davidmil

I wouldn't call him a moron. We're all bowhunters here. How many of you would get 24 days into the bow season that's a month and 14 days long without thinking, "Buy the license". He's not a duffus, he's a poacher, plain and simple. I'd even venture to guess he blasted the deer with a gun or something... probably at night. I bet if they checked further he couldn't pull a bow or didn't own one the day he supposedly shot the deer.He's just a crud. I don't buy "Honest mistake". I buy poacher trying to get some publicity and kudos for himself.

wis_bow_huntr

Wow. What a cheapy. I knew of a guy that went out bought his archery license during season, went out the next day and killed a buck. When he went to register it, the registration station (store manager) called the wardens. The wardens showed up and confiscated the deer, and fined him. In Wisconsin you must wait 3 days after the day you buy your license to hunt if you purchase your license during season. He apparently doesnt read the regs. So if you buy your license on Monday, you cant legally hunt untillFriday. Because you dont count the day that you purchased your license. I always get mine well in advanced. But even if you buy your license the day before season opens you can hunt the following day.

nodog

I doubt that, if he's like most he was calling and talking to people as soon as it hit the ground, His buddies then were posting on forums how so and so just shot a monster. His stories easily checked. Heck he was probably on his cell when it came in.

It's Michigan! Wife had to go up there yesterday and she mentioned that as soon as she got off 23 there was a foul odor. nuff said. If you want a laugh check out the news on DEEtroits mayor.

15 dollar license in a state that so screwed up. I'd think a better bet would be he'd have had to travel 3 hours just to find an open place to buy one.

BTBowhunter

accidental duplicate post.

see below

loogout1

I agree 100%. Every year I cant wait to buy my license, because it means hunting is right around the corner. If it was amistake, then he got "lucky" shooting that deer because he's not that into it imo. Either way he's a idiot, and got jammed up not for lack of 15$, but for lack of brains.

BTBowhunter

[blockquote] I'm happy for you that you've obviously NEVER made a simple stupid mistake that could have gotten you into some trouble with the law.

Your definition of poacher is obviously a bit different than mine.I would differentiate poacher from lawbreaker with one word... intent. No one will ever know for sure if this guy made a mistake or did it intentionally. I'm not exactly an old man yet, but, the longer in the tooth I get, the more I catch myself in having forgotten little details just like that one.

Was this an honest accident? We'll probably never know? As I said before, did he buy a tag every year like he said of has he failed to buy one in certain years before?

Assuming for the minute that he realized his mistake when he went to tag it? He was immediately in a lose-lose situation. How would most handle it after the fact? I suppose some wouldactually turn themselves in right away but I think their numbers are few. What he did is immediately go buy a license and tag the thing and even was honest about telling when it was actually killed.

Stupid? yes!

Poacher? Not enough facts yet for me to tag him with that title!

As for the question as to how could it happen without him realizing till he made the kill? In my home state, we buy a license and then variuos stamps get affixed to it. Archery, muzzleloader, furtaker, waterfowl and even the class of your license like junior senior or adult are all a stamp that attaches to the license. More than once, when purchasing my license, I've been told "we're out of _____ stamps, they'll be in next week" That means a trip to another issuing agent to comlete the license or a trip back to the same store later. I can certainly see it happening to mewithzerointent on skirting the law. Take that along with the fact that, being past 50 and taking way to many mindnumbing meds for my screwed up ticker,thehunting seasons are becoming more like one continous blur, it's not a reach at all to imagine this as a stupid but honest mistake.

robson

what are the rules getting a deer tag in michigan? he says he bought a licence every year.- after he kills his deer or before?

Germ

Keeps getting better, LOL

http://www.mlive.com/jackson/stories...630.xml&coll=3

Tracking the big-buck tale
Wednesday, January 31, 2008By Steven [email protected] -- 768-4923

A state trooper who is a deer hunting fanatic recorded a monster buck on his trail camera at 1:28 a.m. Oct. 24.

The buck traveled to another property in Spring Arbor Township later that afternoon, walked under a tamarack tree and into the sights of Christopher James' bow.

The trooper and other hunters in the neighborhood were crestfallen to see a front-page picture and story about James and his potential state-record buck in the Oct. 26 Citizen Patriot.

The buck of a lifetime was gone from their hunting grounds, possibly poached, according to early rumors.

Tuesday, Jackson County prosecutors confirmed the suspicions, charging James with illegally taking game. Conservation Officer Troy Bahlau alleges James was hunting without a license when he shot the buck.

Rumors had intensified through the archery and firearms seasons: James shot the buck in his yard in Horton. He poached it at night. He didn't have a license. He shot the deer at a game ranch.

``All the holier-than-thou comments made me sick,'' James said Tuesday of his public lambasting. ``I forgot to buy a license.''

Within days of the newspaper story, Bahlau and a team of DNR agents embarked on a top-secret investigation. They suspected James had a history of hunting without a license.

The pictures taken by Citizen Patriot photographer Dave Weatherwax on the afternoon of Oct. 25 showed the yellow 2007 deer tag secured to the massive 24-point rack. Thanks to Michigan's computerized hunting and fishing license system, the next step was easy for investigators.

Records indicated James bought his archery deer license at 9:44 a.m. on Oct. 25 at the Pine Hill Lake Marina. He had told a newspaper reporter he shot the buck at dusk the night before, trailed it in the dark and returned the next morning to finish tracking.

Working on leads, officers learned James had taken the buck to a taxidermist for mounting.

Typically, the taxidermist skins the hide from behind the shoulders to the tip of the nose, and saws off a chunk of the skull with the antlers, returning them to the hunter for safekeeping.

Agents continued to build the case, not knowing where the antlers were being kept. The rack surfaced Jan. 9, when James entered it in a big-buck night in Holt.

Department of Natural Resources officers seized the antlers earlier this month. If James pleads guilty to the misdemeanor, as he said he would, the rack will remain the property of the DNR and likely will be mounted and displayed by the state agency.

James faces 5-90 days in jail, a few thousand dollars in fines and the loss of hunting privileges for three years.[/align]

GMMAT

Ya know....he's REALLY guilty of just being a dumbass.

If he TRULY just forgot to buy the license....that's excuseable in my eyes...and he could have cooked the books and no one would have known any better.

Wonder what the outcry would have been if he'd shot a doe?

Germ

He would not have entered all the big buck contest. What he should have done is keep his mouth shut

He won the one at a pro shop I go to.
He won a New Bowtech setup from head to toe