Would you pay to get you trophy buck back?

[Deerslayer]

An article in Outdoor life told of a hunter's struggle to get his 240-class buck back. He cashed in CD's and spent thousands of dollars, ransom money more or less, to get a buck back he had arrowed and then was denied the chance to go on neighboring property to retrieve it.

The article says the head was then recovered by one of the landowners and a friend and entered months later in a big buck show as a "shotgun kill"......conservation officers tried to help him get it back but the head kept changing hands on the trophy market...everytime they questioned someone, the head would disappear again. Finally, the guy got a call and was told if he wanted his head back, it would cost him thousands......so he cashed in his CD's and paid the ransom, and he is now recognized in the Iowa record book scoring 240 2/8 inches, just two eiths of an inch shy of the state record at the time.

Although the buck was accepted in the Iowa state record book, the Pope and Young Club rejected the entry because the search for the buck had been abandoned. If the buck was accepted by Pope and Young, it would rank number 12 in the club's current all-time records.


What a story...
DS

 

[Elkhunter]

That is bull. Should spend the money to have the low lifes removed from society.

 

[dgibson]

No, I wouldn't pay. But I would try harder to get some of those sons of beotches put in jail. That story has got it all--theft, theft by deception, blackmail....By letting those asses get away with it AND ponying up the dough, he's telling other asses that they could get some big moolah by doing the same thing.

And the middle guy's complaint that he didn't want to lose HIS money? Try that if you buy a stolen car. It'll be impounded faster than you can say "greased lightning." Bah!

 

[Deerslayer]

I know some may disagree, but I would have followed the blood trail of the fatally wounded buck onto the private land....and been ready to pay the trespass fine if charged.....but no way in hell would I let the buck of a lifetime I just arrowed slip away because of some asshole neighboring landowner. The trespass fine more than probably would not have been more than a couple hundred bucks, if he had even been caught, and being how it was right at dark, they probably could have recovered the buck undetected. He tried to do the ethical thing only to find the landowners were anything but ethical resulting in the buck eventually being claimed as a kill by another slob hunter.

He arrowed the buck legally, and on property he had permission to hunt......it seems Pope and Young agrees with me that you must follow up the kill regardless of a posted sign. I will pay that ticket every time. He was not poaching, merely trying to recover a fatally wounded animal.....that's trespassing at most......a lighter offense in my mind than the wasted animal.
.....Just one man's opinion.
DS

 

[Tom]

That's good if its just a trespass fine. They made it a felony in Texas a few years back to go on private land hunting without the landowners permission. Its a felony here, I think felons don't get to vote or own weapons, pretty serious stuff like that. Its best to have an agreement with neighbors ahead of time here now because of that.

 

[Flytier]

In Idaho, it is unlawful "To cause or allow the waste of meat from any game animal, except a mountian lion".

It also says "No person may enter prvate land to hunt, fish, or trap without permission id the land is either cultivated or posted etc. etc. etc.".

My argument has always been if your wounded animal wanders onto private proprty and dies, you are still requied to make a "reasonable effort" to retreive your game. Remember, retreiving is not hunting.

If something I shoot goes onto private property I feel obligated "by the law" to go retreive it. Should I receive a summons to court or be arrested for trespassing, so be it. This issue needs to be challenged in court. There are too many contradictions to the law the way it is written, your damned if you do, and damned if you dont.

For the guy who shot a wonderful animal, he may be so pissed and mad that he may give up hunting altogather, then what have the rest of us won?

 

[Ten Bears]

I wouldn't have paid (but then again I never have kilt a buck that big, so maybe I would have).

I think (in Idaho anyways) I would have run the risk of going to court to prove that I hadn't hunted the deer on his land, but only went there to retreive a legal buck kilt on other property, but died on the posted land.

 

[Nut]

I read the story also. It irritates me that the hunter had to pay up for the buck he killed. I give him kudos for trying to do what was legal. He got his deer but still was screwed over by what he had to do to get it back.

I would not have paid up though. I would have told the story all over and made sure that the mount would not be shown anywhere without the public knowing that it was stolen.

 

[Deerslayer]

Tom,
You missed the point I made. He in no way was hunting the property he had no permission to. He should have gone in with no weapons......merely a flashlight to retrieve his buck. No way could he be charged with hunting that property. He could show the blood trail as it left his hunting ground onto the private land. At most, he would have been facing a trespass charge. That charge runs about $50 in Wyoming.

There is a huge difference in hunting on property without permission, and merely crossing that same property but not hunting it. Crossing it results in a tresspass fine......hunting it could result in an illegal hunting charge.

I don't know of a state in the union that makes a first offense tresspass fine a felony.
DS

 

[GatoMan]

I think at the first trophy show I would have went to K-mart and spent 3 bucks for ski mask and 15 bucks for aluminum baseball bat then took the guys knee caps off as he was loading it back in his pickup after the sportsman show ended. 20 bucks sounds alot cheaper and also you get to relieve your anger and stress out on the dude. But how does 3 and 15 add up to 20? The remaining 3 dollars is to treat yourself to a large DQ blizzard on the drive home.

 

[JB]

to make a judgement by the information given here.......just because he may have hit this deer with an arrow doesnt mean it was a lethal shot.....maybe the deer was taken with a shotgun by the guy who claimed he did....is there any evidence that it wasnt?......the whole story stinks if you ask me(could be the source it came from though ) ....i find it hard to believe that someone would give up so easy on such a trophy......sure, go ahead and ask permission to retrieve your deer...if the guy says no, piss on him, sneek on in!...put yourself in his place first....you shoot a monster buck, then you go to the landowner to ask if you can go on his property to look for it...lol, give me a friggin break!...i shoot sumthin like that i aint asking shit!...im not telling anyone untill i got the deer in my possesion.......i dont see where he deserves any recognition for taking the deer....pope& young made the correct decision.

and no, i dont believe i would have paid the ransom!

 

[Deerslayer]

JB, the article in Outdoor Life states the hunter saw the arrow penetrtae and was sure it was a lethal hit.....the deer then crossed a road which was very close to where he was hunting.

Apparently, the guy "played by the book"....thus the reason he wouldn't go on the other property without permission.

The book I play by is a little less rigid, with lots to read between the lines. I would not have hunted the posted property, but I would have gone in there unarmed to retrieve my buck. Hell, you only live once.......a few risks makes it all the more interesting
DS

 

[Deerslayer]

oh...and we know the slob didn't take it with a shotgun, because one of the landowner's confessed to finding it with his friend, then gave it to the friend because he said he dad would surely find out if he kept it. So the conservation officers knew the slob at the show didn't kill it, and could prove it was the same buck the hunter arrowed from a video that was taken prior to the shooting of the buck....the plot thickens
DS

 

[Tom]

In Texas, its a felony to go to the other landowner's property after an animal without their permission. It doesn't matter if you got a big blood trail and leave your gun on the property where you shot it. Its a felony to go over there without permission after an animal, even if you shot it legal on some other property. Another example, is if we pick up a dead animal on the side of the road, its illegal hunting from the road. It may not be that way everywhere, but I've called our game warden law enforcement division to verify that is the way it is here.

 

[Oak]

In CO you're required to get the landowner's permission to follow a wounded animal, but the landowner is required by law to let you retrieve a wounded animal if you can produce a blood trail from the public land to the private. If there was a blood trail, my first stop would be at the DOW, to get an officer to go along. That should keep any funny business from happening.

Also, if you were caught on the private land without permission AND a dead deer in CO, you would be charged with illegal possession of a deer as well as trespassing, regardless of whether you shot the deer on public land. It would cost you almost $900 and they would seize the deer. I guess it's still cheaper than what he paid. The story stinks. I didn't read it, but it sure sounds like we might not be hearing the whole story (unless IA has no law requiring permission).

Along those lines, how many other states out there have similar laws requiring a landowner to give permission to retrieve game?

Oak

 

[ELKCHSR]

No matter how you cut the cake, it stinks!!!

 

[Rob Taylor]

I probably would have went after the animal myself without a weapon. Just for that reason that someone may take it on ya. Once ya ask the landowner you also tell him.
That stinks for him. Hope it never happens to me.