Have you ever had a hunt end…

Sometimes i feel like it might put me in divorce court... kidding aside the wife is very supportive in me being gone every weekend this summer scouting
 
Long story, but will condense. Pretty funny, actually.

First elk I ever killed here in Idaho, 50 years ago. Worked mid shift all night, drove into town in the morning, to continue to the mountains. Got a speeding ticket going in for doing 63 in a 55, 'cause I was tired and excited. I drew a controlled tag and went up and shot a huge cow, got out my license and tag, validated the back of my license (in Idaho they had paper licenses with a little chart on the back to fill out), and attached my tag. Finally got her down to my little Opel car, loaded in the trunk, and went down to the nearest store and phone to call for help. An IDFG game warden went driving by, and so I flagged him down to show off this wonderful elk I had killed. He checked everything, and then gave me a ticket for improperly tagged elk!! Seems in my excitement, I had forgotten to notch out the date!! JHC, I flagged him down, it wasn't like I was trying to poach it!!!

Went to court, explained to the Judge the whole thing, and she laughed her azz off. At the end I paid the speeding ticket, and then paid the $50 fine for the elk tag fiasco!! I have had to write that down on every security investigation I have ever had, for the last 40 years with the Government. Lesson learned - don't forget to cut out the date.
 
Blank said:
Long story, but will condense. Pretty funny, actually.

First elk I ever killed here in Idaho, 50 years ago. Worked mid shift all night, drove into town in the morning, to continue to the mountains. Got a speeding ticket going in for doing 63 in a 55, 'cause I was tired and excited. I drew a controlled tag and went up and shot a huge cow, got out my license and tag, validated the back of my license (in Idaho they had paper licenses with a little chart on the back to fill out), and attached my tag. Finally got her down to my little Opel car, loaded in the trunk, and went down to the nearest store and phone to call for help. An IDFG game warden went driving by, and so I flagged him down to show off this wonderful elk I had killed. He checked everything, and then gave me a ticket for improperly tagged elk!! Seems in my excitement, I had forgotten to notch out the date!! JHC, I flagged him down, it wasn't like I was trying to poach it!!!

Went to court, explained to the Judge the whole thing, and she laughed her azz off. At the end I paid the speeding ticket, and then paid the $50 fine for the elk tag fiasco!! I have had to write that down on every security investigation I have ever had, for the last 40 years with the Government. Lesson learned - don't forget to cut out the date.
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Id say the lesson learned is dont talk to game wardens unless you have to and even then keep it simple lol
 
Alot of years ago I Didn't Notch the 'M' And Had A Warden That Thought He Was Gonna Shine His Badge Over it!

Said He Was Gonna Write Me Up!

I Let Him Know Right F'N Now I Wasn't Taking a Citation for it!

There Wasn't Even Any Doe Hunts going on at the Time!

No Courtroom!
 
In Cali you tie the tag to the antler.....When I was about 11 I went hunting with my Uncle...he killed a buck and we put it in the back of the truck and he tied a string to the antler and ran it up into the cab and tied it to the tag.....he told me if we get pulled over to notch the tag....he was positive there wasn’t a law about how long the string was supposed to be......
 
LMAO!

You Guys Must of PREPPED This Guy I Was Dealing With!

Homer said:
In Cali you tie the tag to the antler.....When I was about 11 I went hunting with my Uncle...he killed a buck and we put it in the back of the truck and he tied a string to the antler and ran it up into the cab and tied it to the tag.....he told me if we get pulled over to notch the tag....he was positive there wasn’t a law about how long the string was supposed to be......
Click to expand...
 
Years ago I booked a bear hunt to take a good customer on. This was in Montrose. The "outfitter" lied about almost everything, camp. area. methods, food, etc...it turned out to be a real scam job. SO I sued him after trying to get this resolved. It took a while but I prevailed and got all of my money back including court and lawyer fees. During this process I learned that he had a ton of complaints against him. Shortly thereafter he moved his scam to New Mexico and still is getting sued by others.
 
Homer said:
In Cali you tie the tag to the antler.....When I was about 11 I went hunting with my Uncle...he killed a buck and we put it in the back of the truck and he tied a string to the antler and ran it up into the cab and tied it to the tag.....he told me if we get pulled over to notch the tag....he was positive there wasn’t a law about how long the string was supposed to be......
Click to expand...


I may or may not know guys that killed deer in Utah during the snap tag days that loaded up deer in the bed of the truck, and the oldest kid job was to only snap tags if they got stopped.

Grandma and aunts used to kill a lot of deer in utah
 
When I was 12, I drew an antlerless deer tag on Fort Hunter Liggett....primitive weapon was shotgun. Dad was driving to our next hunting location when I spot a doe in the riverbed about 100 yards out. In a rush (I am a 12 year old kid), I jump out of the truck and drop to 1 knee and take a shot at this doe. I made a great shot and she goes down where she stood. I was so excited. When we got to her, turns out that I never threw glasses up to verify it was a doe. She turned out to be a 4" spike buck. Law states antlers have to be 3" or less to be legal. My Dad did the right thing and took the buck to the check in station and we admitted to the wrong. No tickets were given but I wasn't able to keep the antlers or meat. I was upset....not with the doing wrong but with not being able to keep the antlers. Lesson learned to always throw glasses up to verify.
 
Wow.. a lot of "tagging" issues. Doesn't surprise me because a lot of the time it comes down to the tiny details in life.
 
Wife and I went halibut fishing in the bay. I got skunked and wife limited with two nice fish.
Back at the launch not one but two green jeans was waiting.
Checked the boat, equip, etc, then told me there was a problem which didnt include me, therefore I had to stand "over there".
SOB's wrote her up for not signing her license.
Pretty pathetic, but jokes on them, she will never buy another fishing license in CA.
Cost her a days wages +$350 fine
That was about 10years ago, and shes been true to her word.
 
When I was a teenager I got to know the game warden that worked in the area we hunted in on Divide Creek. I got my first archery buck,,pretty nice one...had it hanging in camp on meat pole. Warden rode up on his horse and we talked for a while...I was so proud of my achievement. After about 15 minutes he says " if you want to tag your buck I won't have to give you a ticket". What a wonderful mentor he turned out to be as I got to know him personally. He lay dying in the veterans hospital in Grand Junction and asked his wife to call me and asked me to come say goodbye. I still get teared up when I think of his kind. wonderful spirit.
 
Back in 1974 or 75, a friend & I were duck hunting up in northern AZ. Limit was 7 birds per person with no more than 2 Canvasbacks or 2 Redheads each.
It was one of those exceptional days with lots & lots of birds flying.
Well it turns out that I didn't know my birds as good as I thought I did. Redhead hens, and Mallard hens don't look all that different, at forty yards coming in to the deeks.
You guessed it. We were way over the limit on Redheads and didn't even know it. We had something like 10 birds in the blind, and only 2 of them were mallards.
We were set up down on a point that was really hard to get to without a boat. G&F shows up on the other side of the lake and waves us over.
We jump in the boat & paddle over. Warden wants to check our birds (which were still in the blind).
We all jump in the boat & paddle back to the blind.
Warden points out our little mistake and then asks us to take him back to his truck about 1/4 mile down the opposite shoreline.
We did.
That so & so still wrote us up even though it was obvious we had not shot the extra Redheads on purpose.
Went to court in Flagstaff a month later and the judge asked if we now knew how to identify our ducks. We assured him we did and the judge dismissed the citation.
I learned two things that day.
1. Be sure of what I'm shootin at, or don't shoot!
2. If I ever come across another friendly waving Warden, just wave back!

Elkchaser
 
My Wife shot a nice bull with her .54 and a patched ball. I had the horns and some meat on my atv, when I got to the parking lot a DOW Warden sauntered over and congratulated me and asked to see my license. Told him I didn’t have one and his eyes lit up. I told him the shooter would be along soon since my Wife is always slow poke. A half an hour later the Warden was getting ticked off, my Wife ran into two of her highschool buds on the trail and stopped to chat. They followed her in to see the antlers. The warden asked each of the two guys for their license and both replied they didn’t need one. My Wife had to interrupt Mr. Warden to get him to see her license and the correctly tagged quarter on her machine.
 
Here’s mine from last fall. We have to go testify in oct. another pilot blocked the strip after we landed and wouldn’t let us leave or have my buddy land to get dropped off.
FDE297A4-9946-4DB7-B16E-58EF30A692EB.jpeg
 
When IDFG standardized the archery deer and elk opening date of Aug. 30th, the first couple years they forgot that forest grouse didn't open until Sept. 1st. and an awful lot of birds were eaten on the hill for lunch! Whoa to the person that brought any back to camp a day early!!!!
 
In my former life I ran a deer check station in a D zone(Kali). Several times a year successful hunters would stop for tag validation with a tag not completely filled out and infrequently completely blank. Generally Jr hunters with 1st buck or someone who hadn't killed a deer for 10 years or so. what to do?, just had them fill out tag, never do that again, and informed if a warden caught them they would have been sited.

ride low in the saddle and stay of the ridgetops
 
My Dad did in the late 60s. He went with a friend. They arrived at a place on the edge of 2 units. His friend ventured barely into the unit that wasn't allowed and shot 2 bucks. When they met up he had skinned them already and said one is yours. The game cops separated them for several hours and his friend capitulated under pressure. My Mom was not happy as it was a chunk of $$.
 
Homer said:
...and you stood there and let him??
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I suppose you’ve never been in the wilderness since you live in california. But you see the pilots drop you off and they go back to town where there is cell service and law enforcement. I’m sure they were not too happy about the situation since the blocked strip resulted in loss time of getting hunters in the field and a lot more av gas used. Also being held against ones will since one pilot couldn’t take off from what is now known as hostage hill. The other two planes had to fly back to town and wait for the accused to leave. So yeah there’s no snitching involved. Your Californian ass would of been crying on the mountain. Hahahahaha
 
and you and your attitude just stood there and let him?...you were there on the end of the strip....right??
 
Homer said:
so....you're saying he admitted to killing both and your dad still get cited???
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That is correct..My Dad I guess didn't want Ted to pay the whole fine .
. I had a place that I founding in which a boat was needed. The guy that went with me didn't have a clue where the place was. I was tying up the boat and he ran over to the other side of the island and shot his and my deer. It was already done and he took the biggest deer. Im sure a man as giant as he was could have whooped my ass. He was adamant the big deer was his. I was furious he shot my deer..He was a real butthead.I never took him again. Buddies can be idiots or ghey can be awesome.I never thought he would be that kind of guy. Glad we weren't nabbed for his stupid act.
 
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Homer said:
and you and your attitude just stood there and let him?...you were there on the end of the strip....right??
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Don’t quit your day job Columbo. I can’t make someone move their plane. He chose not to and now he’s facing the repercussions of it. A lot is at risk for something so foolish. He demanded we leave, I’m sure he figured we were some limp wrist CA hunters and he could bully into leaving. End result he flew off with his hunter and got a pocketful or tickets. But thanks for the investigation Manny!
 
When Colorado initiated the "Proof of Sex" requirement, it seemed pretty straight forward what they were looking for & why. I almost found out the hard way exactly what they were looking for.
In 1992, I had shot a bull the evening of opening day 1st rifle and had to cut him into six pieces, to get him out.
#1. Head & Cape,
#2. / #3. Left & Right Hind Quarters,
#4 / #5 Left & Right Front Shoulders,
#6. Misc. Meat Bag,
We had all six pieces hanging on the meat pole in camp the next morning when the CDOW Warden rolls in to check things out.
I had the tag on the antlers and had completely discarded the "family jewels" back up on the mountain the evening before! All the correct pieces were there, along with the tag, so I figured I was covered.
I was wrong!
The Warden checked everything out, and then proceeded to tell me he could/ should cite me for not having proper "proof of sex"! His tone really ticked me off so I (sarcastically) apologized for not having a used condom hanging with the carcass if that was what he was looking for. Needless to say, he didn't appreciate my sarcasm very much.
Eventually, we both calmed down and he decided to let it go.

Elkchaser
 
Homer said:
I could move it for him....
Click to expand...
I felt bad for his hunter. I told them since it’s public land they are more than welcomed to hunt there too. But his pilot demand we leave even though we were there first. Hilarious. State is too big to have conflicts like that…
 
elkchaserreturns said:
When Colorado initiated the "Proof of Sex" requirement, it seemed pretty straight forward what they were looking for & why. I almost found out the hard way exactly what they were looking for.
In 1992, I had shot a bull the evening of opening day 1st rifle and had to cut him into six pieces, to get him out.
#1. Head & Cape,
#2. / #3. Left & Right Hind Quarters,
#4 / #5 Left & Right Front Shoulders,
#6. Misc. Meat Bag,
We had all six pieces hanging on the meat pole in camp the next morning when the CDOW Warden rolls in to check things out.
I had the tag on the antlers and had completely discarded the "family jewels" back up on the mountain the evening before! All the correct pieces were there, along with the tag, so I figured I was covered.
I was wrong!
The Warden checked everything out, and then proceeded to tell me he could/ should cite me for not having proper "proof of sex"! His tone really ticked me off so I (sarcastically) apologized for not having a used condom hanging with the carcass if that was what he was looking for. Needless to say, he didn't appreciate my sarcasm very much.
Eventually, we both calmed down and he decided to let it go.

Elkchaser
Click to expand...
Dang. I found it interesting last time I hunted CO I had to take the antlers out of the field. I was going to leave them out there until my buddy mentioned it was a law.

Evidence of sex is low hanging fruit (?) for game wardens.
 
It's getting worse all the time now, with all the CWD restrictions! Can't have any part of the skull or spine intact for transport across state lines. Have to bone out meat, cut off antlers, clean skull cap. I keep my zip-lock sandwich bags/rubber bands to put the ball bag in and seal up to keep scent off the meat
 
Years ago I went fishing on the Klamath River with a guy who had a key to the timber companies gate. The right away went through the Hoopa Reservation. We got to the Reservation and the Indians had a car blocking the road. A Indian walked up to us and said we had a problem and he couldn't let us through.

My friend told the Indian "I've got the solution to all your problems right here on the seat of my truck, so you better move your car." He moved his car and we went fishing. We didn't snitch.
 
eelgrass said:
Years ago I went fishing on the Klamath River with a guy who had a key to the timber companies gate. The right away went through the Hoopa Reservation. We got to the Reservation and the Indians had a car blocking the road. A Indian walked up to us and said we had a problem and he couldn't let us through.

My friend told the Indian "I've got the solution to all your problems right here on the seat of my truck, so you better move your car." He moved his car and we went fishing. We didn't snitch.
Click to expand...
Your friend sound like a hot head, flat brimmer ?
 
eelgrass said:
My friend told the Indian "I've got the solution to all your problems right here on the seat of my truck, so you better move your car." He moved his car and we went fishing. We didn't snitch.
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Angler's Inn, based in Mazatlan, has always had a lodge on Lake El Salto. About 20 years ago, they decided to branch out to Lake Huites to the north. So they set up a "lodge" of sorts using really fancy tralers in a private walled-in compound in Choix. They also brought their own boats and guides from El Salto.

At the time, there were two other lodges on Huites that used local guides from a Choix & another small village near the lake.

When my bride & I went to Angler's Inn, we soon found out the locals didn't much care about the invasion of "foreigners" from the south. On the way to the lake the first morning, we came upon a group with a heavy rope strretched across the road. One was armed with an old M94. They wouldn't let us through. Big mistake.

Our driver, who was also the manager at the lodge, knew the female chief of police very well. She also owned the Pemex station across the road from the police staion. She loaded two of her officers into an SUV and told our guy that they would follow about 1/2 mile back.

As we got within sight of the road block, the rope went up & two dudes, including the guy with the rifle, walked into the middle of the road. A minute later, the police pulled up. The two officers unloaded, each carrying am AK-47, and the gal read the riot act to the protesters. Within minutes, the rope went down, and she waved us through. We didn't have any nore problems over the next two days.
 
OutdoorWriter said:
Depends on the state, but in some such as here in AZ where "group" or "party" hunting is not permitted, using a tag on an animal you didn't kill is as illegal as one hunter with a single tag killing two critters.
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That was the case, but putting yourself in those shoes what do you do ? Too many variables....
 
SS! said:
I suppose you’ve never been in the wilderness since you live in california. But you see the pilots drop you off and they go back to town where there is cell service and law enforcement. I’m sure they were not too happy about the situation since the blocked strip resulted in loss time of getting hunters in the field and a lot more av gas used. Also being held against ones will since one pilot couldn’t take off from what is now known as hostage hill. The other two planes had to fly back to town and wait for the accused to leave. So yeah there’s no snitching involved. Your Californian ass would of been crying on the mountain. Hahahahaha
Click to expand...
What Alaskan pilot doesn’t have a Sat phone…
And I’m pretty sure you’re mommy doesn’t let you leave home without one…
 
Tikka said:
What Alaskan pilot doesn’t have a Sat phone…
And I’m pretty sure you’re mommy doesn’t let you leave home without one…
Click to expand...
Most pilots have switched to the inreach devices. Way easier to communicate on. I’m sure one of your 3 chins gets in the way of the speaker so you should try an inreach.
 
DeerMadness said:
That was the case, but putting yourself in those shoes what do you do ? Too many variables....
Click to expand...

If the buddy had revealed all, as I think you mentioned, my point was -- and just a guess, of course-- is that your dad broke the law by misusing his tag, thus likely ALSO was cited rather than him just helping to pay his buddy's fine. Either way, not a good way to finish up a hunt. :ROFLMAO:

If it had been me, I think I would have told my 'friend' to go pound sand if he asked me to tag one of HIS illegally killed deer, thus compounding the incident. ;)
 
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Had my 4 point tagged on the anters. Got check and got a tickect for not notching male. I did'nt even know there was a male notch on a buck only tag. He had the TV crew with him , he was just showing off. Boy was I upset but could say anything because of the cameras. But I made the 10 o'clock sport cast.
 
Back in 05 I took a desert sheep into the DOW to get him plugged. It was late November. As I walked in and told the nice lady behind the counter that I had a ram that I needed plugged, a very ambitious warden steps out from the back. As he stepped into the room walking like Conner McGregor he says in a stern voice, THERE'S NO SHEEP SEASONS OPEN!!! I sternly said back to him, JUST SETTLE DOWN HOTROD, IT'S A DESERT SHEEP! He apparently thought that he had a real poacher on his hands. He walked back into his office and another nice gentleman plugged my ram for me.
 
Years ago dad and grandpa were hunting grouse and the game warden stopped by for a check up. License, orange all that was good until the warden asked to see the guns. Dad opened up his Ruger Red Label 20 gauge....no problems there.

Grandpa pulled out his 870 and racked out three shells. Game Warden goes " that's all she holds huh"?

Grandpa goes "nope, it holds two more" and racks out two more shells. :ROFLMAO:

No courtroom but there was a fine.
 
Late 60s, southern CO.

My friend was hunting with his 6 year old boy. Both were wearing orange, even on their heads.

Another local guy saw him moving through the trees and thought he was an elk. Shot him through the neck. His son had a really rough time for many years.

The other guy had already killed his elk and was cited for hunting without a license.

The other guy...well, he knew he had a mark on his head.




Other story....in the very early 70s two dudes were married to two different women. Both guys hunted.

One guy liked the other guys wife. One guy found out the other guy was banging his wife. He knew the area he hunted, so he plotted.

Took his 7mm RM and put one round through the drivers door of the other guys stepside chevy. That round went through the drivers hips. He died on the spot.
 
A friend and I were trying to decoy in some late season mallards on the Weber. This was about 13 years ago. Just minding our own business, smoking a little grass, staring at decoys and empty skies. Game wardens sneak up on us….
 
elkassassin said:
I Found it Odd in Your Post Above You Said They Were Wearing Orange in the 60's!

We Were Still Wearing Red Here in TARDville in the 60's!
Click to expand...
Yea, the regs in NM and CO I *think* said bright colored.

That was in the days of (at least in CO) a $25 Sportsmans License...fishing, small game, deer, bear turkey, and lion.
 

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