Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: 3 Dirty Words to Duck Hunters?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on January 15th, 2006
The Commercial Appeal of Memphis (TN) writes that duck hunters have an underlying fear that they will be overrun by birdwatchers should there be a sighting of an ivory-billed woodpecker in their hunting spot. The article claims that their catch phrase these days is, "If we do see one, whatever you do, don’t tell anybody about it."
To me, that’s a travesty. They also fear losing their hunting property if the rare bird is spotted there. So far, that hasn’t happened at the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas where the woodpecker was spotted and filmed over the course of a year from 2004 to 2005.
Hunters eager to avoid that kind of nonsense have issued firm gag orders when it comes to ivory-billed woodpecker sightings on their property. Some have expressed even more disdain for the ivory-bill, perhaps letting paranoia get the best of them.
I’ve had hunters tell me they believe the whole ivory-bill discovery is a hoax devised by anti-hunters. Others insist there’s more evidence to support the existence of Bigfoot than the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Well now…we do have 15 seconds of blurry film of Bigfoot, the Patterson/Gimlin film, versus 4 seconds of blurry video of the ivory-billed woodpecker. I guess the duck hunters do know what they are talking about.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Seems that knee jerk debunkery — with its accompanying cheesy tactics and, as you point out, paranoia — exist everywhere.
It’s the same wherever you go- Hunters/loggers hate endangered species, because their existence keeps them from doing whatever the heck they want to do. In South Jersey, the hated bird seems to be the Piping Plover. Every now and then I see bumper stickers saying “Piping Plovers Taste Just Like Chicken.”