I don’t know. My feelings about predators are pretty much the same as David’s. And I’ve been blasted on other forums for it, as well. Not to sound holier than thou, but most game laws in most states indicate that “All Wildlife is Protected”, unless specified otherwise under unprotected species. .
As Hunters we are responsible to “positively identify” what we are shooting at. Malicious.. of course I don’t think so either, but every hunting season there are a lot of tragic “honest mistakes”. To quote one of our TBM Contributors, Reg Darling, “I have taken few shots that I have regretted, but I have never regretted not taking a shot”
Reminds me of a funny story though I heard as a volunteer for our state game department for over 20 years. A gentlemen came into the deer check station to have his deer checked, as required by law back then, his tags were all properly filled out. nothing wrong at all. Except, the Game Warden asked the gentlemen, do you remember exactly WHERE you shot this animal? And the gentleman said oh yes! This is my first deer ever! I will never forget it! Well, it was BROWN and had two horns. The Game Warden replied< Good! Now we have to go back and explain to the farmer, why you shot his goat.
