ORIGINAL: BOWHUNTERCOP
Last year a week after harvesting a NJ black bear, I went back to hunt the either sex deer hunt. I had left my climber buried in a plastic bag, with pine branches on top of it. When I approched my stand it was gone, I looked around and found it about 30yds away still in the bag, with the branches on top. I climbed the tree, just after 1st light I hear walking, ends up bein a hunter, he's looking around with a puzzle face, he then sees me in the stand, walkes over and says "THATS MY STAND, GET OUT OF IT OR I'LL CALL THE GAME WARDEN" I said "OK, I'LL BE RIGHT DOWN". Little did he know that for one I am a cop, and two I engraved my name into the metal of the stand under the foam arm rest. When I got down, I pulled my wallet out showed him my picture ID, and badge, the look on his face PRICELESS !!!!! I then told him to put his gun down, show me his ID, and hunting license, took down the info, he left, I climbed back up in my stand laughing, I called the Game Warden office gave them my info, his info, and what happen. They picked him up, we went to court, I didnt want him bein fined, he has a family, but I did ask the judge to suspend his hunting license for 2 years, and he agreed
I'm not up on the laws in NJ but something dosen't sound right here to me. Were you on private property? If you were on public land then it sounds like you were the one littering. Not that I conceder tree stands litter, I leave mine out as much as the next guy. But by the law it's basicly the same as buring a bag of trash and then returning to the sean to reclame it. and if all this guy did was walk up to you and say that the stand was his but hadn't damaged it and you were in possession of the stand, exactly what law did he break that would warent a fine or the loss of his license, other than scaring off the deer in the area????