Had a great morning in the woods with 9 deer in close...7 does, a button buck and a little 6 point. The last doe came by at 10:00 and I double lunged her and watched her drop less than 25 yards later! All is......was good. I have some nice bucks running this property and I save my one antlered tag in hopes of taking a big one. Hunting again this evening and heard gunfire on the north side of the property. Thought it might have been on the next place north, so I stayed put until dark. As I left the place, I came up behind a truck with a HUGE buck in the back....mass, width and the side I could see clearly had at least 6 points. I have had trouble with these 2 guys before, came close to gettin' down in the gravel a couple of years ago.
I didn't actually see them on the place, but my buddy and I saw lights on the north side when we were walking out (I figured it was my brother-in-law's nephews as they are the only ones that have permission to be there). To top it off, one of these guys is a state cop and he is real quick to tell you about it (he's the one I 'bout clocked awhile back). Not really anything I can do about it now (sugar in the gas tank....nope it ain't the trucks fault), but I needed to vent a bit! Think I will sleep in tomorrow and go to church, then cut up my doe! Oh, I shot her with my Widow LAG, 59#@28" a weighted up 600 grain Beman 400 with 200 grains worth of Snuffer on the front end! If anyone wants, I can post a photo or two tomorrow. Mike
congrats on the doe,i usually find headless deer in our fields.
Congratulations on the doe :thumbsup: Thats too bad about the buck but there will be more were that one came from.
Real sorry to hear this man. It seems this kind of foolishness knows no boundaries. It happens here in Mississippi too and similar situations have caused me to quit hunting in some of my favorite places, even one that is my families private land. It is disheartening to say the least and puts a huge wet blanket on what otherwise should have been a great day for you. My symapthies go out to you, which don't help much. I hope that in time you have an opportunity to repay the slobs kindness.
Good job mike! Show us some pics!
You still shooting that lefthanded longbow? Next time I see you, lets string it up backwards so I can shoot it!
great job Mike.....know what you mean about some cops think they are above the law and better than everyone else. Gives good cops a bad name. you can also put stupid fat judges in there as well
Congrats Mike!!
Congrats Mike! I'm very, very happy for you. Grandkid on the way, and a deer hanging on the meat pole :thumbsup:
And, yeah, post pics.
Stan
Way to go twin! :thumbsup: :clapper:
Ya know there are some things you just can't do much about. For your own sanity, get mad for a little bit then forget it and go on with life.
This is the first animal I have taken with a Snuffer.....the results are impressive!
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b99/mule157/BowforSale019.jpg)
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b99/mule157/BowforSale020.jpg)
(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b99/mule157/BowforSale021.jpg)
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Snuffers got to love them.
great job,to bad bout those other guys.
Awesome shot, and a good deer. Know exactly what you mean about the trespassers. We have 350 acres of family land and some of the neighbors and their friends don't respect the boundaries either.
Nice doe! Poachers out in the public land I was on yesterday too. It is youth shotgun season in Ohio, but there wasn't anyone in their group less than 25 years old or so with them. They had guns and two deer with bullet holes. I only had a bow...didn't say anything because I was a little outgunned. There is also the fact that two dead deer don't equal risking my life. I called it in later.
-Charlie
trail cameras high in the tree or just a posted sign that says if you can read this your photo was taken. Makes them think was there one or not.
nice doe. I feal your pain, found a headless buck on my property last weekend :mad: :mad:
love them snuffers
Good going on the doe well harvested. On the other thing; remember that line in the prayer "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive thouse who trespass against us." For your own peace of mind try to look on them with forgiveness and compassion. I'd rather have the honestly harvested doe then their sleepless nights.
Congrats Mike!
For those of you who don't know Mike,,he is a big,ugly,ornery and loveable kind of guy. In fact my daughter calls him "Teddy-Bear". OOPS! sorry Mike I didn't mean to let that slip in front of everybody :( . If he really wanted to, he would of had the trespassers feild dressed and quartered before they even knew what had happened.
You did well to hold your temper Mike and have earned more respect & grace for it. Your day with a bigg'n will come and you will have many friends there to celebrate it. For now be proud of the excellent shot you made on this doe and know that you have taken her fairly. Also be proud of the fact your out there successfully with a bow & arrow during the first weekend of Indiana gun season !!! That is an accomplishment in itself!
Congrats again friend!
congrats on your doe!
No one is above the law!!!
Especially those people in the law enforcement community, one bad apple seems to taint the whole batch.
I would strongly suggest you contact the game warden and let him worry about who works where. If they did shoot that buck on your hunting property illegally, there should be some blood sign that he can take dna samples of to prove that it was poached.
Smallwood, I did make the call to the C.O. I was told that unless I witnessed the actual shot, there was nothing their office could do. The Conservation Officers here in Indiana are awfully hard to find at this time of year (gun season) and I sometimes get the impression that the general feeling is that we have too many deer anyway. I guess all I can do is take satisfaction in the fact that my hunting buddies and I do things by the book and in the grand scheme of things, that's what matters. Mike
got a pm from a guy looking for this thread...so ttt
I would maybe contact the state trooper's supervisor. He might be interested to know that one of his officers is a poacher, even if you can't "prove" it. Image is important to them, so you might at least make things uncomfortable for the a..hole.
Flat tires in cases like this speak loudly also.
Good job, Charlie. I called on a couple of poachers last year as well. Irritating stuff. >:-(
Shauns right of course :notworthy:
I have seen a lot of people hunt over the years; and those that cheat- they lose something.
I still get a thrill from seeing a deer; I see them everyday- even the does are neat; and they still taste good.
But guys that cheat; they wear out over the years. They get tired of their own lies; and they tend to find another way to prove their superiority.
Its a shame you lost a chance at that buck; but there will be another.
Enjoy your doe - you earned it :) and congrats.
Karma. I am a big believer in Karma. It will eventually catch up to them. Congrats on doing it the right way.
The 400 acres surrounding my honey hole just changed hands. They were running deer on the first morning of shotgun season, blaring music from the trucks in their "camp" by 7:15 in the morning and cruising the roads at night real slow with their lights off. I just don't get it, but Karma does.
If they are doing anything illegal, tresspassing, poaching (guns out of season, etc.), report them to the DNR police. They may not get them now, but it all catches up with them sooner or later. The DNR officers I know like to take their time and build cases on guys like these and nail them good!
Hello Mike....haven't talked to you for awhile but it looks like everything is going "well" for you. The trespassing issue is everywhere you go and seems to be getting worse. Try not to let it get the best of you and ruin your time out in the woods!
Have a great Thanksgiving and shoot me an email with another update in a few weeks.
Tim
I have to agree with 30coupe, if the man is a trooper, he is held to a higher set of standards and actually in some states they act as a game warden. Drop a bug in his commanders ear and he will be forced to address the issue. They don't want to have corrective action against then or they might get their blue light taken away. Tim in NC.
Great shot on the doe, I love shooting those long nose does.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I have talked myself out my "payback" mode. I have talked with the CO's here and didn't get much satisfaction. As far as talking with the State Police, I will try to make contact sometime this weekend. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Mike
When I was a kid my step dad took me into a area to hunt that was goverment owned and high fenced. A large tract of land never hunted, with the biggest bucks you could imagine. That was too much temptation for my step dad. We took his beloved recurve and headed under the fence. He had taken 18 deer with that old recurve up until that day. Well long story short we got caught. This was in 1974. The folks that caught us fined my step dad $15 and took his beloved bow. They sent him a picture of it cut into three pieces about a week later. He still talks about how good that old bear bow was and how he never has quite replaced it. I was 8 years old. I learned right then Poaching is not worth it. Thought I would share. sorry about your poaching cop I am leaning toward the gravel.
then there was a big eared guy with his buddy that snuck onto a private hunt club property. A blue jay started ratting them off; and one guy shot an arrow at it- hitting the limb it was sitting on. The arrow had his name on it.
What do you think of that kind of guy ?
What Shaun said!! Always pays you back!!
Some times I wonder if the ethical hunter, the one who respects the quarry, game laws and private property is part of a fading minority. It seems for every ethical hunter I know I can list 5-6 slob hunters that I know\\routinely violate game laws, including relatives. I've called on a number of them but have never seen anything done about it, and sometimes I wonder if the Game Ranger tells the scumbags who called on them.
Its just depressing.
30 coupe and Nightstalker have the answer.
Having done a short stint in federal law enforcement I can cettainly attest that at least at that level, people are held to a higher standard. If you can contact his comander, especially if you can provide hard data like the make, model, color and license number of the vehicle it will go a long way in helping your case.
I suspect that what will happen will be one of two things. Either way, the officer in question will get called on the carpet and have to explain himself which he may or may not do to his boss's satisfaction. The key though is that his boss won't forget it.
Now in the first case, the officer will buffalo his boss to get out of trouble but out of fear will not come back to hunt your private land because he will be afraid to.
In the second case, he'll be ticked off and after he BS's his boss, at some point he will be back to hunt just because he's that kind of guy. That's where you come in. If you can catch him in the act AFTER you've been to his boss you've pretty much got him. May be easier said than done though.
Also, if you can, when you do go to his boss the first time, you may be able to get some sort of written statement of your complaint. If you catch him there again and you go to his boss and by some chance he doesn't want to do anything to his employee for personal reasons, I'd take to the local paper or at least make that threat.
I know this sounds like you are going out looking for trouble but the way I see it is if you know you are right, you shouldn't back down to him just because he's a police officer. Kinda the old "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
But through it all, don't loose your cool and be sure to act responsibly.
Oh yea, if you can get a picture of him on the property (with or without a deer) that would be a huge help. It really is impossible for him to argue.
After all, he can't say he wasn't "standing right there by that tree with the gnarly branch" in the photo. You know, the tree you can walk the officer right to in the woods ON YOUR PROPERTY....