Game Laws
I would like your opinions. The situation: My buddy was hunting on private land with permission. Well, someone called in his truck for some reason. The WMO ran his plates and went to his house. He saw blood in the bed of his truck and started questioning him. Ran his license and found out he had not checked any deer. My name came up because we had processed three deer together at his house. He had a buck and doe and I had a doe. The morning I showed up we started talking and simply forgot to check them. In TN you can do it online now. Anyway, the WMO asked him if he could come in and look around. My friend said no problem as he wanted to cooperate. Well, he has Noah's Ark in his game room. All of which are legal. He had multiple antlers from over 20 years of hunting to include 2 deer hides in the freezer. Well, the WMO took it ALL. Said my friend didn't have check ins recently so therefore he can't prove when he harvested it all. Whether it was 2 days or 20 years ago. For all he knows my friend could have gotten them as sheds, at a flea market, or as a gift. (They were all legal harvests BTW). The burden of proof is on him the hunter NOT the WMO. My friend is looking at losing his license for up to 5 years and thousands of dollars in fines. I realize our error in not checking the 3 deer. We are both licensed and never take more then our limit. Statewide limit is 3 antlerless a day and 3 bucks all season. After signing the tickets the WMO stated to my friend that he never had to let him the house and that the only charge he had him on from the start was $50 fine per deer for failure to check. That was it. IMO I believe they are taking it too far. I know he is only doing his job. My question is this. What are the statute of limitations on tags for antlers? Do you have to keep record of every deer you checked? How far back do the Wild life management keep records? Once again, I know we were wrong by not checking. It was an honest mistake. It just frustrates me when I read on here how guys witness people shooting from vehicles or from houses or knowing there are poachers etc out there getting away with it.