Now about the only shorebird you can hunt is common snipe.

Mountain lions were considered varmints in just about every state half a century ago. Now they're game animals.


“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,005
S
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
S
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,005
Does sound rather arbitrary. I've heard stories about what some people ate during the depression and bluejays and robins were on that list. Gotta think that a meadow lark would taste better than an old blue jay. Game laws will not be a major concern if we have another depression I guess.
Got any recipes for the neighbors cat? smile

As for doves, they are considered migratory in Texas, but they don't migrate much anymore. I've got them year round and in higher numbers than most other birds.



"An open message for all Democrats; "Look you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable."
Isaiah 41:24 (HCSB)












IC B2

Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
M
Campfire Kahuna
Offline
Campfire Kahuna
M
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
I had a friend who helped a friend during a depradation hunt for robins in Florida years ago. Apparently they can cause real problems in fruit groves.

My friend was a real game eater and tried some of the robins. He said they tasted a lot like woodcock, which makes sense as both robins and woodcock are worm eaters.


“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 5,730
F
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
F
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 5,730
My wife teaches ESL, & ran into an interesting situation recently.

She was holding up pictures, & the kids had to say the name of the group of things that the picture belonged to. For instance:

A picture of a shirt = "clothes"
A picutre of an orange = "food"
A picture of a car = "transportation"

When she held up a picture of a snake, a Fillipino girl eagerly shouted, "Food!". Kids from 7 other countries were just as mortified as my wife.

FC


"Every day is a holiday, and every meal is a banquet."

- Mrs. FC
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 19,179
J
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
J
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 19,179
S H - In Arkansas, Meadow Larks (field larks) are considered 'song birds', and are ILLEGAL to hunt, shoot, etc. They certainly are melodic.

I knew a fellow who moved here from California and he had a recipe for 'lark pie'. We talked about it, he loved it but never got around to making any before he moved back to KAL I FOR NIA.



jwall- *** 3100 guy***

A Flat Trajectory is Never a Handicap

Speed is Trajectory's Friend !!
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,104
O
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
O
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,104
State Bird for Wyoming too. Meadowlarks are a big no-no.

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,756
R
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
R
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,756
Originally Posted by Seven_Heaven
Does sound rather arbitrary. I've heard stories about what some people ate during the depression and bluejays and robins were on that list.


Reminds me of one of my family's stories. My Dad was given a .22 rifle when he was a kid...probably circa 1940. They all lived in the country and a kid carrying around a .22 was no big deal. Anyway Dad went on a bit of a killing spree with his new rifle, shooting up a bunch of robins. My Granddaddy asked him "what are you going to do with all those robins"? Dad says "I don't know". Grandaddy replies "I do. You are going to clean them, your Mama's going to cook them and you are going to eat them!" Grandma was not to happy about all this so I was told, but back in those days what the man said went....I guess.

I asked Dad how the robins were and he said "not bad but not as good as dove".


"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn

IC B3

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 939
B
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
B
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 939
I try hard to kill a few of our state birds each year. The state bird of PA is the Ruffed Grouse! It is interesting the arbitrary distinction between game and nongame. I remember when turkeys were small game in PA. They are now big game. Hawks and owls used to be varmints or predators and legal game with bounties.
Some of the old English shooters shot a lot of what we consider song birds as part of their bags. I would think the distinction came into being at the end of market hunting, when the conservation movement really got going.
Bfly


Be nice and work hard, you never have enough time or friends.
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,663
Campfire Ranger
Online Content
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,663
Each state decides. What may be a song bird in one state could be game in another (mourning doves, sandhill cranes).


1Minute
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,537
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,537
For decades in California there was a $50 bounty on Mountain Lions, when $50 would buy a new rifle. A few hardy souls made a living hunting them.

Then the liberals took over and decided that hunting was a bad thing, and fishing, and cutting down trees, and lots of other things. It's apparently ok if little Johnny smokes pot, and little Suzy is on the pill, as long as they don't want to learn about guns or hunting. And Johnny can stay inside all the time, where it is safe, and play video games for hours and look at porn on the computer. But don't let him hike in the hills or go into the woods, because it might be dangerous.

And today in California the Mountain Lion is protected, and is treated like a Sacred Cow. In many areas they are over-populated and take a heavy toll on deer and small livestock. Instead of a bounty, now one may recieve a heavy fine and lose his gun for shooting one. And hides from Mountain Lions legally taken in other states may not be brought into California. Heaven forbid!

I once saw the official answer from a CA state official to the question: Is it legal to kill a rattlesnake in California? The answer was a page and a half long all about when it was and when it wasn't, and where it was and where it wasn't. And how it could be and how it might be and when it might not be. I never saw such a crock of hooey in my life.

Pigs can be shot day or night all year round, no limit. Must be vermin. Except you have to have tags, and tag them. And you get the tags five at a time. Sounds like game.

Scrub Jays are vermin; Crested Jays are songbirds. Jack rabbits are vermin; cottontails are game. Gray foxes are vermin; red foxes are game.

So don't bother asking California what is a game animal and what is not, and why. It is not surprising that dozens of county sheriffs signed a letter to the CA Dept of Justice complaining that the state's assault weapons laws were totally incomprehensible.

I guess game is game when it is, except when it is not.


Nifty-250

"If you don't know where you're going, you may wind up somewhere else".
Yogi Berra
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 9,890
J
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
J
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 9,890
Many years ago black bears were considered vermin in lots
of states and were almost hunted to extinction. PA was one
of these states, and they worked a long time to bring the
bear population to were it is today.

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 85,971
Campfire Oracle
Offline
Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 85,971
Any truth to he rumor that Meadow Larks taste like Spotted Owl?


If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli

American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,005
S
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
S
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,005
Originally Posted by ironbender
Any truth to he rumor that Meadow Larks taste like Spotted Owl?


No that's not true. They taste like bald eagles.





Just kidding! I really don't know how any of them taste.


"An open message for all Democrats; "Look you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable."
Isaiah 41:24 (HCSB)












Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,515
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,515
When I was a kid, growing up in Oregon, we had a small orchard with cherry trees, filberts, etc.

To "save" the cherries, my brothers and I shot all the robins we could with our BB guns and slingshots,

Fast forward to our early 20's and my brother was out plinking with his 22.

A game warden comes along and asks what he's shooting...O, just some robins he says....So the Officer writes him out a ticket.

That's when he learned they were illegal to shoot...(grin!)

Virgil B.

Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22,985
G
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
G
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22,985
I got dinged once by a game warden for having a couple of wing feathers off of a Blue Heron I found dead along the creek I was fly fishing in. I thought they would make great fly tying material. At least he only issued a warning and confiscated the feathers. I didn't bother telling him about the feathers I had plucked the week previously out of a dead owl.


"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz
"Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,046
A
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
A
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,046
It is all about access.
If you have access to thousands of them, they are not game in your mind, though another hunter may pay to hunt a single animal.

John


When truth is ignored, it does not change an untruth from remaining a lie.
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,773
G
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
G
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,773
Game is defined by most DNR departments. I think the term "game" is associated with something that is killed for recreation as opposed to something killed out of necessity. It has to do with leisure rather than a profession.


Not many problems you can't fix
With a 1911 and a 30-06

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
695 members (01Foreman400, 10gaugemag, 12344mag, 10Glocks, 160user, 74 invisible), 2,984 guests, and 1,388 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,681
Posts18,399,659
Members73,817
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.101s Queries: 15 (0.005s) Memory: 0.9005 MB (Peak: 1.0538 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 21:45:51 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS