Woodstock Early Bird The Early Bird Gets the Worm: earlybirdtips@gmail.com

We know that those of a “country state of mind” sometimes hold onto the “old ways” of blasting away forest creatures like squirrels, chipmunks and even pesky blue jays with a BB Gun or worse. If some critter annoys you, just shoot and kill it goes the thinking. Gets a good laugh among a certain population.

However, blasting away at squirrels with a BB Gun or otherwise in the Village of Woodstock is taken a bit more seriously. Aside from leaving the helpless critter dying some horribly public death on a street corner, there is also the public safety issue of stray BB’s and/or bullets. Blasting away in the Village is illegal. At the least it will get you a $75 fine, not to mention the disapproval of neighbors who don’t share the “country state of mind.”

Woodstock Police Chief Robbie Blish says his department is not exactly sure what all happened near the intersection of Ford and Pleasant Street the other day except a squirrel was shot and found dying in a neighbor’s yard. According to Blish, a responding WPD Patrolman knocked on the door of an adjacent-to-the-scene residence owned by a State of Vermont parole officer to investigate the incident but the resident was either not at home or not answering.

Blish says no one has been cited for discharging a firearm in the Village because any reports from those in the area provide only circumstantial evidence. Those reports were that a man was sitting on the porch of the home owned by the parole officer and that then there was the sound of a gunshot — a pop — which Blish describes as like a BB Gun. However, according to Blish, those reporting the incident did not actually witness any shooting but came out after the “pop” to find a dying squirrel  and the absence of their neighbor from the porch.

There has been a previous difficult relationship between neighbors in the area and Blish says it is hard to determine what really happened since they have not “made contact” with the owner of the home since Blish believes the house is for sale and the owner may be living elsewhere.