Be cautious

[Renegadehunter]

I have no words...actually I have a lot of words, but in the interest of not being banned from this forum I'll keep them to myself.
@brownisdown , you are a far better man than me to not end up in jail. I commend you for that.
Nothing needs to be said about the nephew, the story shows what kind of feces that guy is. The land owner, well, he may be a decent person that just went along with the whole "blood is thicker than water" thing, but, he's got to have some kind of inkling of what kind of person his nephew is.
The Game Warden has zero business being a warden. A ton of things could've been done to verify the truth.
I cannot describe the lengths I'd go to to shame the nephew. He'd either turn and go the other way every time he saw me or he'd just go to swinging.

 

[pierce]

Over my lifetime I have heard many stories of unethical hunters. My experience has been mostly pleasant. Enjoying other hunters stories and experiences while afield. The main catalyst that I believe fueled the problem we see today was the invent of trophy hunting. Where I live, many years ago, the local sporting goods store decided to give away a Jeep to the biggest buck brought in. An effort to bolster their business. This was the end of deer hunting and the beginning of competitive sport hunting. For material gain in the beginning. Now it has more to do with bragging rights. What authority do we have to brag about an animal that lost it's life to give us life. Hunting has lost it's meaning and intent over the years. It's all about what's on the wall not what's in the heart. I remember my father on countless occasions telling me: "You can't eat the horns boy." His joy was in feeding his family and the experiences he gained along the way. I cherish those moments spent with my father and those that loved hunting and the outdoors. My dad and I would spend the lazy part of the day sitting in the grass on the mountain staring at the beauty of this planet and talking about nature and life. THAT is hunting and the outdoor experience.

Well said...

 

[Matthew323]

Trophy hunting has been around in the United States at least as far back as when the landed gentry, and nobility from Europe traveled to the United States with the specific purpose of killing our bison, grizzly bears, antelope, and other species that they found desirable.

Growing up in the 60's and 70's any whitetail deer with antlers longer than spikes was a trophy, because of the scarcity of deer.

A whitetail deer has the supreme ability to adapt to urban environments. The average farmer is growing crops with greater food densities than ever before in human history. Depending upon where in the United States a person lives/hunts, the average whitetail deer grows larger, by eating better, than ever before.

Reality cable television hunting/fishing shows absolutely glorify trophy hunting and fishing practices to the point that there are more unethical hunters/fishermen than ever before. Selfish behaviors of all kinds are rampant, not just in the United States, but across the face of the entire planet.

 

[CatamountRob]

I don’t think there are actually “more unethical hunters than ever before.”
You just hear about them more often because social media amplifies everything. Twenty five years ago a handful of people would have known about this incident.
I’ve been hunting for almost 50 years and I’ve heard this same story a hundred times.

 

[11th Corps]

To the OP.
Is it possible you might have missed with your shot?
Or that the nephew saw the deer, got excited, took a shot and missed but thought the deer dropped from his shot?
Either way, I don't think its worth losing a life long friend over.
jmo.

 

[Smyrnagc]

I don’t think there are actually “more unethical hunters than ever before.”
You just hear about them more often because social media amplifies everything. Twenty five years ago a handful of people would have known about this incident.
I’ve been hunting for almost 50 years and I’ve heard this same story a hundred times.

Agree 100%! I have been hunting for over 30 years and have only been involved in one case of an unethical hunter that was spotlighting large bucks around the golf course. Interesting part of it was that TWRA caught him by testing the DNA in the carcasses that had been buried and a couple large buck heads he had cut off the shot deer that were in the back of his truck.

 

[brownisdown]

I saw the reaction of the deer when I took the shot.It was defintely a kill shot.As I said before there was no other shot at that time.And what hunter takes their gun back to the house when tracking a deer?After i spread the word about what these boys did,several people told me this is not the first time of hearinf about them doing this.If our friendship meant anything to the uncle,why didn't he make the boys do the right thing?No,that friendship ended when he walked off saying nothing.

 

[fishdfly]

Unfortunately folks will do mean, stupid, unfair things when it comes to a 12 point.

 

[GBG]

.

 

[sheriffjohn]

Brother-in-law died last year, bragged he'd never bought a hunting license his entire life. I have lots of deer & wildlife b/c I manage my farm specifically for wildlife. I invited him to hunts many times over the years with only one requirement - obey the law. He never came. Otherwise, he was one of my favorite in-laws - always helped, adopted a foster child, hard-working, honest in every other way. Spent his life as a game thief.

Whether it's poaching, shoplifting, speeding 20 mph over the limit, etc., there will always be folks who will forfeit their reputation for the thrill of law breaking, then cuss the cops when they get caught. "We want something done, but not to us."

 

[Mnt monkey]

Sheriff John you're so right,, for me out-law hunting was a family tradition I was raised in,, I had to decide years ago as I grew up in matured as a man to be different,, that brother-in-law of yours was the exact example of most of my family, and even me as a young man, I regret that,, I try not to even talk about the topic with some of my family members whether it's hunting or the ethics of hunting,,, a carpenter that I follow once said,, he who is unfaithful in Little things is unfaithful and big things. A lot of Truth to that

 

[hoyt9115]

#brownisdown I feel for you from a similar experience I had bowhunting. 25yrs ago I had a 190" 14pt figured out as well as could be. After moving my stand several times to get into good bow range I finally found the last tree. Next morning an hour and a half I was in stand waiting for him. 15 mins after legal shooting time he walked straight under my tree along the fence line. As he quarter away walking, I stopped him 10yds and put a great shot on him. As he ran away the blood was pouring out. I still gave him an hr before pursuing. At the end of the blood trail there was no deer. I looked for 1.5 days for that animal, to no avail. I later heard "2 weeks" that the Amish kid who's land i had permission to hunt also,shot a giant buck. I went to him and asked to see it but he refused. I know in my heart that he claimed my deer. Boy did it hurt and to this day that Amish won't even look at me. They will get their day of judgement SOON ENOUGH my friend!!!!!