$28,000.00 fine? Really?

[BowtechHunting]

“There’s a fence that separates it,” Collingwood said of the property line.

I dont buy this guys story! He cant climb a certain tree cause he had colon surgery, yet somehow managed to haul a 200lb buck over a fence? He claims he didnt know he was on the railroad property, yet he had to climb a fence to retrieve his deer? They matched blood via dna to his deer that was found on rail road property, yet they couldnt find any blood on the cousins property, cause they cut the grass? Give me a break, this guy is guilty! Then the guy claims he is a meat hunter and doesnt care about the horns, yet some how gets lucky to have the first deer in bow range be a 228" buck? $28k in fines is steep, but that is what it takes to clean up the poaching that goes on. I read about this method of determining the fine years ago and thought it was brilliant. I wish every state had this method.

Hmmm. You made some good points...I agree with some of that. Regardless, I still think 28K is a little steep. But, I guess you gotta draw the line. If you just fined everyone $10, then we would have John Wayne's everywhere, with no bucks. Good points, something to think about.

[Kodiakman]

Yeah, I don't think I am buying his story. Meat hunter's don't just happen upon a 228" deer, from the ground, and then just give it all up, all of it. A 130" deer is a buck of a lifetime for most meat hunters. I would fight tooth and nail for that thing, and I would still be fighting for it. People that hunt ANY private land sure as know their boundaries AND what lays beyond, to include for the most part: stands, deer, water sources, crop, and who's in there, and who shouldn't be. Too many guys worry about what is on the neighbors's property instead of their own. Oddly, your neighbors are indeed doing the same thing with them. Eyes are everywhere and I think he knew about this deer.

I have mulitple, somewhat simliar set ups as this guy. Just not with a railroad, but a couple of different city's limits. There are some suprisingly massive critters there and I would love to get at them. But I don't... I could... but I don't.... No one can, and that's why they are there. I know they are there, and so does everyone else around those areas. They are in there; their staging and bedding area that no human goes in or will hunt them. Admitingly, if I did wound any deer, trophy or puppy, and it went over there.... I would follow and go get it myself, and never think twice about it. I also wouldn't hide it either. But I would turn in a visable treestand if I saw it inside restricted areas in a second. If I can't, they can't.

The way i see it is that this guy, is BSing. He could have been turned in by a different, jealous poacher, or another property's jaded hunter/ neighbor. The DNR has to have pretty good eyes on you to begin with to get caught that quick, or have a very credible lead that produces evidence for it to wind up and sting you. Or... This guy just got the biggest rail job, with his pants on, that I have heard of since a buddy of mine and his alimony and child support payments. I am just going by the averages here. Too many conicedences. I could be horribly wrong, it's just my take. I have enough faith in the system to have a degree of understanding and be responsible to get it right. Not something I felt 15 years ago though.

I would like to see what his wall looks like, to see if there are other trophy deer on it. Again, "meat hunters" won't have a wall full of Booners or PnY's.

To answer the original initial question about 28K for a fine. That is a bigger pile of BS than the Detroit Lions. You can buy some ratty forclosures for that price, really. That fine is crazy and isn't there in place to scare you straight, it there to fill their coffers. Total crap. That is a bigger crime than clipping a critter. Total robbery. The Warden got it right. Enter to stage 2 the Politicians, chaos breaks out and they screw it all up.