Fishy Story!
 

Being that we've had lots of discussions lately on poaching, ethics, and laws, I thought of a story that happened to me a couple of years ago, that shows how things CAN happen to honest, legal, sportsmen!
First, I'd like to say that I AM NOT trying to question ANYONES honesty, or abilities! Its just that words like, "always," and "never," just send up warning flags to me, and as I've said many times, "POACHER," is NOT a word to throw around lightly!
Anyways, heres the story:
(For whatever reason, there are many moreGame Wardens on the water in my area, than in the woods!)
A friend of mine from Arkansas, was down here fishing with me. Fishing was slow, and I had caught the only fish of the day, a Red Fish!
Two Game Wardens came by, they asked what we had caught. I pulled out the Red Fish, and laid it across my ice chest, that had a molded-in ruler on it. Seeing that it was LEGAL, the Wardens wished us luck, and drove off.
A while later, we moved to another spot, and started fishing again. Soon after we dropped anchor, another Warden came up to our boat! He asked what we had, and I told him, one Red Fish! He did not ask to see it, but asked about what another couple of boats near by, had been catching. I told him that we had just dropped anchor, and hadn't seen the others catch anything. I also told him that we had seen two other Wardens in another cove, up river.
He said good-bye, and went to check the other boats. Soon, he started back in our direction! I told my partner, "he's comming back to check our fish." Sure enough, he asks to see my fish! Again, I pulled it out, and he measured the Red on his ruler! His ruler showed that the fish was 1/4 inch too short!
I told him, "the other Wardens had measured the fish on my ice chest ruler!" He smiled, and said " don't use an ice chest ruler to measure fish by, it can get you into trouble!"
With that, he gave me the fish back, told us good-bye, and drove away! He did not give me a ticket!
Now, did I break the law? By strict, legalism, YES!
Did I do it intentionally? NO!
Was it the same as gill-netting a boat load of illegal fish? NO!
The whole point of my "fishy story," is that with so many fishing, and hunting laws, its not as hard to break a law, and not even know it!
So, maybe we should give each other, a little "benefit of the doubt!" We can ALL learn things, share, and have funon this site!
Maybe you have "never" broken a game law!
Maybe you don't even know that you have ever broken a gamelaw!
Maybe you are aformer poacher, thats grown-up, and learned its better to be legal!
Maybe, you are even a poacher, that will learn to be legal, because of Huntingnet!
I know that if we all treat this site as a "friendly hunting camp," we will all learn more, have more fun, and better promotesport hunting, than if we treat this place as a "hostile environment!"
Sorry for the long post, good luck, and good night to all!

RE: Fishy Story!
 

No you did'nt, unless you knew the ice chest ruler was off measurement and kept using it.
The one who broke the law was the officer who did not cite you for breaking the law!

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Did you catch the fish with "BAIT" on your hook?:D;) LOL just messing with you,you fish baiter. Again just kidding so don`t getmad.;)I agree with your post completly.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Matter of fact, it was "live" bait, not artificial!:D:D:)
Alast, I must admit, last year I discovered jigs, for White Perch! I won't be drowning shiners anymore!:D
Seriously, I'm nottrivalizing any laws! Its just not the same as intentionally going out to break laws!I am alsoa firm believer in knowing laws before going into the field, but I doubt that law experts know them all!

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Reb, no, I did not know before hand that the ice chest ruler was off! I didn't usually go around measuring my rulers!:D
But I do now!!!!

The ice chest ruler WAS wrong! But who's to say the Warden's ruler was right!!!!???
You can bet your sweet per-tooty,the Warden's rulerWAS RIGHT!
After all, he'shas the badge!:D

RE: Fishy Story!
 

That live bait has feelings too:(:Dj/k

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Again I agree. I`m suresome hunters on here don`t know every LAW. I`m sure I don`t.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Damn, all I can think about right now is a nice black pot of redfish courtbouillon.

Count yourself lucky. One of my cousins (who doesn't even hunt) was once forced to unload a wagon full of firewood by a game warden who thought that he might have a poached deer hidden under it.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

LMFAO now that sucks

RE: Fishy Story!
 

RE: Fishy Story!
 

I also had a game warden give me one of the longest, most thorough checks I have ever seen while I was out fishing in a boat. I think it was largely because the gal in the boat with me was a real looker and was wearing a bikini top. I thought that he was gonna spend all day tied up next to us.....

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Thank God it was'nt about drugs, or he would have done a cavity check!:D:D:D:D

RE: Fishy Story!
 

That is the most true statement I have seen on the internet in a long time!

RE: Fishy Story!
 

i think it was illegal but there was no criminal intent.Some wardens would make you explain it in front of a judge.Also not all warden's tapes are correct.a buddy of mine had a problem like this measuring lobsters.He went to court and proved that the wardens gage was short and won his case.I think you see them more on the water is that there is less water than there is hunting land.Plus they can spot you easier on the water than the woods.Not tomention your armed in the woods they wait for you to come out.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Sorry but that game warden would unload and reload it himself if he wanted to check my truck or wagon. I regularlydo the same thing with inspectors in my line of work. If they want to look inside something I have closed up, they better have their own screwdriver and know how to use it! Again, they work for us, we don't work for them.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

My personal philosophy would be that nothing would get unloaded until after the fight was over.

As for game wardens on the water vs. land, its a no-brainer. You don't see nearly as many women in bikinis sitting in tree stands or duck blinds.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

sounds true if ya ask me, which leads me to believe we dont have many lookers where i fish. in 10 years of fishing on the exact same lake i've had only 1(!) game warden pull up and check the live-well..which was empty. and i've never seen one in the woods so i just dont know...sneaky little buggers maybe???

RE: Fishy Story!
 

So, maybe the ultimate secret is to only take really ugly women fishing.
The same might work for hunting on land. If Roseanne Barr in a thong was out driving deer with you, I think that the GW's would be nowhere to be seen[&:]

RE: Fishy Story!
 

I get checked pretty often while on the ice and the lake. I always give myself 1/2 inch buffer on fish that are near the minimum limit. If they die they can shrink and become less than the legal limits.

RE: Fishy Story!
 

Darn Jag I never thought to measure the icebox ruler,you may have saved me from"Poaching".

RE: Fishy Story!
 

I saw something similar on Animal Planet a while ago. Forget the name of it, but it's reality TV that covers the day of the Salt Water Game Wardens in FL. Two guys were diving for lobster and they had a cheap plastic gauge that didn't stand up to the top notch metal gauge the Wardens were using. They were short just a bit on a few of the lobsters and the Wardens let them throw them back rather than get a ticket. Told them to get a better gauge too. :) Wish I could remember the name of the show because it's pretty good. Can't find it listed on their website.

On another note I broke a law that I was fully aware of on my very first deer. Instead of tagging it immediately I dragged it about 10 feet to better groundto field dress it. When I stopped I couldn't believe I had made such a simple but stupid mistake. Especially since I pride myself on following the letter of the law. Guess my excitement got in the way of better judgement that day.