Texmid said:

---

giddings_ag_06 said:

---

Texmid said:

---

I'm very interested in how this played out. While Elk hunting in New Mexico my cousin took a legal shot at an Elk on the last day of the season. The Elk was wounded and ran off. We followed the blood trail as long as we could with flashlights and called it a night. The next morning we went back, picked up where we left off and eventually located the Elk. It was mortally wounded and the shot occurred on the last day of the season during legal shooting hours. The Elk was still very much alive but there is no way it would have survived another night. Did we break the law by dispatching the Elk once we found it?

---

First of all, a "mortally wounded" elk won't be "very much alive" the next day. You'd be amazed what animals can live through. And if he made it through the night and was just fine the next day, you definitely don't know if he would die. I'd put money he'd survive a heck of a lot longer than you'd think.

And yes, you broke the law. It's not wise to post a hypothetical on TexAgs when you're clearly in the wrong.

---

I guess it depends on how you define "mortally wounded". When we tracked it down the next day the elk was dragging her backside with her front legs. Her spine was damaged just in front of her hip and she could not move her rear legs. I guess she could have survived for years if she was in a cage and protected from predators, maybe. There is no doubt, though, that elk would not have lived another day.

So I guess, legally, we didn't do the right thing. However, given the circumstances, I feel like we did the right thing.

---

Did you call the Game Warden and report this and have them help you find it the next day? If not you broke the law and what you did was illegal. And just so you know you can still be prosecuted for this. If you think this guys fines and penalties were bad you can be slammed with some pretty heavy stuff because you illegally harvested an Elk out of season and then transported an illegally harvested animal across State lines. One of the penalties for the states above crime is you can lose your hunting privileges for life in the United States.

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

In reference to the OP:

Based on what this board says about the safety of shooting arrows in a residential neighborhood, I can't imagine someone here having an ethical objection to arrowing an animal after dark.

It's against the law. But it's a dumb law if you're in the middle of your own several hundred acre place with a bow. That part wouldn't bother me.

If he was trespassing, on the other hand, that's an entirely different matter from an ethical standpoint for me.

flashplayer said:

---

In reference to the OP:

Based on what this board says about the safety of shooting arrows in a residential neighborhood, I can't imagine someone here having an ethical objection to arrowing an animal after dark.

It's against the law. But it's a dumb law if you're in the middle of your own several hundred acre place with a bow. That part wouldn't bother me.

If he was trespassing, on the other hand, that's an entirely different matter from an ethical standpoint for me.

---

Phew! I thought you were being serious in the other thread when you said that shooting an arrow is exactly the same as shooting a gun. I see now you're just trolling. Makes me feel a lot better that someone isn't actually that stupid.

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Snitches get stitches!!!

Eliminatus said:

---

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Snitches get stitches!!!

---

Man, if someone has nothing better to do that track down evidence worthy of convicting someone about something they said on f-ing texags, they they really need to reconsider their station in life.

BrazosDog02 said:

---

Eliminatus said:

---

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Snitches get stitches!!!

---

Man, if someone has nothing better to do that track down evidence worthy of convicting someone about something they said on f-ing texags, they they really need to reconsider their station in life.

---

I would expect TPWD regularly monitors this forum, and all the big outdoor social media.

I know for a fact that WV DNR monitors our sites, because I've talked to the game wardens about it.

BrazosDog02 said:

---

Eliminatus said:

---

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Snitches get stitches!!!

---

Man, if someone has nothing better to do that track down evidence worthy of convicting someone about something they said on f-ing texags, they they really need to reconsider their station in life.

---

People on texags have tried to get other posters fired for their political views.

I would not put it past someone on here to call a game warden.

BrazosDog02 said:

---

Eliminatus said:

---

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Snitches get stitches!!!

---

Man, if someone has nothing better to do that track down evidence worthy of convicting someone about something they said on f-ing texags, they they really need to reconsider their station in life.

---

Ursus has said that the GW does periodically monitor this forum.

Aside from that, based on some of the comments in response to the guy's story, wouldn't surprise me also if somebody made a phone call or sent an email. Too many people live in a black and white world and don't realize that most of the world is shades of gray.

WildAggie said:

---

In Texas, you can legally dispatch a mortally wounded deer any time, as long as you are not the one who caused it to be mortally wounded.

---

I'm curious why this is? Wouldn't it be more ethical (for the animal) to be able to dispatch him ASAP instead of having to wait the next day? If you wound a deer and have to track it into night only to find it still alive...wouldn't it be better to kill it then than to wait the next day?

(And this question isn't meant to assume this guy should be excused - it doesn't seem as if his first shot was a mortal wound).

Full disclosure, I know nothing of the Texas law on this matter.

It creates an even bigger gray area unfortunately. Encourages those that might already be operating within the margins of the law to take poor shots at last light (or just night hunt) and then use the "but I was trailing a deer I wounded earlier" excuse. If you hit it with a car, and are putting it down, no worries.

Similar situation in Kansas where we had a couple of people shooting very large deer at night (on their own property) and then letting them lay. In the morning they'd call the game warden, report a poaching and then get a salvage tag to keep it. Law has since been changed to say that they can only keep it if there is a ticket issued, and that they are not the ones receiving the ticket. Otherwise the deer becomes the property of KDWPT.

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Well, it happened about 15 years ago.

dlance said:

---

Texmid said:

---

Please edit my comments out if you quoted me. Thank you.

---

More likely someone emailed them to the game warden.

---

Had a good convo with my game warden buddy and he said all he had to do was contact the local game warden and he'd be good but this just makes it seem like he was trying to hide it then brag about it. He also said he wouldn't do anything now but next time just do the right thing.

My buddy reads this forum and had already seen this I did not send to him.

Lol about game wardens posting or reading this forum.

If y'all only knew...

I hit a doe with my pickup around 1am in February of 2012. It's guts came out, so I'm pretty sure it died quickly. I pulled over and moved the carcass to the side of the road. How much prison time am I looking at? How many family members will I have to sell into slavery to pay the fine? Will I be banned from hunting in our solar system?

Several years ago, there were several TPWD biologists and GWs trying to figure out who I was. If they actually knew me, they figured it out real fast (my fascination with bears is well known and "you write like you talk"). There is a least one District Leader (biologists) that mostly lurks, and I don't know how many biologists that lurk (one likes stirring the pot on Politics) to read my biology posts.

Sounds like someone has received a ticket or two for no plug or "meaningless" things..

Wow that's some sneaky stuff. Examples like that (the landowners cheating the system) are the kinds of thing you hear about far too regularly which continue to make me in disbelief of nothing these days. People are terrible and will do just about anything.

tlh3842 said:

---

Sounds like someone has received a ticket or two for no plug or "meaningless" things..

---

I like *****ing about old man stuff and it's just a sore subject for me....I don't get to hunt every single day of the season. I'm just someone that hates being hassled when I'm trying to enjoy the outdoors.

Granted this is always on easy access property, not large tracts with locked gates and tall fences. I always get one that has to roll up on a four wheeler hauling ass across a field, with fingers still greasy from his morning sausage taco and just wants to dick around for a while as I watch the morning's early flight disappear left and right while he finger f--ks my shotgun and rolls through about 5 EASY infractions in an attempt to bust a group of 4 for something he never had a chance on. Sorry...it's happened more than once.

Wait until the hunt is over. Catch me at the gate. I'll have a bag full of birds and a better chance of getting a ticket if you're right. Wait..no...can't do that...that gets in the way of 11:00 lunch. I've had but a few very cordial and efficient LEO interactions, and I thank them continuously for that.

What the heck do some of y'all do to have less than cordial interactions on a regular basis?

I've only had less than cordial interactions twice, and both times I ended up getting dispinary actions against the office (one was fired) and the tickets dropped.

BrazosDog02 said:

---

tlh3842 said:

---

Sounds like someone has received a ticket or two for no plug or "meaningless" things..

---

I like *****ing about old man stuff and it's just a sore subject for me....I don't get to hunt every single day of the season. I'm just someone that hates being hassled when I'm trying to enjoy the outdoors.

Granted this is always on easy access property, not large tracts with locked gates and tall fences. I always get one that has to roll up on a four wheeler hauling ass across a field, with fingers still greasy from his morning sausage taco and just wants to dick around for a while as I watch the morning's early flight disappear left and right while he finger f--ks my shotgun and rolls through about 5 EASY infractions in an attempt to bust a group of 4 for something he never had a chance on. Sorry...it's happened more than once.

Wait until the hunt is over. Catch me at the gate. I'll have a bag full of birds and a better chance of getting a ticket if you're right. Wait..no...can't do that...that gets in the way of 11:00 lunch. I've had but a few very cordial and efficient LEO interactions, and I thank them continuously for that.

---

Ha, I can't possibly imagine why...

As evidenced by Ursus, maybe we need to be calling in and complaining?

Or bringing extra tacos.....

It's just bad luck and irritable agents. The community isn't exactly high end. Maybe they got shot at yesterday or just dealt with some questionable tool that made him walk 1 mile to check a license. I don't know. Just do whatever but do it quickly!

I have absolutely no issue with taking up what I consider to be rude or inappropriate behavior, after the fact. And I will bulldog the hell out of it to a conclusion.

Maybe my people skills aren't awesome.

I've been treated like crap 3 times by GWs. Twice down in Rockport hunting the bay systems, and once in Montgomery, Texas; on my parents property... where they live.

GWs in Montgomery issued a formal apology after my dad complained about their demeanor and attitude. I never said anything about the Rockport stuff; but good to know that I should if it warrants it.

I've never been treated bad by GW's including the one time I was absolutely fishing without a license. Did have an opening day one year where they came to our blind on an airboat about a half hour after first light. Blew right through our decoy spread. Checked our licenses, weren't there long, but between the timing of them showing up, the loud assed air boat, blowing through our spread and nearly getting stuck on the way out, put a huge damper on the success of that opening day.

Normal LEO's? Different story, probably about 50/50 on cordial encounters versus jackwagon encounters.

I have a former GW sitting downstairs with a specialty in digital forensics that the TPWD spent $50K+ training because idiots kept texting each other, tweeting, FBing and posting pics of poached animals.

The dude works in InfoSec for a forture 20 company now b/c rednecks are dumb. He basically said his job was easy. People sent him all the eveidence and all he had to do was get the moron talking. They all confess or they already confessed and he had the printout.

I just have to figure out when I am gonna go on the helicopter hog hunt he keeps offering me.

I know him, and recently learned he had left TPWD. Nice guy. He used to call me about track id and general wildlife biology info on a semi regular basis.

yeah, he knows you.

I liked that he would ask about a track id BEFORE running with it.

BUMP for opening weekend of archery.

1) legal shooting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset
2) only hunt property you have permission to hunt
3) it ain't humane dispatch if the deer you shot in the ass on Saturday is still walking around on Wednesday no matter what your mom says on facebook.

4) when you shoot an exceptionally large deer on small property, expect the whole world to dig in to your chit from every angle possible.

CS78 said:

---

4) when you shoot an exceptionally large deer on small property, expect the whole world to dig in to your chit from every angle possible.

---

well, if you boast about it on the internet, then even more so.

5) Only talk to cops if you share blood or beer with them.