Had you have hit it, you and him both would have had a lot of explaining to do.

While the various laws seem confusing, if you simply read them they really are pretty simple.

Take the two counties in Texas where I do all my deer hunting.

Both counties have the 13 inch inside antler restrictions. The way it works out/wording in the Game Law digest, a hunter can legally kill One antlered buck with an inside spread of 13 inches or greater, and one buck with an unbranched antler, a spike, or TWO spikes, but only One branch antlered buck with a 13 inch or greater inside spread, or 5 deer.

Now that confuses some folks, but it is really clear if a person does not think to hard.

A hunter can legally kill:

1 trophy branch antlered buck with an inside spread of 13 inches or greater and 4 antlerless.

Or

1 trophy buck and 1 spike buck, or two spike bucks and 3 antlerless.

Or

5 Antlerless (Does).

Until I killed my bull elk in 1997 there had been quite a few discussions in camp about what was and was not legal concerning a bull elk.

After many evenings discussions, we stopped making things difficult and simply read the regulations as they were written. As written, a legal bull had to have 5 antler points on one side, OR a 5 inch brow tine on one side. That meant it could have every thing broke off above the brow tine but if the brow tine was 5 inches long or longer, it was legal.

Over the years and different locations I have hunted, I have found that people that have problems with the way the regulations are written are trying to find a way of skirting around the regulations to one degree or another.

From my experience, if something is not openly addressed in the law digest, it is illegal. They normally try to word those digests to be understandable by the lowest common denominator, about a 7th. to 9th. grade education.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigasanelk:
I read a story about an hunter in WY who used the "gutless" method to dress out an antelope. He forgot to remove the inside tenderloins (a few ounces of meat, at best.) That oversight earned him a $400 fine. Yes, he broke the letter of the law but $400 for such a simple oversight? I don't know for sure, but a person could probably shoplift (intentional theft) or run a red light (putting others in serious danger) in WY and not earn a $400 fine.

The state probably figured that it's easier to shake down big $$$ out of someone who can afford to hunt vs. some poor schmuk going a few MPH over the limit in a 1995 Chevy.

All the hunter had to say was that he ate the tenders for dinner. Not illegal anywhere to eat some of the meat in the field. If he got checked before he got to camp all he had to say was the bullet took out both loins and he couldn't salvage them. Not illegal to trim out bloodshot meat either.

I sue the gutless method when I hunt and I bone out the ribs, neck, hocks etc... and have all the grind in one bag. I simply would have told the warden the bloodshot story and told him the salvageable scraps are in with the grind.

We just got new warden last year and Oh boy, he is flexing his muscles.
Putting cameras in the woods, telling people he is going to change things around here like he did in Oregon and overall bad attitude from what I'm hearing from people around here.
I just shake my head .
I would defend wardens only after they showed me they can work with public on polite bases and with common sense.
And all this BS " by the book " is all crap.

I can't believe more Claude Dallas type events don't happen with the cowboys wearing badges these days.

I am an ex-cop and ex-federal agent, my father had 37 years in law enforcement, we both agree this is the darkest day for law enforcement we have ever seen.

My father's biggest accomplishment in life was that he had never pulled the trigger on another human being.

I know several folks in law enforcement that have "had" to kill more than three people.

This world we live in is headed in the wrong direction.

quote:

And all this BS " by the book " is all crap.

Well, there you have it.

I abide by the rules, however complicated. I don't sweat it. If the rules are too complicated for you, maybe you shouldn't be hunting.

I had one waiting for me in pitch dark coming back from elk hunt in middle of nowhere turning flash light in my face so when I raised my gun he hollered " Fish and game game warden"
after settling down he gave me the riot act of not having my duck stamp signed

Boredom while recovering from surgery brought me to this thread, I know it is old but want to add my own personal experience from Pa.
I killed a black bear 485# in Pa's archery season a couple years ago. One month after checking the bear my phone rings on a Saturday morning an it is a GW from the County where I killed the bear. He wants a full detail report on just where/how I killed bear which I told him. He then says he is sending a citation because I was hunting in a baited area (illegal in Pa). Seems my neighbor was baiting deer and they did a sting on him 1month after I killed bear and my kill site was within 1000 yds of his bait pile. The bait was behind posted property signs he had placed and out of my sight. In 2weeks the post man brought the citation if I pled guilty the fine would be $1250.00 with revocation of 3 years under the Wildlife Trust Act which pulls hunting rights in all member states or I could go to court.
I loose $750/day to travel to court300 miles away so 2 days is more than the fine as I would definitely appeal the guilty verdict at least once. I pled guilty. I also posted my property over 2500 acres that was always at least partially open to the public for trespass to hike, fish, hunt,flower sniff, whatever.
Now how smart was the decision to ticket me if not for the damm $$$$$

quote:

Originally posted by 2th doc:
Boredom while recovering from surgery brought me to this thread, I know it is old but want to add my own personal experience from Pa.
I killed a black bear 485# in Pa's archery season a couple years ago. One month after checking the bear my phone rings on a Saturday morning an it is a GW from the County where I killed the bear. He wants a full detail report on just where/how I killed bear which I told him. He then says he is sending a citation because I was hunting in a baited area (illegal in Pa). Seems my neighbor was baiting deer and they did a sting on him 1month after I killed bear and my kill site was within 1000 yds of his bait pile. The bait was behind posted property signs he had placed and out of my sight. In 2weeks the post man brought the citation if I pled guilty the fine would be $1250.00 with revocation of 3 years under the Wildlife Trust Act which pulls hunting rights in all member states or I could go to court.
I loose $750/day to travel to court300 miles away so 2 days is more than the fine as I would definitely appeal the guilty verdict at least once. I pled guilty. I also posted my property over 2500 acres that was always at least partially open to the public for trespass to hike, fish, hunt,flower sniff, whatever.
Now how smart was the decision to ticket me if not for the damm $$$$$

Editied to add: Pa's PGC is near bankrupt does anyone else think my citation was anything other then revenue for this once stellar agency????? Since then they have had the balls to ask to trap and transfer turkeys off my property. This does not mean all GW and Game Depts. are bad but it does mean I have a jaded view of them now and will fight anything in court hence forth!!!

I got a citation for a GW's misinterpretation of the regulations. This GW would not back off for who knows what reason. I fought it in court at a cost of an attorney of about $1500 and won. Had I just paid the fine my cost would have been less than $200. I am lucky that I can afford to fight a bad citation whereas a lot of hunters would have to just give in to a bad GW. The only benefit to me was that my attorney made the GW look like an idiot, but I would rather not have gone through all the stress of the ordeal especially when I had some serious medical stuff going on at the time.

I've hunted a few states (CA, CO, WY, ID, SC, OH, FL, TX) over the last 40+ years, the first thing that I do is read the general hunting and species specific regulation in each state's hunting handbook/site just so I don't make a really stupid mistake.

I think that I've had some kind of interaction with a GW or F&G officer in almost every state and I can't remember being treated with anything other than respect by any of them. I've never been chewed out or treated like a suspect for any reason and I've had a positive experience on every interaction with them that I've ever had.

One specific example in Wyoming comes to mind, back 15 years or so a group of us just got to our antelope hunting area and were getting out of the truck when a Game Warden stopped to say hello. He asked if we were hunting antelope and where we were from, etc. All friendly, never asked to see our tags, licenses, etc, even though most of us had them in our hands thinking that he'd ask for them. He said "Good luck and don't forget that in Wyoming you can't shoot antelope with a 22 caliber" (they've changed this since then)

I'm sure that he noted the bore size of the rifle of one of my buddies who had brought a 22.250 for PD hunting and had it on the tailgate of the truck as we were loading up for antelope. But he just mentioned it offhand so we would know that he saw it and was making sure that we didn't make a mistake and take it out hunting.

Majority of LE’s are good men but few of those bad apples can sour whole batch
Same thing goes for hunters
My biggest issue is with laws and legislatures who write them

I have seen both, have many friends that go or have gone either way..Grew up with some young poachers, that are game wardens today, The Game Dept. in Texas tells me they make the best wardens, not too judgemental, have a lot of common since, ranch raised, and know how to catch a poacher at his own game!

Many of the ranchers I know on private property will kill a deer anytime they please, mostly in Texas btw,,Its overlooked for the most part. Very few poachers in Idaho as its not private land and if you poach your stealing from the masses..Makes since to me for the most part.

I was born in a differnet time and era and it was more prominent in my younger years, right after the great depression and deer were not worth money and money was short and beef was expensive..Lots of ranchers and folks that lived in the outback and had little communication with society, and hunted to fill empty bellies..

I'll let the internet experts sit in judgment of these good people, I won't.

I do see less of this today and I see a lot more deer and more doe culling and that perhaps solved the poaching problem for the most part...

The rest is mostly BS IMO...There is a difference in a man who steals bread to sell and one who steals to feed his kids..

Law Enforcement is not black and white as many profess, its always a shade of grey and common since prevails hopefully..