dohcrxl

Guys, please don't get this thread locked or worse deleted. This is a valuable lesson for fellow hunters to learn from. I'd hate to see it gone. My initial feeling of "damn I got stuck in the middle then got stiffed"quickly subsided and isno longer the feeling. Sometimes whena situation has freshly unfolded it takes a little time to sort everything out. That is what I intended to do here with your help. To those of you who helped put things into perspective for me without any personal attacks, I thank you. I'm a firm believer that one should in some way pay for his actions or specifically in my case, lack thereof.

There aresome things wrong with this country and one of them isthe lack of sufficient accountability. At the same time, another thing wrong is that too often, we are too quick to burn somebody alive for deeds unworthy. There is no patience or forgivness in our bittered hearts. Some of us jump at the opportunity to hang someone else but do not give full consideration to the extenuating circumstances surrounding. Some of us ride high on our horseschanting "no excuses, prosecute to the full extent of the law" and for those I ask: If you were caught doing 30 over on the highway and was offered a reduction in points taken, a lesser violation of 19 over thus saving you a trip to jail, in exchange for some type of community service and attending driver safety refresher courses, would you? Or would you say to the officer, no I want the maximum punishment? It's always much easier to judge someone from the outside looking in. I am not totally free of it myself but there is a certain level of hipocrisy in some of us that need to be dealt with. If you are offended by this thenthat is how you know you have something to deal with.

It was stated earlier that I did not wish to dispute the violation, rather that I would be inclined to take a lesser fine in exchange for some type of community service such as participating in some DNR related activity. Picking up trash along side ofthe highways that border the hunting gronds that the DNR patrols comes to mind. If something like this is deemed a cop out or not owning up to my responsibility then I wish not to speak to those who think so. Despite what a few may already have engraved in their heads, I am truly sorry for what has happened. Though I may be wrong,Ibelieve thatgiving back to the forest is more beneficial to the preservation of the sport of hunting than paying the full amount of the fine. Again, those of you with zero tolerance for evenpeople who are truly remorseful, you may slam your gavels now.
I think I have given this more heart-felt consideration than my buddy who actually hunted without a license but I know it aint worth jack to a few. I suppose it comes with the territory but it almost seems like I'm treated by those fewas ifI were amurderer. Not to downplay what has happened but I just wish everyone could see that I really am sorry for my lack of action.

Let my lesson be your own or just let it be.

Peace.