[mobirdhunter]

When we first started hunting grouse in Minnesota we encountered quite a few folks in vehicles that would drive along and either hop out and shoot a grouse when they saw it, or shoot it from the window. The latter method is illegal in Minnesota.

Over the years as four-wheelers became the norm, they replaced the vehicles (I think the rise in gas prices also had an effect)...and we started running into them on the trails far from roads. While I don't like this "method," I live with it, knowing that every license bought brings in Pittman-Robertson funds into the State for conservation work. Minnesota has responded to the four-wheeler issue by setting aside land that is for walking hunters only. As good a compromise as I can imagine. I must admit the four-wheelers make the trails easier to walk after they push down the grasses and ferns.

As for "ground swatting" that's a state-by-state situation. It is not unusual in quail states for there to be explicit laws against shooting upland game birds on the ground (turkeys not considered an upland bird, but either "big game" or game unto themselves). I just cannot see a justification for shooting a wild Bobwhite on the ground. To me, even if it's not legal, I think it's dangerous, unethical, and just wrong. If you are killing a winged bird, shooting on the ground is another matter. Shooting ducks on the water -- only to kill a crippled bird. Shooting a turkey on the roost -- illegal in all the states I hunt in, and unethical in my book.

There are too few birds to not have the highest standards for their taking. It's called sport hunting not because it's a game, but because there are rules. Those rules can be written into law, or held by the hunter's own conscience and ethical sense.