Heading down to the Colony to work on some cages that I needed to finish up with what parts I had to make them with, needed a couple doors and trigger rods and they have a cage clipper that is fast. On the way down I see coons laying just off of the shoulder of the State Hwy so on the back I stopped and yep the tails were gone and they had been there a while. What kind of idiot would do that it makes no sense but that guy is out there someplace. Not sure if it's the local poacher family or some bounty trappers that are clueless.

There will be a lot more of that with your high dollar tail bounty

The line of work you have been in, I would think this would be of no surprise to you.

Should be against the law to pollute waterways. Put them carcasses in a high spot away from the road so the eagles can eat without danger.

What is the colony?

Hutterite Colony (Amish with trucks)

Never seen it during the past trapping seasons my biggest worry was non-trappers being called trappers and pulling BS like that.

They need to put a bounty on the Amish.

couple dumped in the ditch near my place .. no tails...lol..
im sure ill get blamed

No season anymore on furbearer's in the south, just considered a pest same as a gopher rat or mouse in the house now, sad to see them reduced to just pest.

im suprised i have yet to see a road kill skunk with a tail.... thought smell would be a deterent.. i have seen half dozen with tails clipped . guess 10 bucks is worthwhile even for average citizen....

Back in the early 80's, a friend of mine dumped a bunch of fox carcasses over a county road bridge, and that ill-advised action alone spurned satanist rumors all over town.

People thought there were dog sacrifices going on, Lol.

Dumping carcasses off a bridge, or in a road ditch....Not cool at all.

I had a friend from Sioux Falls tell me that he and a friend took a 300 mile drive one day from Sioux Falls north, then west, then south, then back to Sioux Falls and he never saw a road killed raccoon, opossum, or skunk.

Surprising and shocking !!!

Who would have thunk it ?

w

Went to WI and back seen some coons on the road on I-90 heading to Sioux Falls they had their tails on if you get off of the interstate they are gone!

speaking of WI, did you get your bird? Thanks again, Bob

He might have collected them off of the road real quick like, then stopped somewhere safer than the highway to clip the tails off and dropped them in one spot off the road rather than scattered along the road where he found them.
I am not trying to justify his sloppiness, just trying to explain why this may have happened..

I have heard that coon are smart. And after seeing the next falls fashion review I believe it.
This is their new line of fur for next fall

Pretty sure its illegal to dump any animal carcasses in a public ROW, especially a state highway, even before the bounty program. Plenty of no-brains out there, subsidize an activity to the general public and enough of them will surface. I hope any examples caught get maxed out with fines.

My youngest kid and his friend took in a dozen tails today. The critters were all actually trapped. I think the stinker component (nearly tied for first place) was getting to them. Surprisingly, the grinner count was in 3rd place. One of their coon was "really red" (so I was told) so maybe got some off color genes out of the pool. No diggers or reddie tails in the tally. I've gotten some skulls. They were happy. My kid won't have much interaction with wildlife for the next 4 years starting in mid-July so he won't be doing any trapping until probably at least 2023, especially if he's stationed overseas.

there's no bounty on them around here, while i don't toss them on the side of the road, i have about 40 or so coon/opossum/coyote carcasses on the burn pile at the farm. with the heat here this time of year even if they have decent fur it's slipping pretty quick so they really have no use. got one in the back of the truck now waiting to go on the pile in the morning.

wetdog you nailed it!!!

To me it sure is not surprising to have the actions you are getting. If the state politically and scientifically does not believe there is any real value with a species I sure can see why bounty hunters would not either. If they are not worth picking up then I guess they stay as they lay.

Bryce

75 years ago coon tails were popular adornments to car radio antennas.

No bird they were not ready, birds and hunters around only 2 shots in 3 days was all we heard and a little machine gun fire but that won't bother them birds. They gobbled on the roost, then on the ground for 45 minutes to an hour they poof they were gone. I went South today and the ones here are still in the larger groups now.

Them coons stunk and the feet were slipping so I laid them on the tailgate then drove them to a place a few miles away that lets me dump carcasses there just a huge tree/wood pile that covers a huge area.

This. Amish and poacher means the same thing around here.

What would cause yo to lump everyone in a pile

Hutterites are passivist they don't even have guns here I doubt they do much poaching. Hard working people you need something made you go see them just fair and honest folks. Worked with them for years and never had a bad deal with them.

Good one!

Got 3 like that last year the must of knew it was coming!

I just saw this and know it will catch on with the guys who didn't get cages

4$ bottle for a 10$ tail good profit in that lol

Amish here all have guns , pacifists but not against shooting animals.

also if they are poaching here they are doing it on their own lands.

Amish and Poacher are not the same word here.

I've been two Rapid City several times since the bounty deal started. Also been motorcycling around the southern Black Hills and to New Castle Wyoming. Haven't seen a road kill with or without a tail. If people are picking them up they must be disposing of the carcasses. It is however not legal to submit road kill for the bounty.
Sad to hear of the east river problems. Money always brings out the worst in people.
Portrays a bad image of trappers when it is probably people who don't even or never have trapped, just wanting to make a quick buck.

What difference does it make if you trap, shoot, or run it over.You killed it you should be eligible for the bounty,no?

the bounty is to remove predators that kill nesting birds. a road kill isn't killing anything, therefore no bounty should be paid on it.

how would they tell the difference by just the tail.??

A dead anything doesn't kill nesting birds or anything else.A coon shot,trapped or run over by your car is one less predator.I don't see any difference in how you kill it that would disqualify it from a bounty.

S.D. may have a Forensic team that checks out suspicious possum tails submitted for bounty.

They check the tail's DNA profile and cross-reference it to where it was submitted from.

If you are a tail smuggler or roadkill wind-shield warrior, you will be busted !!

The whole program cost $50,000,000 in S.D. state game funds

but if just one pheasant chick is saved, It will be worth it !! *********Disclaimer


****This is a satirical/sarcastic post not to be taken seriously except for comic relief.****

I think walking into the GFP office and saying I ran theses down might be a issue with them! LOL Roadkill is dead so it won't count but you can bet they will get turned in, but overall not much on the roads but a few sail gophers today. If the roads get cleaned up that's a bonus as long as they don't dump them to be obvious like they did, just jerks being jerks but that's never ending!

agree on the never ending jerks..

i have made a game out of cleaning up trash at my fishing holes.... its actually fun takes me a whole 10 minutes to police the area... and i get self satisfaction!

That's what that big pouch is on the back of a turkey vest is for I thought! LOL

The whole project is ridiculous. Bounties are like Socialism. Neither have ever worked. I say make them pay for whatever tails show up regardless of cause of death.

in the first place, in most states that I know of, its illegal to run down any animal with any vehicle, protected species or not. (not an "approved method of take".) even if it were legal, it would be a dam sorry way for any outdoorsman to act. the bounty is an incentive for people to get out and work to remove predators, not to stop and cut tails from road kills.

also, south Dakota law pertaining to this bounty, specifically prohibits road kill tails. anyone taking road kill tails, or condoning such, is either breaking the law, or trying to justify it for their own benefit.

theres a 500,000.00 cap on this program also. if 100,000.00 is paid out on road kill tails, (which were already dead) this will end the program, and the further taking of nest predators, much sooner than intended.

The whole thing is a mess and yes it's illegal to use a vehicle and to cut off tails on road kill but it's going on and GFP knows it. I would guess the Highway Patrol is on the lookout also. Side roads (non-interstate) areas is where we are seeing it going on the most not many people out here so way less traffic. Skunks are about 1/2 way to pupping now so catch 1 skunk and you have 8-12 really.

I think a lot of roadkills will get collected and not turned in once they think about it, some won't give it a second thought.

jerry,,,hope youre right about some thinking twice about turning them in. this kind of program can never be opened to the general public. if the GFP is smart, this program will last one season. should learn their lesson by then.

It's a good bet this is a one shot deal they grill you when you turn them in and ask questions before you sign the affidavit, I talked to some guys that were out night hunting and they won't turn them in since they were not trapped. Might offset some of the cheating but who knows.

good to hear that those night hunters were honest about it.

people on here seem to assume that you can kill everything any way you please. this programs purpose is to remove nest predators, and also to promote trapping. bountied animals MUST BE TRAPPED.

It may be inconsistent place to place how much "interrogation" goes on of the people turning in tails. I was pretty curious about it myself and asked the kid how mich they were questioned when they dropped theirs off earliert his week. Not much, he said, what county was the main question asked as he watched the state guy spray paint part of the tail so it can't be turned in again. Sounds like no real wondering about the area of a particular county ("near what town") or types of sets used. The kid and his friend could have answered any of those because they were legit but the drift I got was there weren't many questions asked. Of course, this was in the "big city" so may be different from office to office.

Turning in 10 it's hard to question much but 59 at once might get a few more questions maybe, it seems turning in 59 at once would work for everyone rather then 10 a week for 6 weeks paperwork wise. I figured I caught over 250+ nest raiders last year but the competition with the one's cheating the system makes waiting to long a problem if they fill the quota with roadkill.

When they ask what kind of trap you got it in tell them f-150 quick kill rubber jaw.

Of course because;
If it was a Ranger then it is a Minnesota built truck and it's classified as a non-resident trapper, and we all know that's a no-no.