I never said, "hang the kid"! I said, "find out what the problem(s) are and attempt to assist in solving them. Unfortunately....it seems there are as many people willing to read "half a post".....and jump as quickly to a conclusion....as they are to accuse another of doing that!

For those of you that have yet to read all of my posts....feel free! If you choose not to.....feel free!

But don't give me a line of s**t about "not knowing" what it's like to not eat everyday.......or to have "walked in the shoes"......BECAUSE you don't know what shoes I've walked in!

I said, and I maintain, that all of the incidents of poachers/poaching I've I personally run into......did it because "they mismanged their resources"......and or were too lazy to get off their dead a** and find proper employment. And if that means working two jobs....instead of one and watching football on the weekends....then that is what it means!

What in the world are you bringing children into the world for.....if you can't, or aren't willing.....to work to insure for their well being? (Waiting to hear the "justification sob stories".......??????) Because everyone one has one! And the people most inclined to behave that way, ie. poaching, are the ones with the "most and best excuses of all!"

Same kind of choke me, sob, stories you hear for people that have been on welfare for the last six years.......and just happened to have three more children in the same period of time!

Same kind of s**t you hear in every prison of the world. "The Somebody done me wrong song!" It isn't my fault! I had a tough life! People never did like me! Somebody owes me something......(because my lazy a** doesn't want to change my lifestyle and go out and work longer and harder). Okay!!!!

If I haven't heard them all......I've certainly heard more than enough! I am stating emphatically here and now....that there may well have been a "true case of justifiable poaching"! But in nearly 50 years of life.....I haven't met one of them yet! Each and every case I've met was lazy, or mismanaged resources, or maybe should have thought about having four children on their $6.25 an hour job. (But the poor guy use to work at the mill for $30. an hour...and got laid off! Did he indeed! But I didn't tell him to live on the "brink of disaster"....paycheck to paycheck....using up every dollar of credit he could get his hands on! As if.....the possibility of a job not lasting a lifetime never existed!)

There are some people in the world that have a "sob story" and excuse for everything! And then there are people in the world that actually "pay their way"...without needing to steal from others to do it!

My four year old Granddaughter said it best....."grow up"...as she pointed her little finger at her mother during an argument!

There's a lot to consider here.

A) Is the family really poor or do they chose to use their money for other purchases (gas, liquor, cigarettes, etc..) and depend on the kid to bring in food (cause he won't get fined and if he does he won't get a large sentence.).

B) Is the family on welfare? Do they receive food stamps? Are they assisted by the government?

C) Are the parents working? Are they unable to work?

D) Do the parents even know that the kid is doing this?

I do not even know where or how to answer this question, but I would tend to lean towards leniency with the kid until you know more of the families circumstances.

Matt

as a retired law enforcement officer what bothers ne is the letting of the kid go.where the problem lies is if anyone sees him do this and then does the same thing. does this mean we are to allow everyone to go.what if you had someone who knew about this and used this to keep from getting prosecuted. i agree with all those who said i would go to the family first.if the kid is that young then the parents are responsible for the actions of the kid.if not stopped it can only get worse.go to the family first. the citation second. there are organizations to help the family

I'm glad this is only a hypothetical question since the range of answers really runs the gamut of possible solutions. A friend of mine that is a warden here locally, pretty much asked the same question of his mentor when he first went on the job about 30 years ago, the answer at the time was, who said you had to see anything? The answer today would probably be something along the lines of It takes a pretty sorry person not to be able to feed your family with all of the programs available. Pride is pretty much nonexistant in most of those situations today, in short the situation probably won't even come up any more.
For those of the "The law is the law" frame of mind, may I suggest another scenario? I board your boat to do a routine boarding, I expect to find nothing criminal or out of place, just a routine boarding. I need no Probable Cause, I'm the Coast Guard, you are in U.S. waters and I own you. During the course of the boarding, I find residue of a suspicious nature in a seam on the deck, a seed of some unknown plant. One seed. By law, I can confiscate your boat on the spot, take you and all passengers into custody on suspicion of drug smuggling and turn you over to the DEA upon arriving in port. You insist you have no idea of where this seed came from, your boat is moored at a public marina and anybody could have walked onto it at almost anytime over the past two weeks since you last used it. Do I haul you in or take your word for it knowing it will be months and thousands of dollars in legal fees before you can even begin to prove your innocence? If I confiscate your boat, it will likely be subjected to a customs search in which the last stage is to take a chain saw and bisect the boat from stem to stern to enable a more thorough search of every square inch of the vessell. What would you do?

I'd bust his tail and charge the parents if possible. If he needed food that bad he could go fishing.

you never addressed my question. what if others see him do this and see you let him go. what if they want to do the same thing,where does it end.cruel or not it has to stop somewhere.

Hi Coastie,

For me it isn't necessarily a case of "the law is the law" frame of mind. Because I do believe in the Constitution and I have "philosphical problems" with laws that violate the letter and or spirit of that Constitution.

But in the case of poaching.....I honestly believe based upon experience.....that it is done by people that are "not responsible financially", game hogs, and sometimes "Daniel Boone wanna be's". And generally speaking it has also been my experience that these same people most often think that it is okay to "steal from others".....and don't see violating the game laws for what it is. We no longer live in a society that hasn't provided "parachutes" for those that find themselves in extreme circumstances. And sometimes it may be "due to circumstances beyond their control"......but it has also been my personal experience that much more often it is because they were absolutely NOT responsible...didn't plan for the future.....spend as if there is no tomorrow....and in general "just plain felt that it wasn't a PROBLEM if they violated game laws....and spent their money on bullsh**t and toys". That is my problem with poachers.......and poaching!

I'm not heartless.....but let's be honest. This is not 1930.....this is 2004....and for all the money we pay in taxes...and all the assistance programs that exist, (most of which are abused), poaching is not the difference between eating and starving. It is about taking the "easy way out", shirking responsibilities, making excuses, and "crying another woe is me song"!

We like to play the "what if" games in this society! And we can come up with "what if's"......to justify just about any type of behavior. (Remember the Menendez brothers?) When, as a society, do we quit playing "what ifs".....and start holding people accountable for their behavior? When does enough.....become enough? When do we quit accepting every sob story in the book....look people in the face.....and tell them to assume responsibility for their lives? And when do we finally "hold their feet to the fire"......and make them accountable for the consequences of that behavior?

That is my "what if"!

And this isn't meant to be personal with any of you guys. This is the same question we need to start asking ourselves everyday when we look in the mirror. The same question we should expect our children to answer.....as they grow and mature. The same question we should start holding our elected officials to be able to answer. I for one......am just plain sick and tired of all the freaking excuses!

Nothing is ever clear-cut! Every "crime" has extenuating circumstances and should be treated as such. Now, here is what it might be like when out of the kindness of our hearts we decide to give someone a break.
I am working on my woodlot one day and along comes a middle-aged man carrying a shotgun and a burlap bag. He stops and we chat for a moment or two and I realize there is nothing that I am aware of that is open season.
Soon I hear the noise of an ATV coming down the trail and it is the game warden. The warden stops and there is small talk. After a bit the warden asks what is in the burlap bag and insists the man empty its contents out for him to inspect. When he does, out onto the ground falls a couple of partridge, a rabbit, and a loon. The warden is flabbergasted and asks the man where he got the loon. The man explained how poor he was, how he hadn't been able to work for months and that his family was at home hungry and waiting him to bring home some food. He explained that this was the first time that he had ever done anything like this but felt he had no other recourse.
The warden fell for the story and lectured the man about the laws and even gave him a couple of telephone numbers to call for assistance.
As the man was walking away, having not been arrested or summonsed to court, the warden, out of curiousity asked the man if he had ever eaten loon before. The man answered with a feable, yes. (He explained the it was roadkill). Even more curious the warden asked him what it tasted like. The man explained that it tasted like a cross between a bald eagle and a spotted owl.

I think you get the point. Compassion while upholding the laws of the land can go a long way. "Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasars" as well as "Feed the hungry and clothe the naked". We have many programs to assist those in need of food and clothing.

IF i was the game warden i would try to figure out why he was doin it if they just need the meat i would tell him that he could get in alot of trouble if say someone else caught him so id say lay low and not to get caught. and with that im gonna give this story which i am in no way proud of ... But see my grandparents love "their" little song birds that come to the feeder at there back porch. My grandpa absolutly hates squirrles that come and steal the bird seed. Now with that said he lives in the middle of the woods with no houses around him and hes back off of the road but anytime except during the summer because i wont shoot them during the summer but anytime where its fairly cold outside if theres a squirrle on the feeder he tells me to go shoot it. Now with THAT said I dont actively hunt squirrels there for that reason right there because i kill them so illegally already and i dont like it but my grandpa is 80 years old and he just cant run out there and chase them off and every squirrel i kill goes right into the freezer for a big small game stew we have at the end of the season. Now whats so worng with that I mean yes its technically baiting and yes alot of them are out of season but they are all put to good use and not one is just left in the woods. I dont kill them just to kill them i kill them because my grandpa thinks of them as a nuisence. But I am completly different with everything else. I will not shoot at a deer out of season or on a non-doe day or on a sunday or with an illegal gun or kill over my bag limit or anything. Same with turkeys and fish even for that matter majority of my catch goes back into the water harm free. So i dont see anything to really be upset with but its gonna happen so bash away!

there is a big difference between hunting and a nuisance kill.everyone has dodged my question.what if someone see you letting this kid get away with it.then this person gets caught doing the same thing, hiw can you prosecute one and let another go.they could use that against you in court.it has to stop somewhere.