Hunter fires one shot gets 2 caribou.

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Up to him to know what's behind anything he shoots at. Kind of odd for the CO's to say that they'll charge you but the penalty will be less.
 
Penalized for what was supposedly a self reported honest mistake. :banghead: Not much encouragement for folks to report similar future situations. :scrutiny:
 
"So there I was, driving home after hammering 14 beers at the bar. All of a sudden a lady in front of me crossing the street - out of nowhere! Course I had no intention of hitting her, but that don't change the fact that I dragged her well enough that her body can be identified down a full three mile stretch of road. I thought you'd wanna know 'bout it, Sheriff."

"Well Barney, since you took the initiative and come told me first, we'll call this one a warning. Now go on home and behave yerself, y'hear?"

Yeah, that makes sense. It ain't a person - but what if it was? Dude killed a second caribou by mistake, but the only thing that caused it was gross negligence. Coulda been worse. He should be paying that fine and thanking them while he does it. A person should lose his hunting privileges for that, IMHO.
 
Bobson,
I agree on the self report but you and I are going to disagree on loss of 'privilege '. Hunting life sustainable protein is not a privilege, as you say, but should be a right for all free men. Period.
 
Agreed, thanks for bringing me back to reality.

He should lose the right to hunt with firearms. Not lose his right to firearms, and not lose his right to hunt.
 
I have accidentally shot through a hog and killed the one behind it as well. It was up a slight hill and I never saw it.

And no he shouldn't be fined, because bag limits per day are stupid anyway.
Really, if I kill 3 mallards today and 3 tomorrow, that's conversation but if I kill 0 today but 4 tomorrow that's, what? a 8k fine or some nonsense.

I can honestly say I've shot at many running deer, in the woods. In real life it's not always possible know what's behind your target. I know "then don't take the shot!" But listen, if I'm own my land the only people that would be behind said target would be trespassing, don't want to get shot..... Don't poach.
 
It happens with deer around here occasionally. If reported the Cons. Agent will usually issue a warning ticket, confiscate the deer and drop it off at one of the folks they keep a list of who will take it happily.
 
What if this second caribou was over 100yds away thru some brush and not see able? .. No one here can claim to have made sure that every single shot they have ever taken had a safe dirt back stop with nothing the bullet could have ricochet against or or not been stopped by. Mistakes happen the guy turned himself in.. should he of been fined well depends on the situation which i doubt non of use fully know. So lay off a bit guys, Not like all of us here are innocent of accidents.
 
Could have been careless.
Might have been careful, and waiting for other critters to get out of the way.
And one unseen slip behind target.
Doesn't mean the guy was clueless and about to kill another person.

Love the internet.............where folks who kill a deer on a full moon Thursday after eating meatloaf and going to the wife's church bell ringing practice the Wed before.........shoot deer on Uncle Jim's farm with gramps iron sighted .30-30, took the deer broadside at less than 50 yards........that the longest shot they ever would take, of course the deer totally still...........fill a tag once every 5 years..............

Sorry man, these super Nimrods are starting to annoy me.
 
I know a guy who shot two deer, with two shots.
Decades ago.
He saw the upper part of one, shot.
Slug gun rocked him (A5 Buck Special) and he was horrified to see the deer still there.
Thinking he missed clean, he sent another. This time he knew the deer was hit and it ran out of sight.
Waited a bit, then decided to take up the trail, check other side of scrub to look for initial sign. There laid an 8 pt.
He had shot twins.
Evidently one was standing, one was bedded. Spined the first, the other then jumping up.

Knowledgeable and safe, yet weird stuff happened.

The more time you spend afield the more chance for the out of the ordinary.

Sure some folks make errors because they are careless and or stupid.
But not all errors come from that.
 
Not like they are running out of them up there. CARIBOU on this site, a subsistence hunter can take 5 a day. Not flouting game laws, but I hope they are lenient on him.
 
Stipulating that this was an honest error with no ill intent, the lesson taught is that if you goof up, stay quiet and don't be mistakenly honest. Other hunters, making this mistake in the future, would likely leave the second caribou to rot.
 
"So there I was, driving home after hammering 14 beers at the bar. All of a sudden a lady in front of me crossing the street - out of nowhere! Course I had no intention of hitting her, but that don't change the fact that I dragged her well enough that her body can be identified down a full three mile stretch of road. I thought you'd wanna know 'bout it, Sheriff."

"Well Barney, since you took the initiative and come told me first, we'll call this one a warning. Now go on home and behave yerself, y'hear?"

Yeah, that makes sense. It ain't a person - but what if it was? Dude killed a second caribou by mistake, but the only thing that caused it was gross negligence. Coulda been worse. He should be paying that fine and thanking them while he does it. A person should lose his hunting privileges for that, IMHO.


It's really incredible that you would attempt a comparison like that.
 
What Art said! Reporting the violation should have absolved the guy of legal responsibility unless there were extenuating circumstances and/or other violations involved. Maybe his story wasn't very believable? I have never hunted there so I can't know the details. This action will pretty much guarantee that no hunter in that area will report something like this.

I have two similar instances. The first deer(s) I ever killed were back in the 70s. I was a teenager hunting with a bolt action Mossburg and buckshot. I shot a buck at about 70 yards and when I got over to where he was standing I found a doe on the ground with no apparent injuries. I eventually found a small hole in her temple. One pellet to the brain and she dropped like a rock. We found the buck maybe 50 yards away.
My buddy shot at a young buck, missed, and took a 2nd shot. When he walked over there were two bucks on the ground. Neither of these was legal at the time. Now it would be legal to kill a doe and buck on the same day but not in the 70s.

Some game officials, like every other profession, are just plain buttwipes. We have one around where I hunt. His goal in life is to make people suffer and be a jerk while doing it. If I need to call in about illegal hunting I NEVER call this guy. I call one of the other wardens at home. They do their job, write tickets, arrest when needed, and are professional about it. This other guy actually brought a deer feeder and dropped it in my yard. He had busted someone on adjacent property and thought it was on my land. He walked in on a hunter on my land one day and had the guy climb down from the tree. When the guy hit the ground he cited him for no orange even though the guy had his orange vest in his pack. $150 fine! Did I mention he is a jerk?
 
^^^ Yep, sad but true. Proof, for some , that honesty will not be the best policy. The "conservation officer" has become more of a cop over the years, fines are just an added source of revenue and the honest mistake of a hunter is easier to catch and convict than a true poacher.

Some years back a group of hunters were goose hunting down in Oklahoma. The game warden walks out to them to check licenses, etc.. Everything is legal except one guy had forgotten to sign his duck stamp.
Does the warden hand him a pen to take care of the oversight ?
Nope, the hunter got handed a citation.
 
It's really incredible that you would attempt a comparison like that.

Correct. If you hit a pedestrian and drive off then you will be in hot water. If you hit a pedestrian, stop, and call 911 then you will normally be okay, again, assuming that no other laws were broken.
 
Stipulating that this was an honest error with no ill intent, the lesson taught is that if you goof up, stay quiet and don't be mistakenly honest. Other hunters, making this mistake in the future, would likely leave the second caribou to rot.

Yes, perhaps. But of course if they are then somehow caught anyway, a charge of "wanton waste" would be added to the other charges. I don't know about Alaska, but in some states, such a charge carries a substantial penalty.
 
Stipulating that this was an honest error with no ill intent, the lesson taught is that if you goof up, stay quiet and don't be mistakenly honest.

It always amazes me that here on a forum titled "The High Road" that folks, even administrators, condone, thus suggest breaking the law. Suggest "staying quiet" to avoid punishment for breaking the law. The old poachers motto, "SSS". This is about "manning up" and admitting your mistakes, intentional or not. Taking responsibilities for your actions. This is no different than backing into someone's car in a parking lot when no-one else is around. Just as unintentional as the shooting of the second Caribou. Do you take the "low road" and quickly drive away or be a man, take "The High Road" and leave a note or wait for the owner to come out and take your medicine? In Hunter Safety class we tell the students that the definition of " hunting ethics" is doing the right thing, even when no one else is around. This thread obviously shows us who are the High Roaders and who are the Low Roaders. The hunter has not been fined yet or penalized. He will given his day in court to plead his side of the story. The Alaska F&G says it will be lenient because he made the report. He did not do as suggested here and break another law for wanton waste by just walking away. Sounds like this hunter has some ethics, unlike another Minnesota Hunter in the news lately.



Correct. If you hit a pedestrian and drive off then you will be in hot water. If you hit a pedestrian, stop, and call 911 then you will normally be okay, again, assuming that no other laws were broken.

Most states have laws giving Pedestrians the right of way from motorized vehicles....always. So hitting one with your car automatically means you have violated/broken the law. Just as killing over your daily bag limit. Calling 911 means you will not be charged with Hit and Run, just as not leaving meat to rot will not get you a Wanton Waste citation. You will not just be "okay". Odds are you will be summoned, just like the hunter in the article, and have your day in traffic court. Probably another day in civil court. So much easier and cheaper just to drive away, eh?

Again, this is about character, ethics and being a responsible hunter. Every time we take a walk in the woods/field, we are accepting a responsibility(at least some of us here are:rolleyes:). We are accepting the risk of every bullet that leaves our barrel. We are accepting the responsibility of taking only safe and accurate shots leading to a quick kill and minimal suffering and we are taking the responsibility of the footprint we leave in the area we are hunting. Anything else, and we are just folks traipsing around in the woods with a gun and not real "sportsmen".

The hunter in the article did the only right and ethical thing there was to do. Anything else would have made him a violator.
 
He did the right thing. Double kills aren't hard provided the circumstances. I saw a buddy shoot a whitetail at 60 yards with a 300 WSM with a 180gn Accubond, through the first deer and drop 2 second deer in the background with a neck impact. The 2nd deer was almost at a 45 degree angle to the original shot....
A. Bullets do weird things.
B. He did the right thing. Wanton waste is hard to defend in court.
C. It will probably get tossed in court.
D. You hunt, you play by their rules. Accept it.
 
Anyone else notice he's from the lower 48 and they set the court date for 2 or 3 weeks from now. If he's required to appear in court, it won't matter if they decide not to fine him he's already out wages and travel expenses. I wouldn't say much about a small fine, slap on the wrist type thing, but not resolving the situation while he's still in the state is ridiculous.
 
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