Hooked on Coues,
I can't get a pulse on your posts, don't know if you are trying to sling mud about Son or Sonora , and don't care. The fact is, if a hunter is caught breaking the law , they should be punished according to the law, across the board. Now you damned well know the director was let off easy. He is the DIRECTOR OF THE NEW MEXICO GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT, he should be setting the example, he should have known where he was or how to use his GPS.With that said, he is a man who isn't perfect and can and will make mistakes, that is fine and understandable. Do I think it was an easier penalty? Yes I do and I feel that his position also lent to making this decisiona lighter penalty. Has he had past law breaking actions? No I don't think so , so this too may have benifited in his direction, also of which it should.Now here is the question , how does judges deal with future incidents such as this? Do they penalize light in favor of a hunter who has no prior law breaking incidents and only go max penalty on others ? Where is the balance? What is a deciding factor as to how penalties will be handed down? I imagine there is just too much to discuss in order to figure it all out.
But if a stiff penalty , say a 5 year in-eligablity to participate in the big game draw and a hefty fine was put as a penalty with no reduction of time, across the board , I assure you , more hunters would be paying attention to where they are, think twice of putting someone elses tag on an animal or shooting an animal in another unit! Across the board , regardless of who you are or if you have ever been penalized through the Game & Fish.
