BelchFire

dohcrxl,

This thread has fueled a number of responses for me. Too many, to adress them as specific replys.

I can tell from your posts that you've learned your lesson. And I also picked up on a quesiton that NO ONE has answered yet. I'm not a lawyer, so my answer may not be very useful.

1) You did wrong and you know it. Asking the buddy to pay the fine, is not an apporpriate response. Would the guy who loaned the license out in the first place pay all the fines? No, and he shouldn't. You did wrong, and you admit it. Face the fiddler.

2) Giving back to the forest is a noble offer. But I ask you; isn't paying a warden a valuable means of "returning to the forest"? I've been enlightened by some of the comments re: "what if we didn't have game wardens?" I've known quite a few over my (realtively few) years, and they're all just as human as you and I. They're good folks too. They knowingly go to the woods to serve an unpopular sevice on armed people. That takes guts.

3) I think you've run the gauntlet from a number of these replies, so without bashing you anymore, I'll move on to your question. You asked how long they could wait to bring charges. My mind defaults to the statute of limitations, and I don't know what that is for your area, or your offense. At the very least, I would guess that they could bring charges months later, if not a year. It sounds to me like the warden knew your predicatment and wanted to see how you would handle it. We all know the answer to that, so I think it would be unwise to challenge the fine, or attempt to have it reduced. If you want to respectfully ask the court what other consideration they might have, you'd be risking it, but you might get lucky. Seems like you've been in a situation like that recently, and didn't luck out. Personally, I'd write a check, and hustle home.

Thanks for man-ing up about it.

hardcorehunter

Your friend was a dumbarse:
1. Hunted without a licence
2. When questioned by the DNR all he had to say was that he was hunting sparrows. Nobody could prove him wrong.Most states do not require a license for sparrow or starling hunting and there is open season on them year around.
3. Gave the DNR a fake deer license; stupid!!!
4. You agreed with the friends' story when questioned by the DNR knowing damn well the gig was up; stupid on your part, but you probably panicked and didn't know what else to do.

Three sayings that apply here:

1. Jails are full of people that are never going to get caught.
2. If the dog hadn't stopped to $hit, he would have caught the rabbit.
3. If your are going to dance, you have to pay the fiddler.

Seriously, I would find a new friend when it comes to hunting. I value my hunting rights way too much to risk something stupid like that and a guy like him wouldn't be welcome in the woods with me.
You seem like a nice guy; your buddy is a tight arse who wouldn't shell out a few bucks for a hassle free , enjoyable day.

one on one

well your friend seen what kind of friend you were towards him, lets see what kind of friend he is to you, ask him to pay half, if he doesn't, well there you go.good luck

specialist1

MY question is once he told you in the car, that you were driving that he had someone elses tag. Why did'nt you tell him to pound sand... II would have told him, no matter how long we were friends. By the way your buddy got three people in trouble that day not just two. You can bet the guy that lent him the liscence also got a summons.

PA.JAY

I can't beleive this thread went on soooo long ! wow LOL ! every person said the same thing im sure he gets it .
SO HOW ABOUT THEM SUPER STEELERS UH !!

Wolfhound76

Just like any othersegment of society CO's have their bad apples. In the following story remember that these two guys were found not guilty.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17438603&BRD=606&PAG=461&a mp;dept_id=172213&rfi=6

HighCotton

You should fight this. Your friend broke the law, not you. Game wardens have a tendency to bully or make you think you are in the wrong even if you are not. I have a real good friend who did this for 30 years and when someone did something as your friend did, they will write as many tickets as possible and hope you don't contest (most don't). You should.

MichaelT.

This post right here is exactly whats wrong with this country today. No, you shouldn't consider yourself lucky, you should be outraged that any government agency can confinscate private property for something as trivial as a buddy not having a license. Wardens are some of the most outlandish people in law enforcement. You are under no obligation to say anything to the warden and did good by not being a freakin rat, which is even lower then hunting w/o a license. Too many people are willing to sell there neighbor out to the feds etc.
[/quote]

Facing no penalty would make it legal junior, if you lack the intellectual capacity to understand the crux of my post, don't waste my time arguing moot points. Join the rest of the lemmings in feeling it's alright to lose private proprty via government confinscation over trivial matters. Now go drink some kool-aid and study your history

I am not proposing some vast gov conspiracy as one idiot suggested. I am talking about having the mentallity that one is fortunate the did not lose private property for commiting a simple crime. It's about ridiculous over reaching law enforcement that everybody should be concerned with. You should not go to jail for poaching a freakin deer, you should not have your truck confinscated because your buddy didn't have a license, and it's alarming that you people seem ok with this.

Muley69 all this above is quoted of you. And excuse me sir, but I am far from being an idiot, and a test of intellect is something you should not wish for in this instance.

Now if you read the quotes from yourself above, you will see where your constant rant is the idea that we are ok with someone losing their personal property over a minor infraction. Well , sir, just who are you to decide what is minor? Perhaps many here consider that a major infraction. Or how about this train of thought, if the citation only was a fine of 50.00, then how many morepeople would try to get away with it. Perhaps the cost is designed to act as a deterrant. I can define that word if you need me to. And finally sir, if you do not commit that crime or any other that might result in the same deterrant type of cost, then sir you will be allowed to keep your truck and gun and whatever else you may have in your posession. If you cherish your posessions , stay on the right side of the law, because what YOU consider to be minor does not matter.

Also Muley69, he never faced the loss of his truck, and noone said that that is applicable in this situation, soooooo where you are getting this I cannot begin to imagine. Also, the gov. conspiracy theory stuff I mentioned is about people who believe the gov. is out to take property from people for no good reason. That gov. is inherently bad, and that is what was coming throughin those posts. If that is not what you were intending, then I apologize for reading and taking your post literaly.

Signed,

The idiot..... How laughable. Sir, you are funny.

God bless


Wolfhound76

Point taken, although I offer that I never said that they are all good, just as I don't believe that they are all bad. But , yes, there are bad apples in every group of people, workers, agencies, or government bodies. And those need to be ferreted out and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, just as those were that they offended.

Thanks

God Bless

Raxxmaster

Without reading all the replies all I can say is I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed that the thread starter had to lie for his friend. I am ashamed at his friend for putting him in the situation. I am ashamed at some of my fellow brothers in bowhunting for their comments and bashing one another when this man finally stood up and took some respondsibility.

To the thread starter, stand up and do the right thing NOW! Learn from your mistake and have a sit down with your friend, if he still is.

dohcrxl

Thank you BelchFire, you are one of the many who gave what I asked.

Now... this is where it gets to be even more of a question of character: My buddy offered to pay for the fine soon as he got his tax return. Although many here feel he's the one who got me into trouble and should pay my fine, I feel I sealed the deal when I stuck up for him. Therefore, I feel I should pay the fine. But there's more... my wife is right along side those people mentionedbecause she feels he shouldn't have put me ina situation where I had to stick up for him. And because I tried to stick up for him, he should pay for whatever sticking up for him cost. In review, my wife and my buddy both feel that he should pay the fine.

I on the other hand, am a man of different principle. I would like toseemingly let him pay for the fine upfront then secretly pay him back; He has enough stuff to worry about. The problems with thisare that

1) he may not go for the idea

2) even if he does, I'd have a hell of a time trying to hide $288.00 from the wife.

Now I have yet another issue of lying to the woman I love and mother of my child. First I had to choose between my buddy and the Warden. Now I have to choose between my principle and my wife. And nope, there's absolutely no way of finding a peaceful resolve by way of convincing my wife to let me pay for the fine. The only way is to somehow earn money outside of my job and pay my buddy back in secret thus betraying a marriage vow. Whatever I choose I still lose and it all started with one lie to protect someone I cared about.

I feel I should just pay my buddy back in secret but OMG there would be hell if the secret should ever surface somehow. My marriage would never be the same. Even if it never surfaced I'd still be guilt stricken everyday knowing I'm keeping a secret from my wife. This is getting ridiculous. Any suggestions?

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

p.s. for whoever wants to say "you wont get no sympathy from me so in your face", that's fine. It's already very much in my face and I don't need your sympathy. If it makes you feel better about yourself as a person to say such things then please feel welcome tolet the forum know who you are. Who I am is someone trying to own up to my responsibility. For anyonewho has a possibly workable suggestion and wants to help (not that I deserve it) I'm listening with gratitude.

Thank you.