Have Any of You Observed a Wildlife Law Violation ? What Did you Do ?

[LuketheDog]

Well, this got weird. Good old Ontario.

Guy just keeps throwing more poop on the campfire...

 

[elkantlers]

My Daughter drew a bear tag here in Utah a few years ago. We registered 2 bait sites with the UDWR. we hiked into a canyon and set up a bait and hung the registration card the DWR gives to mark the site and hung 2 trail cameras. we went back a few days later and placed more bait and I hung a third camera down the trail about 100yds. we came back a few days later and both my cameras at the bait were gone. Luckily I had placed that other camera because it caught the guy that stole my other cameras. I called the CO who was my friend and showed him the video of the guy who had our cameras. The CO knew the guy and was not surprised. Crazy thing was the thief had called the CO the day before and wanted to check in a dead head. So the CO had a reason to go to the thief's house. After talking about the dead heads location, the CO told the thief about the cameras being stolen in the same area and wanted to know if he had seen anything and of course he denied knowing about the cameras. The CO then told him to go get the cameras as he hadn't seen the third camera and we had pictures of him. The thief went into the house and got the cameras. He was given a ticket for stealing the cameras and disturbing a hunt, or something like that, because it was a legally registered bait site. It cost the thief $760.

 

[ashersdad]

Saw two guys gutting a deer 2 days after the season ended one year. Got their license plate and called it in. Never heard back on what happened.

Found a dead bloated cow elk once with what looked like a bullet hole during archery season. Took the coordinates and called it in.

One year I was hunting a spike only season and came across an old timer (probably in his 80's) with a very small 5 point. Said he thought it was a spike and I'm sure at 200 yards with his eyesight that's what it looked like. I could tell he felt terrible but was cutting it up to pack out. He had a couple horses and could have easily just left it but he wasn't going to let it go to waste. I didn't have the heart to turn him in...

 

[Falcon75]

I hunt alone and have run into problems on very rare occasions where I accidentally exceeded my daily bag limit of waterfowl. Nothing for it but to make a second trip into town and back out to the field. A pain in the arse but I deserve at least that much punishment. Self reporting would be self destructive. It's not an uncommon occurrence for even the most careful hunters. I will not leave a bird in the field which seems to be the usual resolution. Nowadays when I get to the last two geese, I'm VERY picky about the shots I take. It's not that important to fill the limit. More important to be out there hunting.

I hear you on Geese. I shot 4 once with 3 shells on a golf course. I thought I missed on each shot and as they flew away geese started dropping. First 2, the limit was two and when they got out 1000 yards two more fell and I had to go dispatch those. Called buddy to come tag them who decided to pass on hunting that morning. Was a lot more careful of shooting at same bird if I missed in future.

 

[WyoDoug]

I hunt alone and have run into problems on very rare occasions where I accidentally exceeded my daily bag limit of waterfowl. Nothing for it but to make a second trip into town and back out to the field. A pain in the arse but I deserve at least that much punishment. Self reporting would be self destructive. It's not an uncommon occurrence for even the most careful hunters. I will not leave a bird in the field which seems to be the usual resolution. Nowadays when I get to the last two geese, I'm VERY picky about the shots I take. It's not that important to fill the limit. More important to be out there hunting.

I am not concerned about someone who accidentally goes over possession limit as long as the game is not being wasted. I don't mess around with that but game wardens would not appreciate it if they saw it. I am more worried about the guys that flagrantly poach game, leave fences open, vandalize property etc. Back in the days when we lived on the farm in the 60s and 70s, my family lived on deer and antelope between harvest seasons. So if someone were to take meat to survive, I would not be the one to report that. But something flagrant like poaching, chasing game from a vehicle, shooting from the road or across the road, shooting into livestock, yer dang right I am getting on the phone for that.

 

[WyoDoug]

I once shot a muley doe in Colorado. I had two tags legally from the draw at the time. When I went to clean her, I found a fawn next to her that evidently the bullet exited the doe and hit the fawn. It was in a ravine the farmer used as a trash dump and I had been watching it for over an hour waiting for a good shot at the doe. If I knew she had a fawn I would of left the area and looked for something else as I would not normally take a doe with a fawn. That year I ended up taking the doe and fawn to be butchered and not proud of that moment but not wasting the meat. As far as I knew that doe was solo. It's easy sometimes regardless of how careful you think you are to get more than you intended.

 

[MLaird]

I turned in a guy who was hunting geese during the early season split. He was hunting a field right behind our church and I thought about going over and telling him that season was closed but decided to call instead. The game warden was about 40 miles away but made it to the field before the guy finished. Afterwards the warden came by to thank me and we talk for probably 30 min. It was the first year of our split and the guy hadn't checked the regs.

 

[Idahoarcheryhunter]

So shooting over your limit is okay as long as you get them later? Got it...........

 

[TLowell02]

I haven't seen any wildlife violations that I know of but the national forest where I hunt is a hot spot for recreational shooters which is legal in certain sections, but I have caught countless people shooting carelessly where they aren't allowed. There were also people shooting during the Stage 3 burn ban which really annoyed me.

You must be on the Colorado front range?

 

[AggieHunter]

You must be on the Colorado front range?

You are correct. Everyone drives up from Colorado Springs and thinks its ok to go shoot up the forest and leave their trash every where. I just yell at everyone I see doing it illegally now.

 

[Wildabeest]

So yesterday I’m driving through Kemmerer, WY and there’s a flatbed pickup truck with a fairly nice bull elk head strapped to the flatbed. The head appeared to be cut off just behind the jowls. Wish I’d have turned around and gone back and taken a picture of it. It seemed crazy to me that someone with a poached bull would be so brazen as to drive through the middle of town with the head strapped to a flatbed, but at the same time I could not think of any rational explanation for why someone would legally have something like strapped to their truck this time of year.

 

[corndog1]

I have heard and seen people shooting ducks until a half hour after sunset many times. I assume they think shooting hours are the same as big game.

 

[mtmiller]

I have heard and seen people shooting ducks until a half hour after sunset many times. I assume they think shooting hours are the same as big game.

Tickets help folks remember the regs.

 

[OntarioHunter]

You, yourself, know nothing about bag limit. If you are talking about Ontario, it has Daily Bag and Possession Limits. Shooting more than your bag limit, going home to drop off your "first daily bag limit", than going back to the field to get your "second daily bag limit" IS poaching.

Stop defending what you are doing. Sure, there's no limit on possession, but there is a daily bag limit which you admit to breaking...

Stop dude, just stop. Every time you post on here it's either to make some rude comments about someone's hunt, what they shoot, trophy or taxidermy and now you're adding admitting to wildlife offences that aren't offences according to @OntarioHunter .

Dude, stop taking what I say out of context. Just stop. Figured you had more maturity than that. Never said it wasn't an offense. And I certainly never said I drove back out to pick up another limit. But as others here have posted about the same "offense" it seems this accident is not uncommon. It is poaching to exceed the limit if one does it purposely. When dealing with a shotgun, there's multiple projectiles and it's not always easy to predict how each one will perform when there's multiple potential targets in the air (especially steel shot on windy days). And I'm betting you have exceeded your daily bag limit of waterfowl on many occasions when others in your party have used the birds to fill their bag. A very common practice but still technically it's breaking the law. I rarely have had the opportunity for this kind of "poaching" because I hunt alone. In fact, the one time I hunted Sask with a party I made it clear from day one that I wouldn't be shooting anyone's geese and I would appreciate it if I got to shoot my own too. Not to worry. The shooting was never that good anyway.

 

[JLS]

Recess again.....

 

[SaskHunter]

Dude, stop taking what I say out of context. Just stop. Figured you had more maturity than that. Never said it wasn't an offense. And I certainly never said I drove back out to pick up another limit. But as others here have posted about the same "offense" it seems this accident is not uncommon. It is poaching to exceed the limit if one does it purposely. When dealing with a shotgun, there's multiple projectiles and it's not always easy to predict how each one will perform when there's multiple potential targets in the air (especially steel shot on windy days). And I'm betting you have exceeded your daily bag limit of waterfowl on many occasions when others in your party have used the birds to fill their bag. A very common practice but still technically it's breaking the law. I rarely have had the opportunity for this kind of "poaching" because I hunt alone. In fact, the one time I hunted Sask with a party I made it clear from day one that I wouldn't be shooting anyone's geese and I would appreciate it if I got to shoot my own too. Not to worry. The shooting was never that good anyway.

I'll make a deal with you, I'll stop playing dumb when you stop normalizing/justifying your wildlife offences. Deal?

Also, I suck at waterfowl hunting, so no, I've never went above my limit, HA! Not sure if your last sentence was a poke at Saskatchewan, if it was, feel free to never come back, we'll be fine.

 

[OntarioHunter]

So shooting over your limit is okay as long as you get them later? Got it...........

Of course it's not okay. Never said it was. It's a pain in the ass. I don't enjoy dressing geese that much. But it happens sometimes accidentally. Getting the extra bird later just meant it wasn't going to waste and no one has to get any more headaches than needed. A game warden could be entirely sympathetic but would have little choice if he "caught" me but to issue a citation. Give some guy a break and he blabs about it. Then word gets back to the head office and good guy warden sees his career end. I'd rather keep the good guys in the field. And we have a good guy looking after my area. He walks out to chat with me at least once a season. He loves my dogs. Been years since he checked my plug or steel shells. He knows I would never purposely break the law.

 

[MTLabrador]

Of course it's not okay. Never said it was. It's a pain in the ass. I don't enjoy dressing geese that much. But it happens sometimes accidentally. Getting the extra bird later just meant it wasn't going to waste and no one has to get any more headaches than needed. A game warden could be entirely sympathetic but would have little choice if he "caught" me but to issue a citation. Give some guy a break and he blabs about it. Then word gets back to the head office and good guy warden sees his career end. I'd rather keep the good guys in the field. And we have a good guy looking after my area. He walks out to chat with me at least once a season. He loves my dogs. Been years since he checked my plug or steel shells. He knows I would never purposely break the law.

How about the next time you shoot an extra goose you call this number and accept some responsibility? I’m sure the warden won’t be inconvenienced to deal with it as he sees fit.

 

[Hunting Wife]

 

[Letthemgrow]

So yesterday I’m driving through Kemmerer, WY and there’s a flatbed pickup truck with a fairly nice bull elk head strapped to the flatbed. The head appeared to be cut off just behind the jowls. Wish I’d have turned around and gone back and taken a picture of it. It seemed crazy to me that someone with a poached bull would be so brazen as to drive through the middle of town with the head strapped to a flatbed, but at the same time I could not think of any rational explanation for why someone would legally have something like strapped to their truck this time of year.

Could be a native . . . just feeding his family you know . . .