wounded deer on a Sunday.

[akloot1]

So I have a buddy that arrowed a MASSIVE mulie buck last season. The problem is he shot it at last light on Saturday. There was a large blood trail and he gave it some time even though he thought for sure it was dead. He looked for a while but as it got dark he lost the trail and decided to wait until morning to go find it. The next day he picked up the trail and found the buck. The poor thing was hanging on to life. Unfortunately this was a zone with no hunting on Sundays. There was no cell reception to call the fish cops so he just put an arrow in it to finish it off. He decided to come clean to fish and wildlife and reported himself. Now he is being charged, has to appear in court and is getting his meat and really nice trophy taken away. What are your thoughts on this? what would you have done?

[Sledhead71]

Guilty.

[Habfan]

I wouldn’t have reported myself. Other than that I would have done the same thing ! Good chance a judge will believe him and find him not guilty.

[tool]

Glad your buddy did the right thing.

I think a judge will see the common sense and reason and resolve the issue.

[CritterCommander]

He's in a tough spot but I think he did the right thing.

I am not too optimistic about common sense being very prevalent in our judicial system, but hope for the best outcome for him!

Please update us on this as things go along.

[Dean2]

The Fish Cops tell you to do the right thing and report yourself if you make an honest mistake. They also say this will be taken into consideration. Then they go ahead with these types of charges when a guy does self report.

I REALLY hope your buddy takes this one to court. In fact, I would contact the prosecutor, there is a very good chance this will get tossed before ever going to court. If that doesn't get it tossed; A lawyer is not cheap but when a guy is facing loosing his hunting privileges for 1-3 years I would be hiring someone who specialises in this type of law.

P.S. Dun and Associates in Calgary has a speciality in Wildlife Violations. If he isn't in Calgary he may be able to call their office and see if they know of someone in his area.
This link might help
http://www.lawyerlocate.ca/lawyers/c...subcategory=94

[spoiledsaskhunter]

Originally Posted by CritterCommander

He's in a tough spot but I think he did the right thing.

I am not too optimistic about common sense being very prevalent in our judicial system, but hope for the best outcome for him!

Please update us on this as things go along.

Recent sask verdict excepted?

[LKILR]

This should be posted in the hunting section. He is guilty. No reason he couldn’t have made the effort to call F&W before he dispatched the deer during a closed season. The law is very clear on this.

[CritterCommander]

They are glimmers of hope every now n then, but counting on common sense to prevail in any situation is becoming more and more of a fools game these days. My 2 bits.

[dave99]

Legally he’s in the wrong.
Ethically he’s in the right to dispatch the animal (at least in my estimation). He’s also been truthful in self reporting.

Tough call when ethics and the law run in different directions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[happy honker]

Originally Posted by akloot1

There was no cell reception to call the fish cops so he just put an arrow in it to finish it off. He decided to come clean to fish and wildlife and reported himself.

Sounds like he made every effort to "do the right thing".

Is there now also a law about not wasting game meat?

It's a tough one, and I hope reason prevails.

Some pretty high horse, righteous opinions here.

I'd rather hunt with a guy who does the "right" thing.
Tough for us to judge him unless we we experienced his situation.
I know I've had a "not found" animal twice in my life, and it's a horrible sleepless night when you know there is a wounded animal out there. (Both times i recovered it first thing in the morning, and luckily didnt have to dispatch the animal, but easily could have gone that way)

The spirit of the law, was likely not intended to punish hunters like this guy.

[270WIN]

He should have tried to contact Fish and Wildlife before going out to look for the deer.
Back in the days before we had Sunday hunting, I had this happen to me twice. Both times I contacted Fish and Wildlife on Saturday night and the officer took down the information I provided and gave me permission to go out on Sunday, try to find the deer and kill it if necessary. On one of those occasions, I actually asked for and was given permission to take my dog to help with the tracking.
In one case I found the deer still alive, finished it off and brought it home. In the other case, the coyotes got there first and left very little.
Both times I reported back to the officer who thanked me for doing so.

Another time, I spotted a wounded deer across from our house and phoned an officer who came and had a look. The deer had moved on by then so he never did see it. Darkness was closing in so he didn't want to look for it then but said I could go and see if I could finish it off the next day even though I had already used my tag for the season. I went the next morning but never did see the deer again.

[BloodHound70]

So how long after did he finally report it from when it happened?
Your posting this in April, so did he just finally come clean? If so, why did he wait so long?
Could be a factor as to why he is being charged.

BH

[Pikebreath]

Which season was he hunting in,,, Archery or general season?

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Hahahahahaha

[CNP]

If he could phone to report himself after the fact he could have phoned in to seek permission before the fact.

Being out of cell reception at a given moment can be easily rectified by moving your butt to somewhere else. Would have avoided this entirely.

The only blame here is on himself.............there is no defense because he did not do the reasonable thing...............phone first.

[TomP]

He did the right thing. I would break the law to put a wounded animal out of its misery...hope the judge throws it away..

[SHEDHEAD]

I agree with some of the above statements..

How long did he wait until he came clean and why did he not contact fish and wildlife before he went out? These could play into what he is charged with and what his punishment could be. Ethics and laws dont always have the same outcome unfortunately. Never been faced with the situation but Likely I would have made the same decision as him. Are you really asking for your buddy?? Haha just kidding.

[akloot1]

Im not sure how long he waited to turn himself in but im pretty sure it was several days after the incident. and this was in early September because the buck was still in velvet.

Thanks for the replies. I just thought it was an interesting situation and wanted to see the different viewpoints. I will update when i find out what happens.

[buckbrush]

I'll add another vote to it being the right thing to do. No cell service, if he had gone to get service there is a chance he wouldn't have found the deer again.

He stuck it, it was his job to follow up and dispatch a wounded animal as soon as possible. He did that. Legally...I hope the judge see's it this way.

[Trochu]

I think his actions were ethical, he just went about it in the wrong manner. He likely should have informed F&W of his actions prior to going in, and then upon coming out, informed them of the result.

[B-radshaw]

This poses a question for me. Is it legal to retrieve an animal on Sunday in a no hunting on Sunday zone that was shot the day before? Or is retrieving still considered hunting?

[omega50]

I was in a similar situation once and had no cell phone. So I drove out and made the call.

[MathewsArcher]

Why didn't he call Saturday night when he gave up pursuit since he knew he would be back out Sunday morning? RAP line is open.

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by MathewsArcher

Why didn't he call Saturday night when he gave up pursuit since he knew he would be back out Sunday morning? RAP line is open.

How on earth would he have known it was still alive?


There is no debate here. He didn't let the game go to waste. He did the 100% right thing. Probably could have found reception just to come to the RIGHT conclusion- meanwhile the clock keeps ticking on the spoiled meat clock. Two conflicting laws in this case. He picked the right one to follow. That's embarrassing that he was charged.

[crownb]

Originally Posted by B-radshaw

This poses a question for me. Is it legal to retrieve an animal on Sunday in a no hunting on Sunday zone that was shot the day before? Or is retrieving still considered hunting?

Morally he did the right thing, but he was carrying his weapon on a Sunday of a no hunting zone.

[jcrayford]

Originally Posted by MathewsArcher

Why didn't he call Saturday night when he gave up pursuit since he knew he would be back out Sunday morning? RAP line is open.

^ This.

Even a phone call into F&W on Saturday night stating that he was planning on following up Sunday, would've had it on record that Sunday was not an initial hunt, but a "moral" hunt. I'm pretty sure that F&W may have even excorted him on Sunday to put the animal out of it's misery (or at the very least would've given proper instructions on how to proceed)

Fortunately, I've never encountered that situation as where I hunt there is no Sunday limitation. However, there are land owners that will occasionally need to be contacted via F&W to retrieve game.

Sub'd to hear the outcome...

J.

[MathewsArcher]

Originally Posted by wildwoods

How on earth would he have known it was still alive?


There is no debate here. He didn't let the game go to waste. He did the 100% right thing. Probably could have found reception just to come to the RIGHT conclusion- meanwhile the clock keeps ticking on the spoiled meat clock. Two conflicting laws in this case. He picked the right one to follow. That's embarrassing that he was charged.

He didn't need to know it was alive to call it in. Given it may have been alive he took his bow so he must have reasonably expected it could have been. He was therefor hunting, otherwise just take a knife for the gut job. He left it over night, calling it in that evening would have done nothing to increase the chances of spoilage.

I have had this happen on several occasions before Sunday hunting was allowed when bowhunting and taking a shot near last light. Always was given instructions from F&W on how to proceed and avoided any issues. In almost every case the animal was dead, but I always took a bow because it may not have been.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by crownb

Morally he did the right thing, but he was carrying his weapon on a Sunday of a no hunting zone.

You can carry a gun or bow any day of the week. You can always shoot gophers, skunks etc. It is not the carrying of the Bow that is the issue, it is that he killed a big game animal on a Sunday in a zone that does not allow hunting of big game on a Sunday. Let us not confuse the issues.

I stick to what I said above, I hope he fights this and wins. I would love to hear this got tossed.

[crownb]

Originally Posted by Dean2

You can carry a gun or bow any day of the week. You can always shoot gophers, skunks etc. It is not the carrying of the Bow that is the issue, it is that he killed a big game animal on a Sunday in a zone that does not allow hunting of big game on a Sunday. Let us not confuse the issues.

I stick to what I said above, I hope he fights this and wins. I would love to hear this got tossed.

I hope he fights and wins as well, I am not trying to confuse the issue. We all know why he was carrying his weapon. Hindsight if he was trying to find his animal with no weapon he then would of had to go back to cell reception to get one and at that point could of called it in.