ORIGINAL: GMMAT
In NC....we have to purchase a license....AND we have to have our Big game report card.
Two separate pieces of paper.....but I'll show you how I almost was in his same boat.
Night beofre the opener.....2007. Our licenses run for one calendar year. I'd bought my '06 license in Oct.....so it was still good. I figure I've got a good month of hunting before I have to purchase a new license. Everything's legal.
BUT.....What I Didn't know is.....we HAVE to get a new report card. These expire on June 1, I think. So.....luckily Wal-Mart is open 24hrs....and I go ahead and buy a new tag and get my report card.
Accidents occur. I would have been guilty of ignorance if I'd taken a deer on the opener.....but it WOULD have been an honest mistake. I can see it happening.
Did it happen in this case? Can't say for sure either way. I can tell you this.....if I'd taken that deer I think I'd kept my mouth shut.....and I CERTAINLY wouldn't have entered it in a contest.
I think that the Big Game report card is stupid. I have seen a bunch of people not punch out the tag on the card, and since we do not have report centers, they can get away with it. WE need to go to the antler tagging system with metal bands, and if they do not have these bands, the taxidermist can not accept them. We also need check in stations. It would result in a lot less deer being poached, at least around my house it would.
Brent