Environment
Cowboy Pilots To Plink Predators
April 17, 2006 
Just like an episode straight out of a “Wily Coyote” cartoon, Idaho politicos have been twisting the arm of the Federal Aviation Administration to allow ranchers to gun down coyotes and other noxious critters from ultra light aircraft and powered parachutes.
The Associated Press broke the story Monday. They quoted ranchers and Idaho’s congressional delegation as favoring the use of these “aerial ATVs” for use as flying gun platforms.
Coyotes are not regulated by Idaho Fish and Game. Director Steve Huffaker told the GUARDIAN the wild canines are legislatively classified as predators and fall into the same category as jackrabbits, skunks, weasels, and starlings. Permits to shoot coyotes are issued by the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture, but the feds got involved with the advent of the ultra light aircraft.
Unlike their sissy city slicker cousins who are limited to computer games and paintballs, Idaho ranchers can blast away at coyotes and skunks while sharing the sky with eagles and hawks– but they get to use REAL bullets.
We can see a whole new market opening up in Idaho and throughout the West. There will be “hands free” sights and triggers mounted on the control stick, soon to be followed by wing mounted guns, and laser sights for low light shooting. No paint ball capsules for these James Bond-style cowpokes.
With just a little more lobbying effort the high flying cowboys can get hand grenades approved so they can bomb those “wascal wabbits” just like Elmer Fudd.
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Comments & Discussion
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Apr 17, 2006, 6:51 pm
Guardian…can you check and see if this holds for “whistle pigs”? I was quite the whistle pig massacrer at one time. Now I’m too old and fat and lazy to sit on a dirt mound in the desert and wait for them sit up and sun. I could however hang from an ultralite and get a much better shot. Thanks FAA
Apr 17, 2006, 7:47 pm
I don’t care whether they are predators or not, this completely breaks the “fair hunt” ethic.
Apr 17, 2006, 8:04 pm
And I’m a hunter too I might add. This brings back bad memories of the “bunny beaters” of the 1980’s that garnered Idaho a lot of bad press.
Apr 17, 2006, 8:13 pm
“fair hunt?” This ain’t about the fair hunt, it’s about blasting pixelated badguys… er varmits.
Maybe those ranchers have been spending too much time with their kid’s video games during the off-season.
But then again, this trend seems to have been building for a while. Seems a lot of our political leaders like to use canned hunts to play the big hunter. I refer you to Cheney and Frist, for example.
Nothing more heroic than shooting disoriented birds fresh out of a burlap sack, or a drugged lion raised in a pen.
Apr 17, 2006, 8:17 pm
Wow! What a concept! Let’s take an elusive, very fast animal and use a vibrating,constantly moving platform to try and shoot said animal. The “idiots” that would try such a farce would probably shoot themselves. Hmm, now that I think of it, what a great form of “population adjustment”.
The need to control the coyote population is obvious. The desire to do it from the air is just plain stupid!
Apr 18, 2006, 6:44 am
How many of them ranchers have those motorized parachutes, and or ultralights? Is that the rage now down in Owyhee county? Are they using their federal welfare money for those toys? So much for “traditional values”.
Apr 18, 2006, 8:30 am
About a year ago or so the Idaho Fish and Game hung out the doors of Hillcrest Aviation’s Bell Jet Ranger helicopter in Valley County, Idaho and shot 9 wolves. Yeah, not a lot of press about that. F&G tried to keep it kinda quiet. That pack of wolves was responsible for nearly 200 sheep that were sport killed in the region north and east of McCall.
If fish and game can shoot from aircraft using buck-shot at (introduced) endanged species; why can’t Jim-Bob-Ultralight-Pilot / Part-Time-Rancher plink at some desert dogs?
All jokes aside. I think it is unsafe and unethical for anyone to hunt/eliminate pesky coyotes from any aircraft. Fair chase.
EDITOR NOTE–The law already allows the use of the same methods used by the government (helicopters included)to shoot predators. The Ultra light issue is new.
Apr 18, 2006, 9:48 am
Funny someone mentioned the “bunny beaters.” I was just thinking about that the other day.
One has to wonder exactly how the rabbit population exploded in the first place. Could it be the predators that kept the bunny population in check were eliminated?
BTW, ultralights are cool! I used to fly one. By law, they are single seaters only. There is no way in hell I could have shot any animal while flying. The only way to shoot (and make a hit) while flying is with 2 people, one pilot and one shooter. Now, legally speaking, we are talking about an “experimental” aircraft at least, and not an “ultralight.” Typical of the mainstream media, and now this forum to not understand FAA part 103.
I’ve read completely through FAA part 103, the law which regulates ultralights. I’m not aware of any wording that addresses hunting.
This story is not about ultralights, it’s about predator contol. Now, please refer back to my first 2 paragraphs.
EDITOR NOTE–Give us a break! The story is about the aerial shooting, not the definition of the broad category of “light sport aircraft” which indeed include motorized ultralights, parasails and gliders, motorized balloons and other flying toys. We could be as boring as the AP and Statesman if we explained all those details and would never get to the Elmer Fudd joke!
Apr 18, 2006, 11:13 am
Boisecynic – these good old boys may be missing the bunny bashing days and that may be why they want to kill of the bunny eaters. Perhaps they believe that humans are the only ones with the right to kill anything (‘cept them damned barn cats t’ keep the mice under control).
KILL KILL KILL and keep that damned river under control while y’r at it.
Apr 18, 2006, 1:10 pm
Wow! I’m no expert, but I can’t imagine a cowboy in his ultralite, moving at maybe 40 or 50 knots, control stick hugged in a death-grip between his knees and his trusty Winchester ’94 at the ready, being much of a threat to a zig-zagging coyote. Seems the cowpoke could very well be in more danger than the varmint. (But, I’m no expert.)
(I’m trying to mentally picture John Wayne or Clint Eastwood… or even Jimmy Stewart… hanging underneath his Acme Parasail, motor droning on his back, chasing a horse-mounted Black Bart across Monument Valley.)
Apr 18, 2006, 1:40 pm
Just let me know when the shooting starts so I can head for the bomb shelter. Seriously, Ken Burrows of the Statesman used to speak about a huge jack rabitt problem at Mt. Home AFB in the 60s.
Apr 18, 2006, 6:30 pm
I’ve got to admit ,I love NATURE and all of it’s creation’s, flora and fauna. The wolf,griz, elk, moose, are creatures of magnificence … Why would anyone want to kill them? I’ve lived in the NW for 29 yrs. and I love it’s natural beauty ( yellowstone,Ennis,MT., The Bitterroot valley) I’ve been within 15′ of a black bear, 250′ to a griz, and close to loose buffalo and moose and never got hurt… and I’m basically a city slicker!
I’ve spent 6 years in Boise and met some of the most destructive politicians,lawyers, bureaucrats and doctors imaginable!! Believe me, when you destroy the most precious resource imaginable,Mother Nature, and all her children, you will be one sorry cowboy!!!
Apr 18, 2006, 9:23 pm
Maybe we should just get the Air Guard to hunt them critters down with A-10 Warthogs – that 50mm in the nose would get’em fer sure!
OR we could get the Boise Police Dept to go out and use tracer bullets in their M-16’s – they could both shoot them and start a few range fires as a bonus!
Apr 19, 2006, 7:05 am
The real predators are those who lease public land for below-market rent and gouge the taxpayer.
Apr 21, 2006, 4:51 pm
Great, now we are going to have “fly by” shootings around the Nampa airport. Idaho legislators basically have the mental capacity of mis-behaved children. “Timeout” didn’t come too soon this year. At least they gave us the right to legally eat roadkill a couple of years ago.