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Feather collecting



Regarding:
>No one is going to throw you in jail for possessing one flicker feather,
>nor are you going to get a $5000 fine...although any attempts to prosecute
>for possession of one flicker feather would be pretty entertaining.

I agree, but lest we get too casual -

I have an acquaintance who picked up a dead barred owl on the roadside
(near Conway, SC, and thus appropriate to "carolinabirds", about 1980).  It
was in very good shape, so he thought he'd have it mounted.  It would have
been a shame to waste such a perfect specimen.  He took it to "a guy" who
was trying to build a taxidermy business in his backyard shop.

A few weeks later, my acquaintance was awakened in the night by a game
warden, taken down to the police station, and charged with possession of a
dead owl.  His visit there included mugshots and fingerprints.

Someone had informed on the taxidermy business regarding some other game
law violations.  Thye'd found the owl in the freezer with a name attached -
it led them the perp.

My aquaintance sweated for a month or so - but the case was dropped when
the officer left the game warden business to take a promotion as a county
policeman. My aquaintance (to the best of my knowledge) has foresworn the
habit of picking up dead owls since that time.

For the record:
I laugh at this story, and so forth.  But I have little tolerance for
anyone harming owls and such.

Stephen Thomas
stype@sccoast.net
Aynor, SC