Deer decoy by warden, my story & add your own

[MIKEXRAY]

Wondering if anyone has a deer decoy story, have not read any and was curious. About six years ago I was heading into 501 at night from road to Pe-ell ,( muzzle loader season early ) then got out into 501 about two miles when we came around a corner and standing in the clear cut was a four point buck. We stopped the truck and watched it with head lights for a couple of minutes. Pretty real looking, head moved and all. After sitting for a few minutes all of a sudden three trucks come at us from different directions with lights off and then lit us up. We had never gotten out of the truck and our guns were in camper shell unloaded but they still hassled us pretty good. One young warden was a total ass, the older one was pretty civil. The young one wanted to write us up on "intent", after half hour they let us go. The next night on the way back to camp from dinner, the deer was there again. No looking that time, just yelled out the window at them. Moral of the story: Never break the laws and you won't get in trouble. I would never shoot from the road, or at night but sure is tempting. Like a bag of money on the side walk in front of the bank.

[Sagedawg]

I know they have a couple that they use down around Cheney. My cousin used to work with a guy that actually got out and shot him. Needless to say, but the game wardens had a feild day with that guy. If I remember right he had to give up his rifle, lost hunting rights for a few years and got slapped with a hefty fine. IMO I think he got off to easy, but at least he got what was owed to him.



    Sage

[bowpredator]

Yea, I'v seen the wardens using one over in Winthrop a few times. Driving down the road and see 2 rigs parked off the road with guys sitting in them down the road about 200 yrds there is a nice buck standing on the side of the road but we just kept going knowing what the scoop is. A couple days later same set up but this time we pull up to the wardens and ask them if they get many takers, and their reply was OH YEA all the time. They were cool about it and talked for a bit. They had 2 guys hidden in the brush down by the deer who would jump out on the takers and the trucks would drive down to assist.

Rodger

[Bofire]

I saw one once in the old Champion site by Orting, where you paid a fee to hunt. Several guys got written up in the newspaper for shooting at a stuffed grouse in Capitol Forest a few years ago.
Carl

[boneaddict]

In NM they would get you withthe intent.  They have a clause that it is illegal to light up any game at night, rig or spotlight if you have a firearm even in possesion.  They don't have to wait for you to fire at it or anything.   This includes coyotes or all game.  

They get alot of folks because I saw one target that had so many holes in it, it didn't even look real anymore.

[zackmioli]

the "intent" pitch is kinda BS, in my opinion. If you are just checking it out tell them that you know its fake and were just checking out how realistic it is cuz youve never seen one before. hey if i saw one of those decoys id wanna watch it for a couple minutes to watch its false movements and stuff. those things are interesting.

[WDFW-SUX]

I though they were having issues making the charges stick as guys would claim they knew it was fake so thats why they shot it...I think they had some guys plead out to vandalism and shooting from a road

[MIKEXRAY]

I didn't realize they decoyed so much. The intent is BS, the young warden said it was the law here also Seems to me you need to get out or have a gun in the truck to shoot out the window. The grouse thing is wild. I have walked down roads and shot grouse. Now that I'm older and wiser have not done that in years.

[mossback91]

Id walk out there and pet it.....

[snohohunter]

When I was in college over at CWU....they had a bear decoy just off the road up in the hills.  Long story short, a couple of my "not so smart" buddies got out of the truck and shot it.  Of course, since it was bear season, it was alright to shoot it......but the fact that it was around 10 PM.., it didn't help their case with the wardens.  LOL

They took the truck, guns, etc.....they ended up getting the truck back, but that was it.

[DeKuma]

You do not want to do that petting thing!!

When I was 18, we were coming out around Greenwater and they had a decoy out in a field along FS70.  The truck ahead of us stopped and got out to shoot it, when we told him not to do it.  He flipped us off and got in and drove off.  It was tucked back against the trees, and at this time, we did not know it was a decoy.  I had just gotten my first deer call and was trying to get the deer to respond to it.  I got out of the truck and started creeping up on it and blowing the call softly.  I kept thinking to myself that this deer looks odd and he's just standing there!  I decided to try and scare him off, so I threw a stick at it.  It just stood there!  I looked back toward the truck and shrugged.  Took two more steps and all hell broke loose!
Wardens came out of everywhere, some with guns drawn!!  I about peed myself.  They escorted me back to the vehicle, where another handful were standing there.  They were nice about it all, but they thought I was going to shoot it.  I forgot I still had my .44 on my hip!
They read us a small riot act about our friend in the truck ahead of us, but we finally convinced them we did not know them.  Then my dad and I had to assure them that I was just a stupid kid playing with a deer call and never had intentions of shooting anything.  They let me off with a warning, and sent me home to change my soiled britches.

[Skyvalhunter]

Those things would get me into trouble as I would want to mess with it by taking pictures, trying to say I wanted to pet it just to screw with them. But I know the best thing would be to keep going as those guys are trying to do their job and some are real *censored*s. I know my sister was(yes was) married to one and he was one of the biggest ass's around. So I guess a question would be if you saw a truck comming down the road and you saw the decoy would you warn them? Or is that different than flashing your headlights to warn an on comming driver that you just passed a parked cop and he might want to slow down?

[Intruder]

I know the local Mule Deer chapter has purchased at least 1 decoy for the F/G here in the Spokane area.  I believe they may have even gotten more.  The decoys and the equipment are getting more sophisticated too.  The decoys are in different positions and their using recording equipment and night vision stuff.  Must be a pretty effective way to nab poachers.  All in all it doesn't bother me none.... I think it's a good thing.  I do think the whole intent thing is complete BS though.  Hard to see that standing up in court.  Maybe Pope can comment on that.

[Snowman]

I wouldn't warn them. It's their dumb luck if they can't tell that it is not real. Growing up in Duvall poaching was really bad. So they put one up in stossel crk. I got to meet the guys who had shot the damn thing over 40 times, Iask them after the first three shots and it didn't fall what made you think the next 37 would kill it. I saw it all the time up there and knew it was fake. Not really hard to tell back then as it was a new deal. I also talked to the wardens about it and they said they would catch at least 2 to 3 trucks full of guys a night when they had it out. New the wardens pretty well, we had moved it on them one night when they dozed off. They didn't find it funny but they knew who did it in an instance needless to say don't mess with them even if it's your best friend. That's how they get their jollies off. Watching stupid people shot the damn thing up. They had to buy a new not long after they had started doing. They were baffled out how these guys would shoot and shoot till they had no ammo left. They also would set it up in broad day light out of season and some stupid sucker would shoot at it They also videoed it to. I think it's a great tool for them to combat the poachers. Wish they do it more in some areas I hunt during modern season.

[shanevg]

I heard the charges are finding difficulty standing up in court because they did not shoot a deer, they shot a fake deer.  So they are getting in trouble for smaller things, like shooting off a road and vandalism.  I heard they were trying to change the law to shooting something that you believed was a deer is illegal. 

But yeah, I have seen it once, I came in to camp and everyone was telling me about it so I wanted to go out and see it.  A couple of buddies drove out with me and right as we were coming around the corner we heard a shot and came around to see three trucks come roaring up to a parked truck with lights shining everywhere.  So we just got uot of there, never actually got to see the decoy.  That was near Winthrop.