# Calif. gray whale shot with machine gun



## syscom3 (Sep 9, 2007)

> WTF were they shooting the whale with a .50 for? Why were they even in possession of a .50??????????



Calif. gray whale shot with machine gun - Yahoo! News

NEAH BAY, Wash. - An injured California gray whale was swimming out to sea Saturday after being shot with a machine gun off the western tip of Washington state, officials said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker said five people believed to be members of the Makah Tribe shot and harpooned the whale Saturday morning. The extent of the whale's injuries were not immediately known.

Tribe members were being held by the Coast Guard but had not been charged, said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the law enforcement arm of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

A preliminary report said the whale was shot with a .50-caliber machine gun, Oswell said.

Coast Guard officials created a 1,000-yard safety zone around the injured whale, which was shot about a mile east of Neah Bay in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The whale had begun heading to sea Saturday afternoon, Oswell said.

Although the tribe has subsistence fishing rights to kill whales, Oswell said preliminary information indicates the whale may have been shot illegally.

"We allow native hunts for cultural purposes. However, this does not appear to be of that nature so far," he said.

The Makah Tribe has more than 1,000 members and is based in Neah Bay.

A call to tribal officials was not immediately returned on Saturday. Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson told The Seattle Times that the tribe has been seeking an exemption from the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act so that it could take up to five gray whales per year. However, Johnson said the tribe had not yet secured that exemption for a new hunt.


----------



## evangilder (Sep 9, 2007)

What is ANY civilian doing in possession of a .50 caliber machine gun? Why does a tribe of 1,000 need five gray whales a year? Geez, there are a lot of unanswered questions here.


----------



## syscom3 (Sep 9, 2007)

evangilder said:


> What is ANY civilian doing in possession of a .50 caliber machine gun? Why does a tribe of 1,000 need five gray whales a year? Geez, there are a lot of unanswered questions here.



If they feel compelled to have a tribal need to hunt whales, they should do it like their ancestors did! In kayaks with harpoons!!!!!


----------



## evangilder (Sep 9, 2007)

Agreed. Besides, anyone who has seen what a .50 cal does to flesh, there will be a lot of bits thrown off and wasted to feed the sharks and others.


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 9, 2007)

Easy guys. I'm reading that it was a .50cal rifle. I've seen them using a Barrett before. Bolt action single shot. Typically used for long range target competition (1000yd). Not a machine gun.

Would it have been easier on the constitution if it was a .338Mag?


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 9, 2007)

The beast looks like this...

Not exactly something you tote around in the woods.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 9, 2007)

WTF!!!!

There is no need for any civilian to own a damn 50 Cal Machine gun and why the **** were they shooting the poor whale with it!

They need the book thrown at them.


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 9, 2007)

Being a nation unto their own  they have negotiated with the world's whale Illuminati to take 1 whale a year. These jokers row out in an overlarge canoe armed with harpoons and a dude on the gunwale armed with a .50cal. The claim is they need the penetration due to large size of the creature and the need to perhaps shoot it while underwater.

Oh yeah. They eat the damn thing too.


----------



## trackend (Sep 9, 2007)

At something around 30tons according to the web, 40 feet long and 10 inches of blubber a .5 is stupid weapon. They used to use that caliber in express elephant guns and they are a much smaller creature than a Grey whale.
This tribal bollocks gets on my tits, their tribal enough that they claim to need to kill whales, yet they don't mind using a bleed non tribal rifle to hunt with. What did they do kill a couple of seals and built the gun by chewing the skins and hand sewing a barrel.


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 9, 2007)

Trackend, Trackend. You do not understand the sorrow and grief that the whiteman has imposed upon their advanced civilization. We have robbed them of their Utopia where the earth was all green and blue and they were at one with the animals and the environment.

Surely such a noble society deserves a .50cal or two. And unregulated gambling, different laws, tax structure, indescriminate killing of endangered species, etc.

Shame on you.


----------



## trackend (Sep 9, 2007)

Balls.
Me white man them slightly tinted they need um sheer cover from Max Factor


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 9, 2007)




----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 9, 2007)

Matt308 said:


> Trackend, Trackend. You do not understand the sorrow and grief that the whiteman has imposed upon their advanced civilization. We have robbed them of their Utopia where the earth was all green and blue and they were at one with the animals and the environment.
> 
> Surely such a noble society deserves a .50cal or two. And unregulated gambling, different laws, tax structure, indescriminate killing of endangered species, etc.
> 
> Shame on you.





Just like the Seminoles buying out the Hard Rock Cafe franchise!


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 9, 2007)

Didn't know that! Go figure.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 10, 2007)

Yeah I read it at the Hard Rock Cafe in Berlin.


----------



## comiso90 (Sep 10, 2007)

Matt308 said:


> The claim is they need the penetration due to large size of the creature and the need to perhaps shoot it while underwater.



The rapid De-Acceleration of a large, high velocity round like the .50 once it hits the water will rip the round apart soon after it breaks the surface. A low velocity round will achieve greater penetration.


Mythbusters!


----------



## Matt308 (Sep 11, 2007)

A .50 hardball without a deflection shot. Don't you believe it.


----------

