GIBBON, Neb. — Two men have been cited for allegedly poaching two trumpeter swans Saturday on the Platte River south of Gibbon.
A 21-year-old Sutton man and a 59-year-old Kearney man each were cited by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for illegally taking a nongame species after they allegedly shot the birds Saturday morning.
The men told a Game and Parks official they thought the swans were snow geese, said Jerry Pecha, conservation officer supervisor for the Game and Parks office in Kearney.
“One fella said he thought it was a snow goose,” said Pecha, who questioned the hunter's explanation. “They're very easy to tell the difference between a trumpeter swan to a person that's hunted at any time at all. They've got a neck that looks like it's 5-foot long. They're not even close to the size of a snow goose.
“They run close to 20 pounds apiece, and a snow goose is about 4 pounds.”
The case has been forwarded to the Buffalo County Attorney's Office for prosecution.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
