brad_vanderband1

So this past week on the 16th we were gun hunting on our lease. Me and my buddy were hunting about 200yds from eachother. He shot at a doe that was alot farther than he thought and cleanly missed and checked to make sure. 5 mins after he shot i shot a big mature doe that ran about 60 yds and i saw go down in a corn feild. A few minutes later my buddy shot a doe and it ran right past him and he saw it go down in some thick stuff. This all happened jsut before dark, and we generally give deer time weither it be with gun or bow just to make sure. So we packed up and walked back to camp. Upon arriving back at camp a pickup comes flying in the drive and right up to us. It was the one and only dnr in the county. He gets out saying, heard alot of guns shots you guys get anything. To which me and my buddy said we both shot does. He asked if there tagged yet. We said no we just got down and headed to camp to change, give them time and the rest of the gang before we recover them. He replied, not gonna work. They have to be tagged immediatly. now alittle insight on this. Our neighbor down there is the biggest a@3hole ever and has been bragging about being buddies with the dnr all summer. And this guys phone was going off the hook with way more important stuff than randomly checking us out. so we believe he was doing a favor. So anyways he went back there with us to get them, and ended up writing us tickets for failure to immediatly tag them. He spent about an hour there trying to get anything he could on us but that was it. We dindt argue the ticket at the time since we didnt know better. but after talking to people it seems to be a load of bs, since we hadnt touch the deer, didnt gather them, didnt do anything with them. I was told that it is illegal to be in the woods with no tag, so if the case was this was our last tag and we went to the deer and tagged it we could get fined for having a gun in the woods without a tag. and the fact that we did not collect the deer we got out of the woods.

we were also told that we didnt have to take the dnr back there, we could have just said there back there and pointed and that it is his job to find out. obv we were just doing everythign to coraperate thinking we hadnt done anything wrong. But seeing this is a 180 dollar fine do we have a chance fighting it?

Jackson Bowner

I would try to fight it in court if I were you. I consulted our game laws and sure enough, it says, "Immediately after killing a deer.........., you must validate your kill tag....." However, if for example, you gut shoot your deer, and attempt to recover it immediately, you are likely to loose it forever and the animal will waste in some location you're unlikely to never find. I am sure our state, in its infinite wisdom has some law against that too. In most cases, how can you be positive of your shot placement?? The question is, how do you know exactly when the animal expires..especially if the shot placement can't be precisely known?? I think most judges would look at this DNR official (if he had the balls to show up at the hearing) and ask why he is wasting the court's time with such a frivolous ticket and maybe remand him back to school for additional education!

Gimpy

I agree with Jackson Bowner.....take it to court.

spaniel

#1, take it to court. You'll win. You have no idea when EXACTLY a deer expires and you are not required to leap out of your stand and sprint after a fleeing deer to put the take on it the second it's dead. It is standard practice to give it awhile before locating it -- especially since you had NOT even gone up to and officially located the deer or touched it.

#2, if you have that DNR officer's number call him and demand contact information for his supervisor. Make it clear you want to file a complaint against him for this, and follow through, especially once you win in court.

My experiences with MI DNR have been very negative. We had the same, a neighbor who was best buds with the local DNR guy. I hunted our field within 1/2 mile of where the DNR guy lived. Three times in 2 seasons the neighbor called the DNR after I discharged a ML on a deer to say I was shooting a rifle. Three times the DNR guy came out and I patiently showed him my ML. The third time, I informed him that I knew he was friends with the neighbor and that the neighbor was calling him out on me. I proceeded to explain to him that it was now documented that he had investigated me 3 times on false accusations, and the fourth time I was calling the sheriff and pursuing charges for hunter harassment. That was the end of it.

Bob S

Sounds like the officer was being pretty nit-picky.

Technically the law says you have to tag the deer immediately. But, since you haven't attempted to recover the deer yet, how can you tag them? You can't tag them until you recover them.

When I shoot a deer on my place I typically let it lay. I go back to camp and get out of my heavy hunting cloths. I then put on my light weight waders(my place is primarily swamp), get my Jet Sled Jr plastic sled that I use for dragging deer, and then I go out and recover my deer. Then when I get to the deer the first thing I do is tag it. But, for the 45 minutes to an hour it is laying out there it does not have a tag on it.

One other thing. I don't know why it is any of this officer's business how much shooting you do if you are on private property. If I want to walk around my woods and shoot at trees, that is not the DNR's business.

stikbow26

This is awesome advice I wouild take right here..Walt

brad_vanderband1

thankyou for all your opinions. We are fairly confident we have a case here and have a good chance of winning. Another issue that was brought to our concern is this. We both have our cpls, and we were told that this ticket is a misadeamor/sp, and that when it comes time to renew our cpl we could have issues if this remains on our records. anyone have more insight on this?

marquismarc

I would fight it. I do not see anything about misdemeanors related to hunting on the macomb county web site however I do not have my gun law book with me to double check this. I would consult your gun law book and or call your local police station and inquire.

http://michigan.gov/msp/1,1607,7-123-1591_3503_4654-10926--,00.html

uncle matt

First let me say I am sorry that you were cited for this. I personally would not hold it against you or consider you some sort of bad guy.

But I wouldn't be confident about anything. This is a double edged sword of sorts. The law is the law and if I am correct, as in IL, it probobly says that you must tag your kill immediately upon harvest. Sure if you didn't walk up to the down deer you don't know for sure you even actually successfully harvested, so there is that. But the law might say something about making every effort to retrieve. (IMO allowing the deer to fully expire without spooking or running him off IS the most ethical thing a hunter can do, and most likely give a hunter the highest chance of retrieving it.)

I think if you were to have remained nearby and waited and then approached the deer that were down, tagging them upon contact, this would have been avoided. I am not judging or saying anyone did anything wrong - or right.

IMO the CPO's position is absolutely going to be that by a hunter leaving a shot deer laying with the tags still in his possession the hunter might be tempted to either shoot another "easier to recover" deer or a bigger deer and leave the other unrecovered. (And I have seen that happen.)

uncle matt

From what you have posted my personal view of this is:

1. You were approached.

1. You willingly and honestly offered up all the facts.

2. You hid nothing.

3. You made no attempt to hide anythng.

4. You willingly located and directed the officer to the deer.

5. You were fully co-operative.

6. You demonstrated no intentional illegal intent.

7. You demonstrated an ethical attitude and behavior.

Therefore the CPO (IMO) would have best served by informing you of the letter of the law and the reason(s) supporting it. You most likely would have readily accepted the info and thanked him for his understanding of your position and assured him full compliance in the future.

All sides would have been well served.