Just a question?

[BIGHUNTERFISH]

I would like to think most hunters are good honest people.So my question is ,if you made a serious mistake while hunting like shooting an animal with an incorrect point formation or killing an animal outside of your leh zone then what would you do?Are mistakes like this totally unacceptible or can a good person in the heat of the moment make a wrong descision that is out of character.Lets use this as an example you are a new hunter it is foggy morning and you see moose that you are 99 percent sure is a 2 x2, you shoot the moose and find out you have killed a 3 x3 .What would you do ?If you bring the moose to a Co and tell him what happened what would the consequece be?When I was a young guy I shot a big mulie buck on private property without permission since then I follow the regulations religiously, but I can understand but not justify how a new hunter could make a big mistake.

[30-06]

you leave the moose , call the CO and he deals with it like that. my brother shot a bear this year. he tracked it for a few hours , couldn't find it . so the next day at lunch break he gets a friend and they go look for it. find it kill it . but when he shot it it ran over a little hump and down into a field. not private just a field . and there he seen cubs . all said and done with the CO got called , my brother told him the story . the CO said if you were to call me straight and i would deal with it no fines , but his buddy said he didnt know if they were cubs , because of the size . but the CO said they were . so no arguing . but because of his honesty he ended up with a 105$ fine . the CO said it could have been more than 105$ if he wasn't honest with him. moral of the story ..be honest about what happened .they will find out the truth one way or another

[Mik]

Foggy, only 99% sure, not good enough!...When they teach CORE its always hammerin' the old sayin'....BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET...GEFORE YOU SQUEEZE THE TRIGGER.

[Gateholio]

Doing the rigth thing is contacting the CO's and taking your lumps for not ID'ing an animal properly.

[Brambles]

I believe if you shoot an animal mistakenly that you're still suppose to gut it and make attempts to make the meat salvagable, not 100% sure but I think I seen it somewhere, in the regs maybe?? And yes, go and report it to the CO, some will lynch you and some won't, luck of the draw I guess...

[3kills]

i say gut it out get it back into town dont tell any one dont cut a tag and eat it....no just kiddin seriously i have always been told no matter what always gut it and bring it into town u f up then u take it to the CO and take ur lumps but why leave it in the bush and let it got to waste the CO can find a use for it....

[tmarschall]

A friend of mine hunting in the rockies years ago was lucky enough to get a bighorn draw, not sure now, but then it was a once in a lifetime draw here in the states. He shot a good ram, but when he walked up on it, there was another ram lying dead right behind his. He nailed 2 with one shot. He took both in and explained the situation. He paid a $1,000 fine but he was allowed to keep his trophy. He figured he was lucky at that.

[mapguy]

i take it he shot a sow that didn't have the cubs at her side and when he found the cubs down n a field he reported it .
with that for a senario i would say that the warden was wrong you can make every reasonable effort to ensure there a no cubs but you can't garantee
they won't pop out of the bushes afterwards espeacially 2 yr old cubs which probably will wander a little farther
i'm betting a judge would see it that way also
and what kind of message does that send to eveyone if your honest you get a fine
isn't a solitary bear legal

[johnk]

Being located at Tunkwa Lake Resort I have frequent interaction with both Merritt and Kamloops CO's. In the case of an illegal animal taken in all good intention you are expected to gut the animal and LEAVE it there. Hypothetically if you were to gut it, load it up and head for the CO but on the way you are intercepted by the CO, then what.....?
With all the illegal activity out there how believable would the statement, "I was just bringing this 3 point moose into you" be.
Last year I was hunting one of my honey holes and found a gutshot spike/fork. After returning home I phoned Andy McKay(Merritt CO) and he asked me to take him back out there so he could cut the horns off because, according to Andy, they were like "gold" to less than ethical hunters.