Deer decoy by warden, my story & add your own

[GoldTip]

Gotta be honest, probably 15 years ago my sister (19 at the time) got nailed for shooting one back home in Montana.  While she was in college she went out hunting by herself in an area my brother, whom she lived with while they attended college told her to go.  She was headed up into the area when she saw a good mule deer buck, 4x4, about 250 yards out through the trees standing on the edge of a clear cut.  She parked her truck, got out and put on her hunters orange and put a stalk on the buck, as she was shooting open sights.  She got within 50 yards and figured that was close enough for her peep sighted 7x57 and popped the buck in the front shoulders.  She was somewhat shocked to see it still standing as she'd shot multiple deer with the gun, so she shot it again.  This time when it didn't fall down she heard some yelling, and out stepped a warden. 

Turns out one side of the road was a 2 point or less restriction and this decoy was a 4 point, on the 2 point side of the road.  They dinged her for $75, let her keep her license and she learned a good lesson.  The wardens did congratulate her for having done everything else correct, ie: not shooting from the vehicle, being greater then 10' from the road when shooting and putting on her hunters orange before heading up for the deer.

[ThePascoKid]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you do everything completely legal they shouldn't be able to do anything to you for shooting a decoy

[Snowman]

Read the last paragraph of Goldtips post she was on the wrong side of the road. You have to know where the lines are drawn and they can change from year to year. I read the boundry descriptions every year, even though have them marked out in my map book. Hate to get caught for an honest mistake, but they will still write you a ticket.

[WDFW-SUX]

Im missing where she broke the law.............the deer was not a real deer....... just like shooting a stump in my book

[tlbradford]

I thought I had a run in with a decoy several years ago.  I was driving down the road and slammed on the brakes because there was a huge bodied muley next about thirty yards off the road.  This is august and this thing has two clubs coming off each side of his head in ful velvet.  His bases were probably close to ten inches around and he had about a 28" spread.  I sit there and stare at him for about a minute and he doesn't move.  I holler at him and nothing.  I look around the entire area with my binocs to see if someone is watching me, and nothing.  Now it has been about three minutes and this deer still hasn't moved.  I am convinced it is a decoy, so I get out to take a closer look.  Finally, the deer slowly turns around and walks as slowly as a deer can move back into the sagebrush.  This was just an old man on his last legs.  About a 1/2 mile down the road was a nice group of 3 bachelors pushing the 30" mark.  Those didn't hang around as long.

[GoldTip]

Yep, she was on the wrong side of the road, which seperated two different units.  She broke the law and learned the lesson about boundaries and a simple 100 yards as the crow flies can seperate you from the biggest buck of your life and breaking the law, and that you have to KNOW the boundaries.  I thought it was pretty decent of the F&G guy to let her keep her license and to not come down on her with a hammer.

[Skyvalhunter]

true but can't shoot a 4 point in a 2 point or less area.

[Dman]

 I shure thought I was on candid camera one time down in the Lincoln. I was scouting and saw a really large deer out on an open hillside, I got out and we had a staring contest for 20 minutes, the whole time it never flinched. I had just watched a local show (around 2002) that showed a ton of people getting citations shooting at a fake 2 point down in Lewis County. I'll be damned if the deer wasn't gone when I came back through but it shure made me wonder.

[bobcat]

true but can't shoot a 4 point in a 2 point or less area.

I think what Passion is saying is that she DIDN'T shoot a 4 point deer. She shot a decoy and there is no law that says you can't shoot a decoy. Maybe if she would have just said that she knew it was a decoy all along and was just shooting at it to test her abilities. But the point is if there had been a real 4 point deer there she would have done the same thing and so she deserved the ticket. There's no excuse for not knowing the law.

[WDFW-SUX]

She shot a decoy and there is no law that says you can't shoot a decoy.

 

[Alchase]

I had a situation happen to my son and I while hunting in Winthrop about ten years ago. We were camping between Bear Creek and Pearygin creek and decided to run down to the state park for showers. As we pulled into the entrance of the park, about 100 feet in there was a dead doe on the shoulder of the road. I took this opportunity to show my son what a honest law abiding hunter should do. I explained to him that the doe "might" have been poached and we should tell the park rangers about it. We drive up to the Ranger's house on the right after the pay booth and knock on their door. One Ranger opened the door, and there were two Rangers sitting on the couch watching the world series. I explain about the dead doe we saw. One of the Rangers on the couch then says:
"Ya that doe was spotlighted last night by a bunch of poachers. There has been a monster 4x4 buck hanging out just inside the park boundary and they were hoping no poacher would get him" The guy standing next to me was caught of guard and did a double take to the guy on the couch. The second guy on the couch pipes in:
"That big buck has been showing up every night around 8:00 pm, he is huge"
Now I had that distinct feeling that these guys were definitely trying to pull a fast one on us, and why would they tell me that? We continue down to the shower, and my son (8 at the time) pipes up: "Dad were those guys telling the truth?" I asked why he thought that? He says: "I just felt they were joking with us" I told him "I do not know", but wanting him to learn how to be respective to the Rangers and their authority I told him they were probably tired of dealing with poachers all day long. A couple of days later we are eating lunch in town and someone left a copy of the local paper. There on front page is a headline "poachers caught shooting mechanical buck inside Pearygin state park", and there was a picture of a gorgeous 4x4 buck right there on the front page. My son puts two and two together and asks me "Dad, did those Rangers really want us to go shoot that fake buck"? I tried to contain my anger at the lame attempt to bating me into poaching, and told my son that if someone has the intent to poach it really does not matter if the Rangers lead you that way they are the ones who still have to pull the trigger.
Inside, I was totally pissed that they would assume I would be dishonest and poach.

[Ray]

She shot a decoy and there is no law that says you can't shoot a decoy.

 

Tell that to the judge. After spending lots of cash (attorneys ?) and time wasted on the deal. 75$ is not a lot of money. It's not even half a days pay to a lot of people. Going down to the courtroom would be more annoying than just paying it off.

Once an official authority tickets you then they got you by the balls when it comes to time wasting, attorneys and court.

The real moral of the story is to try and be aware of the regulations and stick by them. Try not to let buck fever take over as well.

[WARHORSE]

 

[WARHORSE]

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

you would touch it with intent and they would get you for sexual assault! 

[boneaddict]

If houndhunter or Timber and I stalk one and get real close and take its picture, you guys can't laugh at us.