So I went to guide my wife on a hunt during Iowas late muzzleloader season. This is our first year hunting. She ended up shooting a doe with mossberg 500 rifled 20 gauge, dropped the doe. The pulled ranger pulled up right after the doe was shot, waited for us to drag the doe uphill towards the road, then proceeded to tell us that this is a wildlife refuge that we were hunting in (we had no clue as there weren’t any signs and later found out that the hunting zone is on the outskirts of the refuge. He took the gun, wrote the wife a $215 ticket for refuge harvesting and $185 for incorrect firearm. And scheduled a meeting at the end of the week, during the meeting he told us that there is a possible $1500 deer liquidation fee. The Game warden didn’t show up to the meeting, so our next meeting is on Friday. Any advice on what do to is appreciated, I do understand the lack of knowledge and mistakes are all completely on us. Thank you.

I am not quite sure what you are asking for. However as a retired game warden I would tell you that a lack of knowledge is not an excuse for violating the law. Hunters have the obligation to know the law, that is why states publish rules and regulations and provide them to hunters when they buy their license. I understand that people make mistakes, however, mistakes are not a get out of jail free card. I would suggest you hire an attorney to try to get the best outcome of this situation to try to minimize the monetary outlay to end your problem. I hope this in your first year as hunters, this situation does not destroy your desire to be a hunter. The other alternative is to meet with the authorities and work something out or a combination of both. You could look at this situation as an expensive lesson to learn the rules before you go hunting.

Expensive way to avoid reading the regulations.

Get a lawyer.

In the future do better.

- jake

There are hunting programs you can use on a GPS that tell you whether you're on private or public lands and even if you're on a game refuge. You can also get different apps to use on your computer if you prefer that. You can always go old school and use a map and compass but many hunters like the convenience of a GPS. Plus, with a GPS, you might find some pockets of public land that less and maybe even no people are hunting or aware of. I know it's more gear but it's still cheaper than those fines. Not trying to criticize, just offer another potential solution for you.

That sucks, but as you stated " It's on you". Mistakes are definitely made from time to time, but sometimes they are costly mistakes. I always use " ON-X HUNT" when I go hunting. I can look right at the app and shows me the property boundaries, who owns the property and whether it is public land or private land. It also shows my position, so I know where I am at and if I am still on land that I have permission to hunt on and how close I am to the boundary. If you just purchase it for the state you are hunting in, it's not expensive at all. Way cheaper than a trespassing ticket! Well worth the money to always know where you are in conjunction to property you are not allowed on.

Is this what you do, use someone else's post as t5hough the thoughts were yours? If so, this probably isn't a place for you.

Now he's gone and his post deleted. But wait, his user name and post lives on in your above post.

OT likes to make sure the spammers aren't forgotten!

- jake

Apparently he does. Now the spammer lives rent free on HNI and possibly in OT's head.

He is not living in my head, he was gone the second I told him what I thought.