Wild Turkeys Killed in Alleged Hit-and-Run Close to Thief River Falls

Conservation officers with the Minnesota Division of Pure Sources are investigating what they describe because the intentional killing of a number of wild turkeys alongside a roadway in northwest Minnesota.

The incident occurred Feb. 20 close to a hundred and tenth Avenue NW outdoors Thief River Falls. In keeping with the DNR’s weekly enforcement report, a number of birds had been discovered useless in what officers consider was a deliberate act moderately than an unintended car collision. Conservation officers are asking for ideas from the general public as they work to determine these accountable.

Whereas car collisions with turkeys should not unusual in rural areas, particularly in late winter when birds group up alongside plowed roads, officers indicated this case appeared completely different. The positioning of the birds and the scene proof led them to categorise the incident as malicious.

No costs have been filed as of this week.

For a lot of hunters, the plain query is whether or not the scenario would have been authorized if the people had stopped, tagged the birds, and brought them residence.

Beneath Minnesota legislation, wild turkeys might solely be harvested throughout established looking seasons and with the suitable license and tag. Taking pictures from a car, deliberately working over wildlife, or taking sport outdoors of the authorized season are all violations. Even when the birds had been struck by chance, possession isn’t robotically authorized.

Salvaging large sport like deer usually requires notifying authorities and acquiring a possession allow. Turkeys don’t fall underneath a broad roadkill salvage provision in the identical means, and taking them with out correct authorization may nonetheless end in citations.

Briefly, even when somebody had loaded the birds into the truck, it will not have made the scenario lawful if the act itself was intentional or outdoors of season.

Anybody with details about the incident is inspired to contact the DNR’s Flip In Poachers hotline at 1-800-652-9093.

Ideas might be reported anonymously, and data resulting in costs might qualify for a reward.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning outside journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly outside column for the Slidell Impartial Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com