Really? (courtesy kevinunderhill.com)

“Powered paragliding enthusiasts generally do not fire weapons while in flight.” – Shane Denherder, a Salt Lake City-based paragliding instructor, quoted in Defendant Pleads Guilty To Kicking An Owl While Paragliding [via loweringthebar.net] [h/t felix]

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40 COMMENTS

  1. He chased the owl for 7 minutes, just so he could kick it in the ass. He was heard saying “take that, Woodsy, mkaaay?” as he glided away. Seriously, the forests are ablaze tonight as woodland creatures take to the trails, chanting “no justice, no peace!”. Ranger Rick has been told to stand down, and give them “space to scurry.” OK, I’m done.

      • “Heya Boo Boo…grab that TV there for your pal Yogi while I go get us a Play Station…”

        • TV’s? Playstation? So last year. Everyone knows that 2015 is the year of stealing Angel Soft toilet paper and baby formula.

  2. I hit any owl with my car once, not on purpose. I was just driving to school in the morning and out of knowwhere i see a flash of brown fly in from the left than smack! Thing gets stuck right in between my left light and grille guard, saw only its wing until i parked at school and saw a dead owl. Picked the thing up and put it in my trunk( look i figured maybe this would be the only legal chance i get to eat owl soup or something) called dnr and they just told me to throw it in the woods to decay. In the end i got some siccors and cut both his feet/talons off dried them in salt and still have them.

    • At least you didn’t slam on your brakes. I was once involved in a four car pile up because a teenaged girl on her way home from school jammed her brakes to avoid hitting a squirrel. Luckily we were all going pretty slow so no one was hurt, but I was amazed that someone would risk an accident to save a rat with a fluffy tail.

        • That’s why there’s a law against it. Is it also her fault if she brakes because a 4 year old kid ran out in front of her and you plow up her backside???

          Deliberately brake-testing tailgaters is also an offense in most if not all states.
          So if you do it, remember to tell the investigating officer about the cat/squirrel/raccoon that ran in front of you before you nailed the brakes.

        • Gee I didn’t know both you guys were on that exact spot of rt 27 in Damascus Maryland in April 2011! We should have hung out or attended a ‘save the squirrels’ protest!

    • Can’t blame the owl for his food habits; he lives in a food desert. Lollipops are all he can find.

  7. “Powered paragliding enthusiasts generally do not fire weapons while in flight.”

    True, which leads me to suspect that we’re not looking at an ordinary powered paragliding enthusiast, but a future Mad Max villain.

  8. “Just fly away and there will be an end to the horror. An end to the pain. Just fly away.”

  10. I’ve paraglided while armed, but never fired any rounds that I can recall. New trend in pig hunts? Helibacon competition?

    I’d be worried about the empty brass hitting the prop..

  12. “Powered paragliding enthusiasts generally do not fire weapons while in flight.” – Gee, I thought the gyrocopter pilot might have been onto something. James Bond in You Only Live Twice.

  13. This sort of reminds me of the very early days of air combat in 1914 when pilots took pistols and rifles with them in their canvas and string flying machines. Not too much difference between some of those planes and the powered paragliders of today.

  14. After returning to my houseboat one night, from bass fishing in my small boat, I decided to cast over to the shore which I guessed to be around 50′ or so. I was using a Jitterbug lure, which makes a plunk, plunk, plunk noise as it is retrieved.
    All of a sudden, I felt the line go tight, but what baffled me was that the line was going up in the air. I pulled on the line, and after a few seconds I heard a “Plump” I grabbed a nearby flashlight, and I saw that it was a large owl.
    The dammed thing was really putting on a show! He was hopping up and down on one foot, while trying to shake off the lure with the other foot! I panicked, as I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to reel him in, and have him scratch the hell out of me.
    After about a minute or two, the owl finally shook the plug off, and flew away. This happened on lake McClure, in Komifornia, about 25 years ago, and I still crack up, when I visualize that poor owl, hopping up and down, try to get rid off the bass plug!

  16. I would have really been impressed if he had caught the bird in a handled net from the paraglider, and then eaten the evidence.

    kicking an owl? shooting a lake? lame.

  17. They (who is “they”, locals, state, or feds?) seized his firearms because he had charges pending against him for an alleged owl chasing flight and owl booting?

    2A constitutional protections aside, what sense does that make? Now if they’d seized the paraglider and/or boots used to harass the owl there’d at least be a connection to the charge…

  21. it’s more common than you would think. Years ago I worked with a man in that would hunt coyote s with an ultralight in the summer and run them down in winter with a snowmobile.

  22. Man, those whirly machines are all over the desert between Wendover NV and Salt Lake City. Bonneville salt flats make a perfect rough and ready air field. But it is hot and if you stand up you’re the tallest thing for miles.

    If I was an owl I’d move to a greener place.

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