pwoller
Full Member
Cut Em!
Posts: 85
|
Post by pwoller on Nov 4, 2012 1:27:42 GMT -5
Have you ever had a DNR conservation officer try to bluff you? I had a conservation officer say that my stands are baited. I havent had a lick or feeder out in over a year but this guy was trying to say my stands were baited. It makes me wonder if someone else is hunting my stands and baiting them. Dont know what to do because I still want to hunt them.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrub-buster on Nov 4, 2012 1:38:01 GMT -5
I've only had one encounter with a DNR officer. We had crossed an unmarked property line deep in the woods while trailing a buck. We went by a trail cam and it got our picture. I called the owner of the property I thought I was on and told him someone had a picture of us. A couple of weeks later the DNR officer nocked on my door and wanted to talk. He showed me the picture and I said, "yep, that's me" He seemed supprised when I told him we saw the trail camera and we didn't steal it. He was also suprised when I told him we didn't field dress the deer until we got it back to our property. He called the land owner and explained it to him and he was OK with it. Turned out to be a good experience. He was just following up on a complaint. I hope he left there with a good impression of me.
|
|
|
|
Post by freedomhunter on Nov 4, 2012 3:10:41 GMT -5
it is usually the new guys that try the entrapment thing, obviously they are not all made equal just like any profession
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 5:24:56 GMT -5
So, if a CO tells me my stands are baited, I'm going to say, "Show me". That should put an end to the mystery.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 5:50:51 GMT -5
So, if a CO tells me my stands are baited, I'm going to say, "Show me". That should put an end to the mystery. That's what I'd do, Timex. Also the Conservation Officer better know the location of the "bait" as if he can't and still gives me a hard time he just might lose his job, over this, if I get my way. I never hunt over bait. |
|
|
|
Post by span870 on Nov 4, 2012 6:03:16 GMT -5
I talked to my hunting buddies last night. Him and one of his co-workers leased a small piece of property in martinsville. He was bow hunting it two weeks ago and when he climbed down there was a dnr officer waiting for him. Seems someone on the neighboring property has put a pile of corn out. Now this guy is not a poacher, not a trespasser. He informed the officer that the area that the he was talking about was not on the property that he had leased and therefore had no way of knowing that it was there. The officer still confiscated his bow and wrote him a ticket. Basically told him to take it up with the judge. Now this guy who just got married and started a family now has to spend money he doesn't have to get a lawyer to fight this ticket and get his bow back for a ticket that obviously should never had been written.
When my father was alive we used to do alot of goose hunting around a local lake. Now everyone knew us that hunted there. Knew our vehicles. Yet in one years time the same "officer" checked us 8 times for licenses and plugged guns. Several of those times the "officer" drove his vehicle in the field, which the landowner told us he didn't want us driving in, to check us. Two of the times the "officer" sat on the edge of the field and waited until the geese came off the lake to drive his vehicle in the field to check us.
I have had several other run ins with other "officers". Never was a good experience. I respect them all and acknowledge that they have a job to do but everyone i run into seems to be a little off on what I deem of there job duties.
Alot of what I run into I see as me hunting the property that they want to be hunting. Just my opinion
|
|
|
|
Post by MuzzleLoader on Nov 4, 2012 7:29:31 GMT -5
I had a CO stop us while we were rabbit hunting. He jumped out of his truck and was high tailing it directly towards us. We all cradled our shotguns with the muzzles pointed down and started to pull our licenses. He walked right into my barrel because he came in so close (remember its pointing straight down at the ground). He started yelling at me about gun safety and not to point a loaded weapon at an officer. I let him know he walked into my gun, I didnt point it at him and it was safely pointed at the ground. Well that just ticked him off more. He chewed on us some more about who knows what and left. Bottom line it was a bad experience, we were doing nothing wrong.
|
|
|
|
Post by woodswalker56 on Nov 4, 2012 7:32:25 GMT -5
This seems to me a no brainer. How do you bluff a baited stand? It's either baited or it isn't.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dan Reeves on Nov 4, 2012 7:45:03 GMT -5
Just to balance the scales a little, I've had quite a few CO visits over the years and not one bad experience.
There's been a couple time in a duck blind that may have been bad timing, but nothing I can blame them for, nor can I honestly complain about.
|
|
|
|
Post by 629powerport on Nov 4, 2012 7:56:21 GMT -5
Have you ever had a DNR conservation officer try to bluff you? I had a conservation officer say that my stands are baited. I havent had a lick or feeder out in over a year but this guy was trying to say my stands were baited. It makes me wonder if someone else is hunting my stands and baiting them. Dont know what to do because I still want to hunt them. If there was bait in the area then why didn't he ticket you? Think about that one.............................. |
|
|
|
Post by beehunter on Nov 4, 2012 9:13:21 GMT -5
I was checked by one of the CO's in our county last year. I was hunting public ground and had been dragging a large buck quite a ways down a levee. he unlocked the gate, hooked his truck to my buck and helped us drag it to the road. I have been checked by this CO 2 times and both times I feel like I have walked away from talking to a friend, even though I barely now him. my point is there are good CO'S out there.
|
|
|
|
Post by kirch86 on Nov 4, 2012 9:13:26 GMT -5
I would like to know a little more about the circumstances before I jump to any conclusions. seems like we are just getting part of the story
|
|
|
|
Post by hammer24 on Nov 4, 2012 9:34:24 GMT -5
Strange story.
#1 If they are baited stands, then he was doing you a favor by warning you.
#2 If he thought you were hunting over bait, then why didn't he just catch you and ticket you?
#3 If a CO informed me that some of my stands were baited, I would sure like for him to show me, so I could rectify the situation.
#4 You NEED to have clarification on this! Call the CO and have him walk the property with you if need be.
|
|
|
|
Post by 629powerport on Nov 4, 2012 9:44:20 GMT -5
I would like to know a little more about the circumstances before I jump to any conclusions. seems like we are just getting part of the story X2 |
|
|
|
Post by raporter on Nov 4, 2012 11:22:11 GMT -5
Just legalize it and be done with it. If you don't want to do it(I don't) don't. Just more uneeded hassle.
|
|
|
|
Post by jabba on Nov 4, 2012 11:42:54 GMT -5
Most of my CO encounters have been pretty good.
There is one guy that worked in Morgan County that was a real a$$. He ticket 2 friends of mine for hunting with improper orange, because they had their hoods up over their orange hats while in their canoe, even though their muzzleloaders were unloaded (not capped). He did this 30 minutes AFTER they capsized their canoe in 20 degree weather and 35 degree water, were hypothermic, and had lost all their gear, including their rifles. I know... I was there.
He had 2 Morgan County Deputies there with him as well, and I was off to the side talking with them while he was writing the tickets. I mentioned that I thought the guy was an a$$hat. They didn't say anything. I asked for their comment, and they said... "We didn't DISAGREE with you did we?"
Personally I would have fought that one. My buddies thought it prudent to not fight it.
Overall... CO's treat me pretty good. Of course I am always SQUEAKY clean, legal, and polite.
Jabba
|
|
|
|
Post by esshup on Nov 4, 2012 12:23:02 GMT -5
Alot of what I run into I see as me hunting the property that they want to be hunting. Just my opinion My duck hunting buddies ran into this last year. There's one CO in the area that is a real jerk to put it mildly. One buddy had his gun confiscated because it would hold more than three (barely) 2 3/4" shells. He only hunts with 3 1/2" shells, and my other buddy that was with him only hunts with 3" shells. None of them had any 2 3/4" shells in their posession, or in their vehicle. The CO got 2 3/4" shells from his truck to check the gun. (my buddy lost his plug and made one from a dowel rod, but only checked it with 3 1/2" shells). I guess while technically he was in the wrong, why be such a di:-X about it when nobody in the hunting party had any 2 3/4" shells?? They were hunting a neighboring property that they had written permission to hunt on the 2nd to the last day of duck season. It turns out that the CO also had permission to hunt on the same property and he was out scouting to see where to hunt on the last day and we surmise that he was upset because someone was hunting on "his" property, and "ruined" the hunting for the last day. The CO called in a rookie to write the ticket. It turns out that he was supposed to be in the office that day and to make a long story short, after it was all said and done, he was demoted and put back out in the field - no desk job. There was a lot of letter writing and discussions with his superiors about what happened, and that was the result. I've been checked by a few, and by far the experiences that I've had were all good. The officers were professional, curtious, etc. One in Illinois was hell bent to write a ticket for something, anything. We were pheasant hunting, and just had gotten out of the field, guns in the cases, etc. He asked to see the guns to make sure they weren't loaded. His eyes really lit up when I opened my O/U and he saw two Win AA pieces of brass in the chambers. His expression changed in a heartbeat when I pulled the brass out of the shotgun and there were wooly mops glued into the hull base (no plastic on them). I got a ticket because I didn't have my case zipped all the way. The zipper was zipped the whole length of the case, plus half way over the butt of the gun. "It wasn't completely closed, so that's an infraction." It was cheaper to pay the fine than take a day off of work and drive back to Illinois.  We've been checked multiple times in the same day by the same officer while dove hunting in So. Cal. I'm sure he sees so many people in one day that he can't remember who he checked and didn't. Opening day they'd mark on the license how many doves we each had when checked. When asked why, they explained that some people would go back to camp for mid-day, clean cook and eat the doves, and then go back out in the evening. Technically, that violates the daily bag limit for the first day. No arguments here about that one. |
|
|
|
Post by GS1 on Nov 4, 2012 13:03:56 GMT -5
I've never had a bad experience with a CO in the state of Indiana, but always love to hear the horror stories of others who more often than not were in the wrong in the first place. I work with a guy who dislikes one of the most fair CO's in the state because he got a ticket for having pot on him while fishing.  I guess if you run into as many stupid people daily as they do, you'd get a bad name too. Jabba, did the guys have their guns uncapped or did they lose them? |
|
|
|
Post by tenring on Nov 4, 2012 13:30:50 GMT -5
"I've been checked by a few, and by far the experiences that I've had were all good. The officers were professional, curtious, etc. One in Illinois was hell bent to write a ticket for something, anything. We were pheasant hunting, and just had gotten out of the field, guns in the cases, etc. He asked to see the guns to make sure they weren't loaded. His eyes really lit up when I opened my O/U and he saw two Win AA pieces of brass in the chambers. His expression changed in a heartbeat when I pulled the brass out of the shotgun and there were wooly mops glued into the hull base (no plastic on them). I got a ticket because I didn't have my case zipped all the way. The zipper was zipped the whole length of the case, plus half way over the butt of the gun. "It wasn't completely closed, so that's an infraction."
A ticket for not zipping your case 100% of the way? Did he check your fly also?
|
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on Nov 4, 2012 14:00:07 GMT -5
There are good and bad in EVERY occupation.
IMHO - the good COs FAR outnumber any bad ones.Usually the bad dont last long..
There is a citizen complaint process if you think you have been treated unfairly by an CO..
|
|
