RANT!!!!
I just left a Rant in the off season, so I figured I would leave one here for my Bowhunting Brothern..
This all started3 years ago to a guy I know,he is a die hard bowhunter,he had 3 big racks at a taxidermist,all bow kills,the local Conservation Officer came in one day and seen them and made the comment that there was no way one guy killed 3 big bucks with a bow, they were from 2 different years and 3 different states, so withouta warrant he confiscated them..
The local officer pursued it for 6 months and came up with nothing, he was trying to charge this guy with killing one of the big bucks in ILL and transporting it to North Dakota and tagging it there and then transporting it back to ILL!! He tried to convince the DNR in N.D. to go after this guy and they refused, saying there was no merit to the charges.
So the local officer contacted the U.S. Game and Fish, they could pursue this around the U.S. So they wentto 6 different states and questioned 25 people who had hunted with this guy and asked them if they ever seen him do anything wrong, they all said no, they were trying to charge him with a felony for crossing state lines with an illegal deer..
This guy finally got tired of the harrassment and hired a lawyer, he got all the papers on the chargesthat the USGF had, now this invetigation was 2.5 years in the making, the deer antlers in question, the ones they said was killed illegally in ILL and transported to N.D. and tagged and then brought back to ILL-- WERE MULE DEER ANTLERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There hasnt been a mule deer in ILL in over 100 years..
Charges were dropped, but this guy didnt get to hunt for over 2 years cause they told him he couldnt since he had a pending felony, they questioned 25 people and said things to them that werent true and this guy was running a outfitting business, but after this everyone that hunted with him was nervous, they basically scared his clients away.
So his lawyer through the Freedom of Information Act filed to see all the paper work to do with this case, 2 USGF officers flew to6 different states, rented cars, motel rooms, meals to question these people, spent $62,000.00 over 2.5 years, to try and fine this guy $2500.00!!!
HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE!!!!!! THIS IS WHY THIS GOVERMENT IS BROKE!!!!!!
OK this was my rant, sorry, just made me mad to see such an abuse of power!!!!