You're not kidding about the old ladies and losing their "song birds"
My husband shot a dove in our front yard back in September with his bow and one of the neighbor ladies (lesbian couple) happened to come over to our house minutes after... the arrow was still in the ground and the dove was lying in the yard, my husband was standing there with his bow in hand.
We didn't approach the dove while she was there, hoping she wouldn't notice,but my daughter happened to walk across the front yard while the lady was talking to us. "Daddy, did you just shoot this dove with your bow?"
Uh... well... yeah. The neighbor got this disgusted look on her face (she KNOWS we hunt) and was like, you did *not*??!! We just stood there, trying to think of the smart thing to say... she went over and looked at it and says, "Yep, that's Henry." WTH? HENRY?
She claimed it was one of her "buddies" that sat on the peak of her garage every morning to greet her as she walked out the door. We said, sorry, he came into the wrong yard... she didn't say much else, kinda just bummed around because she was just SURE it was Henry. I heard it for the next week, "I haven't seen Henry around lately..." "Henry's mate was sitting on the roof (probably "Henry" himself) this morning... you *know* they mate for life don't you?" UGH!
So, anyway, we upset a neighbor by legally taking a bird in our own yard, but hey, that's our right. She obviously doesn't hold grudges too long, she never acted MAD at us, just depressed,and has sincestarted bringing presents over for our yet to be born daughter.