50 



said it was. We cannot change it; what has been done is done, and 

 I hope you are very proud of yourself. 



I am going to suggest again, though, what is wrong with chang- 

 ing this law, Mr. Streeter? It would make no difference. If this was 

 a baited field, as the gentleman says it was, it would not make any 

 difference, right? But why not change it so the hunter is not re- 

 sponsible and the landowner is? 



Mr. Streeter. Mr. Chairman, there are many changes that could 

 be made, and I think we have several levels we are talking about 

 with the regulations. 



The Chairman. Well, again, what would you recommend to 

 change the law? Forget your regulations. What would you rec- 

 ommend be done to make this more acceptable to the public and 

 protect the birds? Forget the macho stuff — protect the birds. 



Mr. Streeter. The issues that have come up today are do you 

 charge the landowner, or do you charge the hunter? 



The Chairman. OK. 



Mr. Streeter. That is one issue to investigate. Another would be 

 in our operating policy, do we say to our officers as soon as the first 

 violation occurs, implement the bust, or wait until it is safe enough 

 to do it. Do you do it right away, or do you wait until you have 

 observed more than one event? More than two events? Those are 

 judgment calls that probably, we cannot really put into regulations, 

 Mr. Chairman. It depends on the situation. Our special agent has 

 testified that he did not feel like he could enter the field earlier in 

 the afternoon. He did not know until nearly 4:00 that there were 

 enough agents to go ahead and safely implement the charge, and 

 safety is our first concern for our officers. And as soon as they felt 

 they could safely perform this operation, they did it. And we be- 

 lieve, in retrospect, in looking at this, that there is not much that 

 we would have done differently in terms of asking our officers to 

 operate differently. We are very proud of how they handled this sit- 

 uation. 



Now, what changes need to occur? It is a very complex situation. 



The Chairman. Now, why could the agent not have gone to Sen- 

 ator Williams in the morning and say listen, this field is baited? 

 What would be wrong with that? Now, you would not have made 

 any arrests. Your record would not have gone up. You would have 

 saved the birds, and yes, you would not have embarrassed Senator 

 Williams but why not 



Mr. Miller. Would the gentleman yield? 



The Chairman. I do not understand what 



Mr. Miller. Would the gentleman yield? 



The Chairman. Yes, gladly. 



Mr. Miller. Well, what happens the next time they engage in 

 the practice, and there is not a senator or a sheriff or a judge in- 

 volved, and that person says gee, you called the Senator, why did 

 you not call me? 



The Chairman. I am suggesting that that should be done any- 

 way. If, in fact, you want to save the birds 



Mr. Miller. Well, the next time, they do not know if the hunter 

 is involved with the landowner or not until it happens. Do you 

 know what I am saying? Let us understand that there are people, 

 unfortunately, in our society who intentionally engage in the viola- 



