I am not sure if this belongs here or in the NFR forum. But anyhow, a guy that i work with was hunting during the regular season within all of the regulations(he tells me). He sees a small spike buck in a gmu that is any buck. He shoots the buck(first deer might i add) and retrieves it. When he gets back to his truck there is a warden there. The warden inspects his deer and discovers that the tines are just under an inch. The hunter is then written a ticket right on the spot for $5000. He takes it to court and the fine is cut in half. I guess this would be considered a poached animal. My question is: What if this happened on a river? And instead of deer it was salmon or steelhead. I have seen a lot of tickets given out for taking fish illegally(poaching) but have never heard of such severe panalties for doing so. I still think the hunter should have hired a lawyer. He threw himself on the mercy of the judge.

I dont know where this 1" thing is coming from.Other than on branch antlers.It says on page 25 of the regs.. Any buck:
Any deer with visible antlers may be taken.(fawns illegal)

I think your body got screwed.He should have taken the pamphlet in with him.I think I would try to get in to see the prosecuting atty that handled the case,or even the judge.Show them the regs.and see about getting the decision reversed.

Rick

I don't hunt any more, so i don't know if what I'm about to say is still true or not. Now, that being said, the regs used to define a fawn as a deer who's horns had not yet protruded the hair on the scalp, and I don't recall any mention of a length of horn. If any buck was legal, maybe an investigation into a fawn definition is in order. Any way you slice it, that was a mighty small deer, and it seems that one would have to be awfully close to it to be able to see those nubs of horn. Sure hope it wasn't a "shoot first, look later" thing.

Hey bullshooter, I think your line (he tells me) tells it all. Sounds like you even might doubt your friends version of a events a little. I know the enforcement offiers can be very strick, depending on who you get,...but that would be ridiculous. If that cop wrote a ticket for that, he needs some re-training and maybe a version of cop charm school! I've never seen anything in the regs to indicate anything other than visible antlers on spikes. Maybe I missed something in the phamplet? I think it's funny that so many people jump on the anti enforcement bandwagon everytime a story like this appears.