Relax swamp that wasn't a poke directed at you it was a poke at the law. As I read it and other peoples posts, the liver, heart and balls are ediable so this must be included as edible parts.

Is a deer tongue edible?

What is it you're wanting to hear SA that you haven't already, and seem to be ignoring? The point of this thread was "poaching". In most States, "poaching" is defined as I stated in a earlier post. It has nothing to do with your weak argument about speeding. It has to do with the law. So if you break the law, you are (under your definition) a criminal. Plain and simple. So if you break a game law, again in most States, you are a criminal, thus a poacher since it has to do with the game. I'm not trying to debate the good laws versus the bad laws. The law is the law until someone changes it. So either you are a poacher, or you are not. I for one, am not.

Now please understand that how a warden chooses to enforce that law is strictly up to him. The fact that you forgot to put a plug in a shotgun before going duck hunting may or may not get you arrested. But it's still a violation of the law, plain and simple.

Does this make you a bad person? Like others have said, not necessarily so. But the fact remains, a law is broken. You can't choose which laws you are to obey, and which you won't, or can't, or forgot to. You break a law, you take your chances. Poacher is a legal term, and like most laws, not subject to your interpretation, but that of the courts.

First, I don't believe there is a person here that has never broken a game law on accident. Second, I want to hear all of you guys that want to set here and pass judgement, admit that your are criminals. There is nothing weak about the argument. There is absolutely no difference between my speeding comparison and the plug situation. A law was broken, plain and simple. The difference is now you know your guilty and you don't want to admit that you are by your own definition a criminal. You can't choose whether or not to break the speeding law, it's a law and if you don't obey it, you're a criminal. Is speeding a crime? Then if you have broken that law (by websters dictionary definition) you are a criminal. Nothing weak about it, except the way that you are trying to divert the issue. It's a lot easier to pass judgement than to be judged, isn't it

Main Entry: 2criminal
Function: noun
1 : one who has committed a crime

That's your opinion. And you are entitled to it, however wrong it may be. Not everyone is as lax, or forgetful as some.

I never passed judgement. I'm just telling you what the law is. I'm not saying you are a criminal or a poacher. I don't even know you. But, I'm not a criminal, so hold don't hold your breath.

Again, you're not reading the entire post. and I'm not trying to divert the issue, you are. The title of this thread is dealing with poaching, a legal term used to describe those that violate game laws, not on how fast you get to your hunting area.

Am I a criminal? Most certainly not. Again, you need to go back a few posts and re-read my comments, I explain why I am not.

Oh, and by the way, by the definition you give, , in our society, one is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So, until you are convicted of a crime in court, you can not be a criminal.

So I guess if I spotlight a few deer and leave them lay then I am not a poacher unless I am convicted??????????

So "Any violation of law while in the pursuit of game is considered "poaching" (your words) but your not a criminal until you're convicted????????


In my eyes you are not a criminal and I am not a poacher. My point is that people shouldn't be so quick to judge others. Also, people should be a little more open minded in the way they look at things because no matter how you prefer to look at it, there is no difference in the two scenarios that I have been discussing
I can't figure out how you justify in your mind that anyone that breaks a game law is a poacher but anyone that breaks any other law is innocent until proven guilty. Also, I can't figure out how you justify saying that anyone that breaks a game law is a poacher but when you break the law, you're not a criminal.

I guess by law that I would be considered a poacher!

I push the envelope every time I'm out when it comes to the sunset law. I stay until I cant make a clean shot (cant see my pin through the peep and whatever I'm aiming at) which is always a few minutes past legal shooting hours.

Man Silent,

If you are looking for someone to tell you it is OK for you to sit until dark then just say so


A big difference is that you are doing it intentionally with full understanding that you are breaking the game laws because they aren't convenient for you.

Even worse is that game laws are mostly an honor system as we all know there are only so many game officers and in reality your chance of getting busted for staying another 10 minutes is remote if not zero.........especially if your in the middle of no where.

Like I said it is what you do when no one is looking..............the laws are clear so there is no sense debating if it is right or wrong. We all know it is wrong........some do it anyways and some don't. Some would call those people poachers and some won't.

What you are asking Silentassassin is when does breaking the law violate ones etchics and morals and how does that all interact and play with what mainstream ethics/morals.

I see a lot of "letter of the law" responses ..... laws are NOT ethics and morals. I can gut shoot 10 deer this fall and lose 9 of them - well within the legalities of our bowhunting laws. I can pick up an untuned bow and go fling arrows at live game with no practice and break no laws in doing so. I'm legal guys .... so am I ethical ?

No.

The reverse is also true. There are times when the bounds of the law is unethical IMO. Breaking the letter of the laws in those instances does not a poacher make.

atlasman,

IF I were looking for someones approval, it would be someone that I respected a lot more than I do you what I really want to see is you high and righteous folks get off you high horse and quit waving fingers at everyone else. When you are guilty, or have been at some point of the same things. I am just tired of hearing from a bunch of hypocrites. Because unless you all are perfect, you have also made mistakes

That's exactly what you do when you speed. So theres no difference. Both are misdemeanors laws that a broken. You don't choose to look at breaking the speeding law as being the same, but you don't get to choose which laws to obey and which laws to ignore. Are you telling me that you have never intenitionally sped?????????????????????

I never asked whether it was right or wrong. I asked how far does it go before the person is considered a poacher. Then the high and mighty (which aren't perfect and also break laws) jumped in and started saying that anyone breaks a law in any way is a poacher (right, wrong, indifferent, my fault, your fault, nobody's fault if a law is broken you're a poacher) We'll I am saying the same thing. In my eyes if you have ever broken a law for any reason then you are a criminal. You might not like the title or feel like it belongs but in my eyes your a criminal. It's amazing to watch people flop sides and start crawfishing when they find themselves guilty of the same things of which they have just been accusing others.[:-][:'(]

Yea, stealthy according to the high and mighty if I spot and animals that was oh let's say shot in the spine buy a spot lighter and has been laying in a field for several days unable to move but still alive (seen this). The animal is litterally starving to death dying a miserably slow death and I shoot it to put it out of it's misery, then I am a poacher................OK

Last year I read a game law wrong, it lead to me taking a deer illegally. Didn't know I was in violation until I posted about the kill on these boards, and was informed about it by a member. I'm not so quick to judge people anymore.