I guess I’m not done yet, I hunt coyote here in Minnesota. Why, because they kill fawn,pheasant, grouse,rabbit, and small farm critters. Other than deer, don’t hawks kill about the same things ? Why again are they protected, what’s the reason ? They’re not an in dangerd species.

Disagree if you will, but it would've been best to take the high road and handle it internally. No good will come from the club eating its own young. IMHO turning him in smells of a bit of strong arming and justification in hiding behind the law. Forgiveness is ultimatelty more powerful than punishment, especially since the fellow is repentant. Consider how would you want it handled if'n you were in his shoes.

awwwww, been awhile, but i remember this thread.

wonder how much coin it ended up costing the guy? pyscodog know? the guy still a member of the club?

most of us arent dumb enough to end up in his shoes.


my grandpa always said if you're gonna be stupid you better learn to be tough - because stupid is supposed to be painful so you learn from it.

i'm all for forgiveness if someone makes an honest mistake, but this situation was a big double eff-up - one for doing it in the first place, and two for lying about it to try to cover it up.

PO, i didn't see anything about lying. Instead, PD said he came forward and confessed and he is a really nice guy. Can you point out where the posts said he lied? It may often be true that life circumstances we generate can serve to turn us and we can be rescued from our own ways. But i have doubts that our judgements of "That'll learn ya, durn ya." are based on full knowledge to justify our hard hearts toward others. If he lied, then perhaps a more difficult lesson could benefit him, but your post is in error if he didn't. i'm willing to stand corrected and thank you for it...how about you? Dung can be a pretty good fertilizer.

i seem to recall there was suspicion that he was taking the fall for someone else.. which would be lying.

i dunno if that was ever proven out or not. its been a minute and i will admit i did not go back and read the whole thread over before my post.

The member was suspended for 6 months. As far as I know there were no fines and not sure the wardens did anything. I know it may sound stiff but he turned himself in. We, as officers, didn't know who did it for sure. The club has rules. No hunting or killing wildlife is one of them and strictly enforced. Some of the officers wanted him kicked out of the club. There is a two years waiting list and a $1000 membership fee so expelling him would have been a costly action considering he would have lost it all. He was lucky this time.

Great solution, but I think that is a pipe dream!


Danno in Va's post has a lot of Wisdom in it.

Basically it was handled internally. I can't say for sure the wardens ever were notified. He did his time and its over. We are elected officers and are expected to do our job same as the moderators here or an officer of the bank. Rules are rules. We had a member shooting incinerator rounds and set fire to the range. That is also a big no no. He denied doing it and I found loaded ammo on his bench. Should we have let that slide? He got a year suspension. Being an officer and having to enforce rules is a crappy job at times but we have over 500 members and some of them aren't the sharpest tool in the shed. We have 180 acres, two skeet fields, a wobble trap field, two fishing ponds, an archery range and rifle/pistol ranges from 5 yards to 300 yards and soon be able to shoot to 500. We also have 3 club houses. One bad accident or a fire would wipe us out. We just can't take any chances. Thats why we have rules and they need to be followed.

It is amazing that the human race has existed for as long as it has. On our rifle range in S. CA that had 88 benches, on the far right, was a section for 50 yard shooting or 100 yard shooting. There was this hard headed fool that did not like to stop for Cease Fires. He would walk down range during live fire, and thought it was safe because he was at the end of the firing line.

I saw a guy up close get his brain housing group re-calibrated for that.

If the wardens were notified you would know because he’d still be squealing from the lashings, sleeping on his stomach after several spending several thousands of dollars on the fine. He would’ve lost his hunting privileges or had them suspended for quite a few years as well, guaranteed.

If you ever see such a dead creature just keep on going. Dont take even a feather for your cap. One feather is just as bad as shooting the bird yourself.

Around here that also applies to turkeys.

i know you cant have raptor feathers, but since when was it illegal to pickup turkey feathers? they're not on the Federal migritory list ....

i cant find anything specific about it on google - in fact the only references to turkey feathers i find say they're legal.

there is no truth to that at all. good grief.