Illinois spending $1,166 per bird to bring in prairie chickens

fox ^ | 5-19-14 | Scott Reeder

[TurboZamboni]

The cash-strapped Illinois government has found a new use for its fleet of aircraft – flying birds into Illinois.

I kid you not.

State aircraft are flying to Kansas and transporting prairie chickens back to the Land of Lincoln.

And at a time state lawmakers are looking at raising the state income tax, Illinois state employees have been hiking across Kansas trapping these chickens.

Talk about fowl fiscal deeds.

[driftdiver]

Its an investment.

[Paladin2]

Send them to Springfield to replace the Legislature and the Executive branch.

[umgud]

I grew up in Kansas shooting these birds.

[tet68]

How many politicians did you bag? Was there a limit?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I hear they taste like...CHICKEN! ;)

[blueunicorn6]

And those Democrats in Illinois are giving the bird to the taxpayers.

[blueunicorn6]

Amazingly, those Prairie chickens ran up a $50,000 bar tab. Big drinkers.

[TurboZamboni]

The chickens DO have large talons.

[hinckley buzzard]

Comments closed already. They must have been a riot while they lasted. Any State Dep't of Agriculture could breed a host of these birds for a couple bucks apiece. This is not a story about conservation/preservation, this is a story about mass government corruption.

[GladesGuru]

Typical chicken sh*t trough feeder program.

[hal ogen]

Out-of-control idiot eco-nut state employees.

[DB]

They’re creating “jobs” just ask them...

Never mind that their burning wealth and resources that returns absolutely nothing...

[DB]

Never mind that I can’t spell either...

[The Antiyuppie]

I find them a bit tough, but tasty if well-seasoned. I had NO idea that Illinois had been spending so much on them. Somehow makes them even tastier.

[The Antiyuppie]

“Amazingly, those Prairie chickens ran up a $50,000 bar tab. Big drinkers.”

And then, there was the entertainment tab.

[T-Bird45]

I grew up in Kansas shooting these birds.

I have similar memories of this in the southern Flint Hills of KS. I moved to OK as a teen and found the season to be even more of an event as hunters from Tulsa travelled to Osage County for the hunting. Great economic impact for motels and restaurants. That's all gone now, there is no longer a season in OK due to population collapse.

[umgud]

I left Kansas in the early 60’s. I suspect its changed a lot.

[T-Bird45]

I lived in KS until 1972 but inherited a farm from an uncle in 1998. I just sold it this past fall. I have a few cousins in the Wichita area and some high school friends I keep in touch with on Facebook. I agree about the “changed a lot” part.

[blueunicorn6]

Good one! Napoleon Dynamite. One of my favorite movies.