I got a felony-charge when I was 20. No weapons, nobody injured. It was commercial-burglary charge for stealing cash out of businesses after hours. No property, no unnecessary damage. I was literally living on the street, starving and had noone to help me out. I ended up getting a job with a landscaping company and never stole anything again. I was caught for the crimes 3 weeks afterthey were committed. I was sentenced to 4 years, served 2 and 4 months, including 6 months solitary-confinement. I got out when I was 23 and never looked back. My parole officer was absolutely amazed at how well I did. Every month I'd see him, I had a new success I'd share with him that left him stunned. He told me that over 70% of parolees go back IN THE FIRST YEAR. I had a job lined up before I was released, an apartment under my name in 2 months, and a car in 6 months.


I'm 41 now, I live in my second house, and have an excellent trade. I install custom staircases, and I also do tons of other types of carpentry construction and woodworking. I've been with the same woman for 15 1/2 years now and I run my own little one-man-business doing various types of carpentry. And I've been a bowhunter for 14 years.

Do people really think I don't 'belong' in the woods? I made a mistake over 20 years ago, driven by hunger and desperation. I broke into the businesses because I didn't want to break into someone's home. That was too personal. And once I found a job, I stopped. I learned my leason, and there's tons of other people out there that have learned theirs as well. It's bad enough that I can't own a shotgun for hunting, or even self-defense. Do you think I don't deserve to defend myself and my family because of a stupiddecision madein my life 20 years ago? It's bad enough that I can't go pheasant, goose or duck hunting with friends because of it. I can never look forward to any type of rifle hunt anywhere because of it. And now I have to worry about loosing the right to bowhunt too? And I see alot of guys here all-in-favor of it.

Jeeze, maybe they should have just shot me when they caught up with me. I'm such a bad person....

How long is long enough to pay for a crime that didn't injure anyone? Hell, you should have seen the lies that those people put on their insurance-claims when I was caught. I would have needed a truck to steal everything one guy said I stole. And I didn't even have a car!

I may regret putting this out there, but what the hell, it's the truth.

BTW folks, the money I stole added up to little over $300.00. It was enough to keep me in a hotel room and fed for about a month. (I had a partner and he paid half.He also went to prison. And he never went back either).