2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Hello Al...Just wanted to share with you this years hunts. Had a great year and look forward to a few more.

Here is the story:

It was last Friday evening I went into my stand about 2 in the afternoon. This is in Fishkill off of Rte 52. So, at about 3 I see a few deer behind me being pushed around by a five pointer I know very well. That was all I saw for the next hour.

About 4 o'clock a different 5 pointer, the one from the pictures comes from above and left of me trotting right in my direction. I decide at about 50 yds to take him with the 12Ga. I hit him good in the chest and he drops near my stand. I figured my hunt is almost over and since I brought my bow with me I should wait it out until dark.

I radioed my friend to let him know what happened and then I saw a few bodies congregating above me about 100yds out in the field behind the hedgerow in front of me. As a few does funnel their way into the field above me I notice one doe is headed my way. As she comes around a hedgerow outcropping I hear a tremendous noise coming from inside the treeline. The larger of the two bucks was following this hot doe from the cover of the trees in the hedgerow. Well I waited and waited and she finally moved again towards me and he slowly followed. At about 35yds I took aim and fired my bow. I missed. They moved out to about 55yds and gave me another broad side shot. It hit the mark a little back in the liver and one lung. He dropped about 100yds away. That is the story and one of the best hunting nights of my life.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

wanted to add the pic with both guys..

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Also wanted to show a pic of my buddies buck from this past weekend. One of the best I have ever seen. Amazing Animal.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Great looking buck's Tacoma Toyota,congrat's to you and your buddy .

nubo

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Congrats! Sure was a good year!

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Wow! i can see what you mean about it being a good yr for you.Congrats hope you have many more just like it! I hope i do to:D

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Congrats, but how did you tag both bucks?? anyways, good shootin

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

nice bucks

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

That's a damn good question!:eek:

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Congrates,All your luck is because you drive a yote

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Which one did you poach??

You are only allowed one buck during shotgun season and you are NOT allowed to fill your archery/muzzleloader either sex tag during the regular season.

Don't you read your regulations book??

Congrats on one nice kill.

I would offer congrats on the other kill but I don't approve of poaching..........or 55 yard shots with a bow.


Best year ever huh??

:eek:

Hate to see the worst :(

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

nice bucks! cool story 2

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

OOPS!

Looks like someone just stuck their whole foot in their mouth. You need to read the regulations before you head out in to the woods.

As others have said, I wish I could say congrats, but I just can't.

Hopefully it was an honest mistake.

If not [:'(]

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Ignorance of game laws is never an honest mistake.


We have enough problems with the deer herd in NY..........ignornance/poaching only makes things worse.

How sad that this guy sees this as his best year ever.............wonder how the DEC would see it??

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Good point Atlas. I'm just saying that although ignorance is not an excuse it is better (somewhat, not really though) than a flagrant abuse of the game laws.

Either way, both are WRONG and ILLEGAL and DEC doesnt care either way. Either way, he poached that second deer and was wrong.

I'm with ya 100% on this one.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Well.......it was MY best year ever!;) Sounds like someone did a no-no! Not Good!

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Sure looks like you had a good year. Congrats.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

If you want to get technical both deer were illegal. You can't go in the woods in ny with a bow & a gun at the same time.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Probably shot them both with the gun anyway.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

This is the FIRST heading under Commonly Asked Questions on page 31 of the regulations book and it is also on the DEC website.


What's even worse is this guy poaches with other people as well..........he mentioned someone he called on the radio. Hard to believe an entire group of people would be so stupid so I'm sure they knew exactly what they were doing and just don't care.

Who knows how many bucks this poacher and his pals have killed over the years.


Disgusting

[:'(]

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

I dont really know the regulations in NY so im not going to judge. If you did poach them, shame on you. If you didnt, nice kills.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

I'd like to hear from Mr. Tacoma again with the entire story, so we can get to the bottom of this!

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

I have a feeling he is in hiding after finding out the news. He probably didnt realize he did anything wrong until he posted.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Hey do u mean state route 52, like in ohio? Like in NewRichmond?

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Fishkill is in NY

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

He's probably out trying to poach another buck.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Great photos and story thanks for sharing them!!!!

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Looks like somebidy got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.[:o][:o][:o]

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Is this legal in any States? Its not in MN!

I'm not trying to defend this guy at all, but everyone makes mistakes. Although I don't see how you could make this mistake too easy!
He obviously had no idea he had done anything wrong, and was very proud of his harvests! That doesn't make it right by any means.

I just hope from all this that he learned a lesson, and from now on he knows the laws before entering the woods. I also hope that he has the morals to call the local law enforcement and take what ever is handed to him. They might give him a break being he turned himself in!

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

It's says in his profile that his name is Sean Fitch. It sounds like you NY residents need to take this name and save these pictures incase they are are being hosted somewhere, and this story and turn it over to the DEC and see what they say about it.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

I might be taking it a little furher than that;)

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Damn...this is a tough crowd on here. I know this guy broke the law and I know he is wrong....so on a so forth. But the fact that he is not on here trying to defend himself leads me to believe he made an honest mistake. If he came on here and said screw you I would do it again then that is one thing but his silence seems to indicate he knows he is wrong and probably is afraid to say anything else.

Now before everyone on here comes after me, if he were caught in the woods dragging them out by a DEC officer well then thats the breaks and you take your lumps.

He appears to be laying low and is probably somewhat ashamed at this point (or at least he should be).

Here is someone who tried to come on here and share his success with us.

What will reporting him accomplish at this point?

By the way I can't stress enough....I do not condone his actions, I think he is wrong, I wish he were caught right from the start.

But ask your self this question, if this was a buddy of yours who called you up one night and said, "man I just had an awesome hunt...." and had the same story as this guy. Would you be calling the law or would you say, "hey dummy, you just broke the law!". I have a suspicion that you would do the latter.

We are supposed to be "buds" on this board.

OK, I'm covered up now, let 'em fly. :)

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Flip, you are right that if it was a "honest" mistake then we should forgive but not knowing the law is no excuse for breaking it and I don't believe that he had both a bow and a gun in the woods with him. I can just picture what happened. First the 5 pt comes out and he says great there is a buck so he shoots it with the gun but then a much nicer deer comes out and he makes a decision to shoot that one with the gun also because of the size. If is what happened, that is not a honest mistake. I also do not believe in tag swapping. Shoot what you have tags to use and then get out the woods and let some one else have a chance to shoot that deer. You never know it might be a kid or first time hunter that you are taking that animal from.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Well look like someone needs to read the rules and regulations before hunting . In my book he a poacher

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Just because the DEC didn't catch him it's OK?


Or he is out poaching for another buck.


Keep it from happening again. If nothing happens to him this time why shouldn't he shoot 2 bucks a day every year?? Getting away with it will only encourage him to do it again. Rules and laws are for all of us. I passed on 5 slam dunk kill shots on bucks with my bow in NY this year because I already filled my tag. I could have killed 6 bucks with my bow this year and I never saw DEC once. I filled 4 tags and butchered all my deer myself. I could very easily not tag anything and get away with it because I cut up my own...........BUT I DIDN'T because I follow the game laws which I believe are in place for a reason. You get tags for a reason.......if you don't have a tag for the animal in front of you........you damn well better not kill it.


So why would you care if he is caught now?

I don't make friends with poachers.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Atlas it appears you have lost faith in your fellow man. Maybe just maybe if you point out to someone the error of their ways (and if it was indeed an honest mistake, who knows, maybe he is a blatant poacher, but maybe he's just like you and I and made an honest to goodness stupid mistake) maybe just maybe that person will correct their "mistake" and make sure it doesnt happen again.

You are painting people with a pretty broad stroke here. I dont think you get the point of my post. I am just saying, to take a step back and give someone the benefit of the doubt.

By the way, are you a hardened criminal if you get a speeding ticket? Applying your logic, you broke the law, therefore you are a criminal. Or maybe you are someone who wasnt paying attention to his speed and didnt realize how fast you were going. What if you are in the car with a buddy and he's starts going 10 miiles per hour over the speed limit. Do you call the cops?

Please take my post for what it is. It is NOT to defend poaching. I deplore poaching but I do believe there are situations that require prudence and common sense. Give the guy a break or don't, I personally don't care. I am just trying to give another perspective which I am entitled to.

Good luck to you in whatever you decide, and by the way. Watch your speed and make sure to use turn signals at every intersection. I would hate to have a "criminal" lurking on these boards ;)

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

Uh ohhh. This sound familiar. What do you think Silentassassin?

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

I hear what you are saying man...........but not knowing game laws IS NOT an honest mistake. At least not to me. I take the time to read and know all the regs so I know how much effort it takes......Not much. Not knowing the game laws is the result of pure laziness or just plain not caring. I can't feel sorry for people like that. I feel sorry for the deer he poached and the other upstanding hunters he took an opportunity away from.


The deer was poached........whether he KNEW he was poaching is of little concern to me.

Cops don't care if you MEANT to speed. If you get caught speeding you get a ticket. If you get caught poaching then you should get whatever punishment your state hands out.

RE: 2004 Best Year ever!!!!
 

I agree with Atlasman. This guy is a poacher. You should know the regs or you have no business being in the woods. If he was my friend(not that i have any)i would make him turn himself in. I think you guys from New York should give this guy the chance to do just that and if you find that he didn't then you should turn him in yourself.

You just gave us hunters another blackeye dude!!!

Deadsmple