I shot a hen!
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1pheas4
Moderator
lol......Don't hold back on how you really feel on the matter.
ranchodeluxe
Member
Rancho---Let's face it, you would too if you had a license to speed.
Fair enough
ranchodeluxe
Member
The number is in the 2016 Hunting Handbook that you should have anyway. Fortunately COs have a lot of discretion and my experience has shown it to be pretty fair. He may well say "Thanks for being honest, your written warning is in the mail". Since there is a lot of supposing going-on, how about if you are big game hunting, you shoot at a buck and kill the doe standing behind him, too. This happens more than one would think. Now, what would you do with a twelve-year-old watching you?
Probably a good time to say that it might behoove you to add the local COs number to your contact list. This could come in handy when you witness a violation that is much more egregious than the one we are conversing about.
Assuming that the deer population has gone to pot, there are no doe tags in camp (We party hunt at our location) and this remarkable situation actually happened... yes I would notify the local warden about a doe that was accidentally shot.
I also believe that if your 12 year old has a question as to where your morals lie after living under your roof, you have done wrong in respect to your job of parenting.
ranchodeluxe
Member
So the only difference is what? the size of the animal? It's perceived value? (with a roughly 90% die-off rate, we tend to value hen pheasants
"Daddy, why would you report a deer that you accidentally killed, but not a pheasant"? Now where do your morals lie?
Besides who is to say it's your kid watching?
"Daddy, why would you report a deer that you accidentally killed, but not a pheasant"? Now where do your morals lie?
Besides who is to say it's your kid watching?
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is it the depletion of a public resource that should compel one to report it to the CO, or the fact that shooting a hen is against the law?
Supposing shooting a hen was not against the law, would you feel the need to report it to the CO?
also, how does reporting one's own violation mitigate the depletion of a public resource?
my point is, driving over the speed limit is just as illegal as shooting a hen pheasant or littering.
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its a bird, yes beuatiful and majestic but a bird, everyone one of you saying you would call the CO would be better off just donating some money every year to fish and wildlife, but absolutely no reason to stop a hunt or inconvience them when they have bigger problems...just my 2 cents:10sign:
ranchodeluxe
Member
Yes, it's because there is actual harm done to the public resource. When you look at the speedo and see you are 3 mph over the limit, what's the damage done? Is someone harmed? Is society damaged in any appreciable way? Besides technology will soon tell on you for speeding and your ticket will come in the mail, then you can keep your conscience pure.
ranchodeluxe
Member
Unless you are trying to teach proper stewardship to our dwindling future generations of hunters.
is that the example to be to young drivers? its ok to pick and choose the laws you violate because you do not perceive that anyone or anything has been harmed?
:cheers::cheers::cheers:
ranchodeluxe
Member
We are still talking about an accident, correct? If you are purposely speeding, you would be correct. However, in the example used above where you look at the speedo and are 3-4 miles over, you adjust your speed, no harm done. It goes to intent. Did you intend to speed? You may not have intended to kill that hen, but there was ACTUAL damage done. You may not have intended to speed, but did your actions cause harm, or did you just adjust your speed back to the limit?
ranchodeluxe
Member
Well, the next time you find yourself one mile an hour over the limit, please post the copy of your citation here.
What if you self-report and the CO decides not to ticket you, or the States Attorney decides not to prosecute? Are they then complicit in your "crime"? I guarantee you that they use discretion, just as I stated above. They look at not only was the law broken, but what were the aggravating and mitigating circumstances? (3 miles over, none. Dead pheasant, dead pheasant)
You can self-report your 3 mile an hour indiscretion and, I guess, technically you would be doing the right thing, then let the law decide. Me I would just slow down, but you can't give that hen CPR and make it right.
I guess if you want an extreme hypothesis, you could say that sexually assaulting the neighbors daughter is just as illegal as speeding, or accidentally killing a hen. Illegal is illegal, so maybe the penalty should be a $100 fine for that? Or perhaps you should do 20 years and have to register as a serial speeder? Or would you survey your buddies who watched and decide based on that?
Now, what if you and your buddies decide that hen aint worth shit and you throw it away, the game warden is watching in his spotting scope, where does that leave you sitting? However, if he is watching you and his phone rings, you tell him I am in the north 40 of the lazy J ranch and just accidentally killed a hen. What scenario may induce him to have some mercy on you? And in what scenario would your outfitter look like a horse's ass?
I have been in this exact quandary while fishing the MO river at Pierre from the handicap bridge. I caught a walleye under the slot limit, hook deep in his belly, dead on arrival. I throw it back but the hydro dam isn't moving any water cause it's early in the day. Fish floats around under me for an hour or so. Finally I sent my dog to get it, so as to not let it go to waste. Fifteen minutes later a warden shows up and wants to look at my cooler. I said " I guess you know my dog went and got that dead fish huh"? he said "Yup and you just saved your ass by admitting to it". I should have called him from the git go, my error in judgement, but my honesty mitigated my crime. He told me to clean my fish and have a nice day. Turns out he is hooked into the homeland security cameras on the dam and had been watching me since before daylight.
What if you self-report and the CO decides not to ticket you, or the States Attorney decides not to prosecute? Are they then complicit in your "crime"? I guarantee you that they use discretion, just as I stated above. They look at not only was the law broken, but what were the aggravating and mitigating circumstances? (3 miles over, none. Dead pheasant, dead pheasant)
You can self-report your 3 mile an hour indiscretion and, I guess, technically you would be doing the right thing, then let the law decide. Me I would just slow down, but you can't give that hen CPR and make it right.
I guess if you want an extreme hypothesis, you could say that sexually assaulting the neighbors daughter is just as illegal as speeding, or accidentally killing a hen. Illegal is illegal, so maybe the penalty should be a $100 fine for that? Or perhaps you should do 20 years and have to register as a serial speeder? Or would you survey your buddies who watched and decide based on that?
Now, what if you and your buddies decide that hen aint worth shit and you throw it away, the game warden is watching in his spotting scope, where does that leave you sitting? However, if he is watching you and his phone rings, you tell him I am in the north 40 of the lazy J ranch and just accidentally killed a hen. What scenario may induce him to have some mercy on you? And in what scenario would your outfitter look like a horse's ass?
I have been in this exact quandary while fishing the MO river at Pierre from the handicap bridge. I caught a walleye under the slot limit, hook deep in his belly, dead on arrival. I throw it back but the hydro dam isn't moving any water cause it's early in the day. Fish floats around under me for an hour or so. Finally I sent my dog to get it, so as to not let it go to waste. Fifteen minutes later a warden shows up and wants to look at my cooler. I said " I guess you know my dog went and got that dead fish huh"? he said "Yup and you just saved your ass by admitting to it". I should have called him from the git go, my error in judgement, but my honesty mitigated my crime. He told me to clean my fish and have a nice day. Turns out he is hooked into the homeland security cameras on the dam and had been watching me since before daylight.
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speeding is a strict liabiltiy law, just like shooting a hen. Law enforcement see you speeding and want to give you a ticket, they going to give you one. same with shooting a hen. they see you do it and want to give you a ticket, they going to do it regardless fo whether its an accident.
the point is, in the eyes of the black letter law, speeding is just as illegal as shooting a hen. you can rationalize either one any way you want, but against the law is against the law.
you can still promote stewardship of wildlife resources and set a good example for a young hunter by admitting your mistake and explaining that you will be more careful and try not to do it again. everyone makes mistakes. but the most important thing is to acknowledge it, learn from it, and make a conscious effort not to do it again. I personally don't feel the need to self-report to the goverment on those kinds of mistakes.
Do you hunt with a dog? It's not that unlikely. Knowing what my GWP has done makes me think that it happens very often with labs and springers. Heck I even grabbed 2 roosters last year by hand just to see if I could. Wild birds, just buried under cattails and snow.
Last fall I flushed a hen that flew 75 yards and collided with a power line. A couple other hunters saw it happen, they were as surprised as I was. They had just recently talked to the CO about keeping a dog caught hen, they were told in no uncertain words to never have a hen in possession. No matter how it dies.
Tim
ranchodeluxe
Member
you can still promote stewardship of wildlife resources and set a good example for a young hunter by admitting your mistake and explaining that you will be more careful and try not to do it again. everyone makes mistakes. but the most important thing is to acknowledge it, learn from it, and make a conscious effort not to do it again. I personally don't feel the need to self-report to the goverment on those kinds of mistakes.[/QUOTE]
And you just taught a kid to hide his indiscretion from the law.
And you just taught a kid to hide his indiscretion from the law.
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