L
longshot349
Guest
This post is in responce and request by many of the members of MM from last years experiance with Colorado's Game officials.
First off , let me say a few things about this post.
1. I will not post names at this time because of forum rules and a request of my friends involved. There is nothing I would like better than to lite a fire under the rear ends of those involved , but I've been ask not to do that at this time and I will honor that , because the case does NOT invlove me , but instead a friend of mine.
2. I will try to be brief and to the point and state the facts exactly as they are..
Here is a brief run-down of what Happened....
In Oct 2009 we were staying at a Motel and hunting about 10 miles from town. As we were driving to our hunting area , we spotted a nice buck on public land in our hunting unit. After a succesfull stalk , my buddy shot the buck , a 170 incher. The Buck was stalked , shot, and killed perfectly legal and on public ground in our hunt area.... It was at this time that my buddy realized that he had left his day pack back at the motel with his Knife , saw , and rubber gloves in it. Rather than leave the buck and go back , he instead Immediately tagged the deer and loaded it in the truck whole , WITHOUT gutting it.
He then drove 8 miles back to town to get his supplys and then find a place (out of town on public land) to field dress the deer... On his way back out of town , he was stopped by Game officials and TICKETED for wasteing of edible meat.. The ticket was $423 and included 15 or his 20 points of hunting rights.
Here are some additional details of the story...
1. At the time of the ticket , the deer had only been dead 20 minutes...
2. There is no rule in the regulations that says you even HAVE to gut an animal. Here is a direct quote from the Rule book supplied by Game and Fish on page 8.
'' It is against the law to fail to prepare edible wildlife meat for human comsumption. At a minimum , the four hind quarters , tenderloins , and backstraps are edible meat. Internal organs are not.''' Quote Unquote......
3. My friend had no intention of wasting any meat. He simply did not have his knife at the time of the kill. He was headed back out of town to gut it when he was stopped and ticketed. This is a guy that will not waste anything at all and will knaw on the dam tail bone of his animals.
4. My friend also has a SIGNED , DATED statement from the local butcher in that town that says the meat was in PERFECT condition when he did the processing of the meat an hour later.
5. The game officail was unruley , billigerant and rude in his dealing with the situation.
6. My friend ended up paying the ticket and lost his 15 points. He spoke with 3 differant Lawyers about the case and ALL THREE told him that it was a SLAM DUNK WIN CASE , but Lawyer cost ranged from $1600 to $2500 , so he instead opted to pay the fine and lose the points.
Here is the bottom line and my take on the whole situation... I fully realize that game officials have a large problem with poaching and have a job to do , BUT we drew for 8 years to get this tag , and we paid $329 for a licence and dropped another $1000 a piece in this town for motels , food and gas ,,, and this is the kind of respect we get!!!!! We were treated rudely and like common criminals , plus he lost 15 points of his hunting rights over something that was totally innocent. If game officials want to catch law breaking poachers , THEN GET YOUR AZZES OUT IN THE WOODS AND CATCH THEM !! AND LEAVE THE REST OF US WITH TAGS ALONE!!!
Lastly , let me say that the local slaughter house , and many of the bussineses in town were appauled by what happened to us and I appeciate thier support in the matter.
If it was up to me , I'd post names and locations , because I dont give a dam anymore. I've been going to Colorado for over 30 years and I'd appeciate a little bit a respect for that and the fact that I've done it legal.
If more info becomes available that I cna post , I will do so at that time.. Thank you for reading my long rambling post. lol
First off , let me say a few things about this post.
1. I will not post names at this time because of forum rules and a request of my friends involved. There is nothing I would like better than to lite a fire under the rear ends of those involved , but I've been ask not to do that at this time and I will honor that , because the case does NOT invlove me , but instead a friend of mine.
2. I will try to be brief and to the point and state the facts exactly as they are..
Here is a brief run-down of what Happened....
In Oct 2009 we were staying at a Motel and hunting about 10 miles from town. As we were driving to our hunting area , we spotted a nice buck on public land in our hunting unit. After a succesfull stalk , my buddy shot the buck , a 170 incher. The Buck was stalked , shot, and killed perfectly legal and on public ground in our hunt area.... It was at this time that my buddy realized that he had left his day pack back at the motel with his Knife , saw , and rubber gloves in it. Rather than leave the buck and go back , he instead Immediately tagged the deer and loaded it in the truck whole , WITHOUT gutting it.
He then drove 8 miles back to town to get his supplys and then find a place (out of town on public land) to field dress the deer... On his way back out of town , he was stopped by Game officials and TICKETED for wasteing of edible meat.. The ticket was $423 and included 15 or his 20 points of hunting rights.
Here are some additional details of the story...
1. At the time of the ticket , the deer had only been dead 20 minutes...
2. There is no rule in the regulations that says you even HAVE to gut an animal. Here is a direct quote from the Rule book supplied by Game and Fish on page 8.
'' It is against the law to fail to prepare edible wildlife meat for human comsumption. At a minimum , the four hind quarters , tenderloins , and backstraps are edible meat. Internal organs are not.''' Quote Unquote......
3. My friend had no intention of wasting any meat. He simply did not have his knife at the time of the kill. He was headed back out of town to gut it when he was stopped and ticketed. This is a guy that will not waste anything at all and will knaw on the dam tail bone of his animals.
4. My friend also has a SIGNED , DATED statement from the local butcher in that town that says the meat was in PERFECT condition when he did the processing of the meat an hour later.
5. The game officail was unruley , billigerant and rude in his dealing with the situation.
6. My friend ended up paying the ticket and lost his 15 points. He spoke with 3 differant Lawyers about the case and ALL THREE told him that it was a SLAM DUNK WIN CASE , but Lawyer cost ranged from $1600 to $2500 , so he instead opted to pay the fine and lose the points.
Here is the bottom line and my take on the whole situation... I fully realize that game officials have a large problem with poaching and have a job to do , BUT we drew for 8 years to get this tag , and we paid $329 for a licence and dropped another $1000 a piece in this town for motels , food and gas ,,, and this is the kind of respect we get!!!!! We were treated rudely and like common criminals , plus he lost 15 points of his hunting rights over something that was totally innocent. If game officials want to catch law breaking poachers , THEN GET YOUR AZZES OUT IN THE WOODS AND CATCH THEM !! AND LEAVE THE REST OF US WITH TAGS ALONE!!!
Lastly , let me say that the local slaughter house , and many of the bussineses in town were appauled by what happened to us and I appeciate thier support in the matter.
If it was up to me , I'd post names and locations , because I dont give a dam anymore. I've been going to Colorado for over 30 years and I'd appeciate a little bit a respect for that and the fact that I've done it legal.
If more info becomes available that I cna post , I will do so at that time.. Thank you for reading my long rambling post. lol
