Turn in your hunting buddy?

[*zap*]

No punks get to be my buddy so wanton violations would not be an issue....misjudgments happen and I am no rat so......

 

[Squincher]

I'd only turn him in if there was a reward. $10 minimum. For $100, I'd testify.

 

[npm352]

That second part is important.

Absolutely.

I wouldn't lie and none of my three guys would want me to if something happened. My buddies and I wouldn't break wildlife laws, but in this hypothetical, say one did. Say he shoots a grouse out of season, five miles back, and then eats it.

This is where the lovely US Constitution comes in handy.

If I am in a state where knowing/witnessing a wildlife crime is committed and not reporting it is a crime, I am under zero obligation, even under oath, to testify or tell what happened. I'm protected under the 5th amendment, and so would said violator. Probably hard to prove a grouse got shot and eaten without an admission or witness testimony.

If I was in a state where I was not committing a crime myself for witnessing a wildlife violation and not reporting, I'd say nothing to the officer, but would tell the truth on the stand if I was given a subpoena and it came to that.

I don't have to violate my own conscience, but I also won't look for a reason or opportunity to share the events.

This whole thing is hypothetical...if my buddies did something wrong, it'd be unintentional and I'd move on with life. My friends wouldn't like dump a few AR-10 20-round mags into a herd of 100 elk.

 

[87TT]

 

[Racer00]

I turned in my 12 yr old son in Montana.
I am not as horrible as I sound. We found him a nice mule deer buck with a group of does and he somehow managed to shoot the wrong deer. We were on private ground adjacent to my parents place. I called down and had dad call the game warden and report it. CO was out so we left a message.
In Montana your A tag entitles you to a mule deer or whitetail buck or a whitetail doe. He shot a mule deer doe. We took pictures of the kill site, then field dressed and drug her to our atvs, loaded her and took her to the ranch to await our fate. CO called an hour later and asked what happened. As I explained, he asked my sons age. When I told him 12, he informed me that the holder of a youth license could indeed legally take a mule deer doe. A huge sigh of relief followed. Crisis averted. I read the game laws more thoroughly now. But I wanted to be sure my son knew we follow all game laws.

 

[Button]

Leave a steamy turd on the surface with tp and get a one way ticket to Washington DC Gulag.

 

[gelton]

My dad had a deer lease down in S Texas right on the Mexico border. Texas has an extended whitetail deer season down south that lasts until or through the 2nd week of January. It was both of our first year to hunt down south and I wasn't a member but went with him as a guest several times.

In any case, he calls me up and tells me to come down for a doe only hunt with him, my cousin, and my uncle. Anyhow, my uncle shoots a doe we clean it, quarter it and throw it in the cooler and then take the carcass to set out in a pasture so we could hunt coyotes off it at night.

The rancher across the road comes over for dinner and drinks around the campfire who is a Mexican gentleman that has a little sugar in his loafers (gay guy but also nice and hospitable) we used to go hang out with his crew and lessees and eat barbeque after a hunt and sometimes his workers would clean our deer for like $15. We tell him about the hunt and the doe my uncle shot thinking nothing of it.

Well, my cousin and I go out to spotlight for coyotes and hogs that night and notice some headlights pulling onto the property and heading towards the camp.

Being in cartel land and knowing both of our dads were likely sleeping at this point we drive up to find a game warden looking like he had been searching through coolers etc.

He asks - did you happen to shoot a deer, I say no sir. He says - did someone else here shoot a deer. I said - "it's possible."

Needless to say, I had to wake up my dad and uncle because the game warden had already found the deer and we were a week late in the extended season.

The rancher from across the street had turned us in without even letting us know that we were hunting out of season. (not for coyotes and hogs they are unlimited and there is no season)

A couple of things to learn here - don't trust your aging father for hunting seasons/dates, and don't trust a rancher who is a competing landowner who would rather turn you in than let you know you had violated the law.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse but if I ever am in the same scenario I would give any acquaintance the benefit of the doubt to handle it how they saw fit unless the violation was egregious, and I surely wouldn't turn them in without letting them know first.

 

[Sadler]

Damn! Ya got one guy turning in his dad here and another trying to turn in his son…..good question OP. I would not.

 

[CorbLand]

Leave a steamy turd on the surface with tp and get a one way ticket to Washington DC Gulag.

See guys, I am telling you, not wiping is the safest bet.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

There are moral/ethical dilemmas and laws based on the legal system. I’m not one to go tell on people for violations but if it was a moral or ethical thing…..still probably not.

Snitches get stitches.

 

[Trap]

I hunt with very few people. A few others have said it but finding a good hunting buddy is harder than finding a good wife. I raised my main hunting partner , my son. I have maybe 3 others I hunt with and have for years. We hunt the same and have the same ethics. No one I hunt with would intentionally break any game laws. That being said if you hunt long enough and spend a lot of time in the woods you learn crap happens. I’m not turning any of my current hunting partners in. If they made a mistake I might even help clean up the crime scene If I go for the first time or 2 with a new guy and he illegally kills something I probably would turn him in after suggesting he self reports.

 

[Kentivan]

It is hard to say for sure as it depends on level of our friendship with this "buddy" and which violation exactly did he do... I hope you found here the answer to your question. As for me - I guess I would tell about his violation. I am law-abiding citizen

 

[Kevin Dill]

I used to have a friend who was a zealous proponent of adhering to every hunting and fishing law. Nobody got a pass for anything if Randy knew about it. He actually aided law enforcement when they busted a couple of his 'buddies'. Randy also had this great side hustle growing and selling dope back in those days. He was constantly paranoid about getting turned in. Odd.

Which is worse: Shooting 15 minutes late.....or cheating on taxes? Deceive a C.O. in the field or Social Security Admin on a form? I think where I'm going is that it amazes me when people are extremely adamant about NOT breaking a game law, while often turning a blind eye toward other violations of the law, We are sometimes awfully good at rationalizing our hypocrisy.

It would need to be a wanton and rather heinous violation of a game law for me to report a friend. I would make them aware that I was aware, and I would ask them their intentions. I would let them know that I value my friends and I respect the law....and that I should never be faced with the conundrum of choosing one over the other.

 

[DooleyVT]

Several years ago I was hunting out of state with my dad and he called me to say he had a deer down and where to meet him. When I got there he had unknowingly shot a buck below the antler restrictions. Accidents happen I guess but he definitely should have more aware of the regulations. He refused to call the F&G and report it and I just couldn’t bring myself to call and report him. He said we needed “camp meat” and wanted to continue hunting. I said I’ll forfeit my tag for that animal if he wouldn’t and I stayed back the rest of the weekend. He knew I was pissed and it definitely took some time for that tension to wear off. It still bothers me to this day and It definitely took a toll on our hunting buddy relationship.

 

[roadrunner]

Would you turn in your hunting buddy for a game/forest violation?

Let’s say you and your buddy are on a 8 day elk hunt.
You each went your own way for the day and that evening you found out your buddy broke the law…. Doesn’t matter how big or small, definitely broke the law.

You making the call to law enforcement?

Now, before the ‘Do-Gooders’ say you know your buddy really well and either one wouldn’t break the law, we all know ‘shit happens’.

Whatcha gonna do?

No, I'm not going to turn them in. It depends on the situation though. If they know I know, I'd discuss it with them and let them decide. If they didn't know I knew, I'd figure out a way to discuss it "hypothetically" and let them decide.

Their decision would depend how what kind of hunting buddy they remained after that point. I couldn't turn them in because I know I'm guilty as well on "breaking the law". Anyone ever speed and not turn themselves in? The answer is yes. Everyone has...

 

[Dos Perros]

Hell no I wouldn't turn a hunting buddy in. It has taken me half of a lifetime to gin up the right kind of breed of dudes I like hunting with. They are not replaceable.

I myself have made a mistake. Posted the whole story on here a few years back. In the moment I certainly was calculating my odds of getting caught. One of the factors that made it a pretty simple decision to self report was I knew I couldn't ask my hunting buddy to be complicit, and it certainly would have taken his help and silence. I'd rather get dinged up pretty good by the law than lose a friend.

 

[grfox92]

No I wouldn't.

I also wouldn't turn in my buddy if he wasn't wearing his seatbelt or driving recklessly. I'm not a cop.

I wouldn't get in the car with him again though if you catch my drift.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[sveltri]

Never rat on your friends!

 

[Kevin Dill]

It might make sense for 'us' to realize many people look at some hunting and game laws the same way they look at certain traffic laws....a nuisance in many ways and no big deal to ignore or take lightly. Hunting with an expired hunting license and driving on an expired registration are both worthy of a citation. If your buddy deliberately did both of these on a hunt would you turn him in for one, or both?

Honesty: If the local grocery clerk gave you $5 too much change, would you keep it? Why or why not? If the IRS graced you with $50 (too much) in a refund, would you attempt to return it? Is your degree of honesty situational, conditional or relative?

 

[Laelkhunter]

I think the saying is:

A good friend will bail you out of jail...A best friend will be sitting in the cell beside you.

And another one is "Snitches get stitches"