Sheds and CO's

[bear buster]

So I went to check in with a local farmer I have know for years, we had a pretty good deal going. You see he never alows hunters, but has aton of critters come late fall through the winter, I struck up a friendship with this rancher, and in exchange for some help on his ranch he would hook me up with 10-20, more if I would by them, bales set out in his pasture for shed hunting come spring. I had sole permission for this, and this year he let me hunt. But do to work and family I never made it out till a week ago and he had a story. He was approached by a local CO and was told he had to give up all his sheds(he was nice enough to pile them up for me) as they were doing a animal check on age and so forth. And there were so big ones! He had 33 in total, I did do some walking and found 14 more.
I have had personal dealings with this CO, he tried to convince a racher in the same area 7 years ago to charge me with hunting with out permission and so on, after an elk he was after came into land I was on and he had no permission. He has also taken sheds from this rancher aswell? This don't seem right to demand sheds from farmers, maybe I am going overboard? The only reason I am ranting about it now is the fact this CO was in local coffee shop braggin to another gentleman about all the sheds he found and is taking them to an antler buyer down south........piss me off.

[Steeleco]

Sounds like you should be telling this tale to someone that can do something about it??

[ruger#1]

This sounds like a crooked CO, And I would report him to a Ministry Of Environment manager, But you should also be aware you could also be going to court to deal with this. Good luck

[Ambush]

If everything is just as you say, you should approach him and ask him for the sheds. If he says no, them go to the area super. with the situation.
He is not allowed to use his position for profit. It's crooked and if YOU don't do anything, then he gets away with it. But if you choose to do nothing, then don't bitch about it.

[sheep.elk.moose fanatic]

wow that's crazy but i would not doubt it one bit go after him....before he gets you with his bull $hit....

[proguide66]

this is TOTAL BULLSHAT....prime example of abuse of the badge...he's probably a midget with 'e.d.' to boot.......hang him high......this is probably only the tip of the iceburg in relation to this dirbags past and present.
Sadly its not the only story out there...I know the son of an ex CO who worked Naniamo and then Lilloette before he was skidded...he confiscated many fireamrs back then and kept/sold lots for himself and son....
Only a wildlife bio would inquire about shed antler..IF they actually mean much to the bios in the first place....go after this , or pm me his name and I'll pass the story to a couple CO's I know and see what they say.:evil:

[quigleyoutwest]

i had a co in courtenay , confinscate a cougar that i had shot. his problem was that i had a 2007 -08 hunting licence ,i shot it april 1 2008 .and i bought my hunting licence for 2008 -09 on march 30, '"2 days befor the end of that licence year ". how would i be able to hunt cougar on april 1 or 2nd , "cause as most know" ,it takes a couple days for the tag to be legal. and when i was getting it inspected from him in miracle beach he kept it and told me he will let me know when or if i can get it back , and if i broke the law buying my next season licence then . 5 days past and i was worried , so a good guy from hbc told me some names of his superiors , and not in that office. i phoned the co that i was having problems with, dropped the names, he phoned me back 2 minutes later and said it was cleared. i went and got it immediately "worried it was gunna be frezzer burnt". never seen that co since. " sorry if this story is hard to understand guys "

[bear buster]

Just thought I would throw it out there to see what other hunters may think, I know what I am going to do I have talked to the 2 mentioned ranchers and have gotten written letters stating what took place. Was'nt to sure what to do, but I feel this is very wrong. But what may happen if I do make a complaint, not that I have anything to worry about I play by the rules. At first I thought this may be legit, maybe they do check sheds for age, I always thought they used teeth? But at least return the sheds to the rachers, I would even give up my shed collection for a few weeks so they could use them, and return. But if this has happend to 2 ranchers in less than 4 miles apart........How many other places is there? Someone could collect alot of sheds if they had a uniform and a position like that. I keep most of my sheds, but have sold a few to antler buyers and I make a good chunk of change, enough to cover tags, a tank of fuel or 2 and some hunting odds and ends. I dunno....

[M.Dean]

quigleyoutwest, dam good thing you followed through with that, other wise the CO would have your Cougar on his wall telling the boys how he shot it himself !!! I think each year there's horror stories we never hear about, the hunters are scared to follow it up and they lose there trophy or guns etc! The CO taking the sheds, I'd take that as far as possible, we the tax payer are paying his wage and he's stealing from us! I'd do what ever it takes to get this thief fired, this guy isn't worthy to be a bloody Walmart greeter never mind a CO with a gun and a badge!!!

[ianwuzhere]

yup- BS Co...

[elkdom]

antler sheds are the property of whomever picks them up, only on BC Provincial or National Park Lands are the antler sheds property of the Crown,

also it is truly amazing how " BC Compulsory Inspection Contractors and some CO's can show up hunting the next season in an area they never before hunted, once someone has produced a "trophy kill for Compulsory Inspection", just more PERKS of the "JOB" I suppose,,:?

[sheep.elk.moose fanatic]

antler sheds are the property of whomever picks them up, only on BC Provincial or National Park Lands are the antler sheds property of the Crown,

also it is truly amazing how " BC Compulsory Inspection Contractors and some CO's can show up hunting the next season in an area they never before hunted, once someone has produced a "trophy kill for Compulsory Inspection", just more PERKS of the "JOB" I suppose,,:?

X2 i will never give my exact pin point just the general area...

[hunter1947]

If me I would get ahold of the wildlife branch go there in person and tell them what you told us ,if the antlers where going to be used for tests well then he would have all the rights to do what he has done...

[BimmerBob]

If me I would get ahold of the wildlife branch go there in person and tell them what you told us ,if the antlers where going to be used for tests well then he would have all the rights to do what he has done...

No he would not have had "all the rights to do what he has done", just because they want to do tests does not mean they have the "right" to seize private property. He could ask and the people can refuse and there is nothing he can do about it.

Otherwise I agree with you, going to the branch and informing them of what has occured, something is amiss and they should know about it.

[sparkes3]

sounds like he would make a good wall mount.
poaching behind a badge is worse than any other kind,he would definately nail your hide to the wall if he had a reason to .

[bigwhiteys]

I have had personal dealings with this CO, he tried to convince a racher in the same area 7 years ago to charge me with hunting with out permission and so on, after an elk he was after came into land I was on and he had no permission.

Sounds like the CO we had to deal with when he tried to charge us with unlawfully obstructing a legal hunt, after we caught his "buddies" trespassing on gated, private land (they had NO permission on). He pushed all the way to court and then was embarrased in front of the judge when he LOST.

Carl

[Bow Walker]

Sounds like you should be telling this tale to someone that can do something about it??
Tell this story - backed up with the letters - to the CO's boss. If you don't get satisfaction there, take it higher up the ladder.

Make copies of the letters and keep the originals.

[ytlogger]

Tell this story - backed up with the letters - to the CO's boss. If you don't get satisfaction there, take it higher up the ladder.

Make copies of the letters and keep the originals.

I have a somewhat different take on this kind of thing. I don't believe in talking to the next higher up and so on up the line. I suggest that you put your story in a letter and send it to the Minister and copy it to your MLA, and then follow up with a call to the MLA. These are the people that are directly responsible to you. Start your letter with something like 'Mr. Minister, please do not pass this letter down to a bureuacrat in the department as I am sure that you are ultimately the person who is responsible to me' go on to suggest that you felt it only fair to bring it to your elected representatives before going to the media, etc. etc.. If you start out at the low end you may find this C.O. lurking in the weed for you, and cause yourself more grief. Just my two-bits.

[Sitkaspruce]

No he would not have had "all the rights to do what he has done", just because they want to do tests does not mean they have the "right" to seize private property. He could ask and the people can refuse and there is nothing he can do about it.

Otherwise I agree with you, going to the branch and informing them of what has occured, something is amiss and they should know about it.

Actually, since all animals belong to the crown, even on private property, any "piece" of them also belongs to the crown, including antlers/horns.

Here in BC, the gov can seize the antlers/horns on a sheep, deer or any other animal if it feels that there is warrant to do so. It is done most of the time with dead animals with skull plate in tack, but I do know of two incidents where the antlers were taken off a poached elk and cut off the show them as being drops, both times the antlers were seized and an investigation was put forth.

Now before you all jump up and down, the "warrant" has to be reasonable and probable grounds that there was something done wrong to obtain that "piece" or that the "piece" will favour the person financially, (ie find a dead buck with a 250 BC score and sell it).

An example of this was a few years ago, a big WT buck was hit and killed in Fort St. James. A buddy went down and cut off the head and two quarters. The next day he was contacted by the CO's and asked where the head was. He asked if he tagged the animal could he keep it, they came and took the head and explained that under the new rules, he could financially benefit from the head and since it was not killed by hunting, he could not tag it. It was a bunch of BS, but they took it anyways. I guess they get lots of guys driving around hitting trophy animals with their vehicles so they can benefit from them:mrgreen::wink:

It was sold at a gov auction for taxidermists.

Here he is
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/wtdeer1.jpg

Sounds like what happened is an abuse of powers. Find out the CO's supervisor and set up a meeting with him personally. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row and come straight to the point.
Also any time anything is seized from anybody, get a receipt for it and take a picture. Nobody can seize something and use it for personal use down the road. There has to be a statute for it, ask the officer under what leg/reg is the antlers being seized.

Sounds like it needs to be corrected before it get further out of hand.

Cheers

SS

[d6dan]

Quote: [A permit is not required to possess cast antlers, most bird feathers, processed game meat or lawfully owned wildlife.]

This was taken off the MOE website.. therefore,you find them,you keep them..

[boxhitch]

Is his last initial a 'B' ?

[WildlifePredator]

What's the CO's name?

[ruger#1]

What's the CO's name? His name is not important, Unless you are him. I would advise in not putting his name out on this board, In order to protect yourself.

[buck nash]

His name is not important, Unless you are him. I would advise in not putting his name out on this board, In order to protect yourself.

Agreed. Go through the proper chanels and you don't put yourself at risk for unproven acusations. Even if nothing comes of it in an official way,his superiors will likley keep a closer eye on him in the future.

[bear buster]

Is his last initial a 'B' ?
no, not B. Names are not important here, I was just looking for opinions of fellow hunters. I want to keep it professional, I have been in contact with a few people and have found some other issues with this said CO using his uniform to gain hunting permission and so on.

[Phreddy]

I have a somewhat different take on this kind of thing. I don't believe in talking to the next higher up and so on up the line. I suggest that you put your story in a letter and send it to the Minister and copy it to your MLA, and then follow up with a call to the MLA. These are the people that are directly responsible to you. Start your letter with something like 'Mr. Minister, please do not pass this letter down to a bureuacrat in the department as I am sure that you are ultimately the person who is responsible to me' go on to suggest that you felt it only fair to bring it to your elected representatives before going to the media, etc. etc.. If you start out at the low end you may find this C.O. lurking in the weed for you, and cause yourself more grief. Just my two-bits.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amen to that. If you want to talk to a horse, talk to the end that has ears on it.

[tooty]

I don't believe that he is allowed to profit from his position.There is a conflict of interest.I will talk to my CO buddy and mention this and get his two bits and see what bcomes of this.I used to do ride alongs and this just does not sound right to me.I would like to say more, but caution is kicking in right now.

[elkdom]

Actually, since all animals belong to the crown, even on private property, any "piece" of them also belongs to the crown, including antlers/horns.

Here in BC, the gov can seize the antlers/horns on a sheep, deer or any other animal if it feels that there is warrant to do so. It is done most of the time with dead animals with skull plate in tack, but I do know of two incidents where the antlers were taken off a poached elk and cut off the show them as being drops, both times the antlers were seized and an investigation was put forth.

Now before you all jump up and down, the "warrant" has to be reasonable and probable grounds that there was something done wrong to obtain that "piece" or that the "piece" will favour the person financially, (ie find a dead buck with a 250 BC score and sell it).

An example of this was a few years ago, a big WT buck was hit and killed in Fort St. James. A buddy went down and cut off the head and two quarters. The next day he was contacted by the CO's and asked where the head was. He asked if he tagged the animal could he keep it, they came and took the head and explained that under the new rules, he could financially benefit from the head and since it was not killed by hunting, he could not tag it. It was a bunch of BS, but they took it anyways. I guess they get lots of guys driving around hitting trophy animals with their vehicles so they can benefit from them:mrgreen::wink:

It was sold at a gov auction for taxidermists.

Here he is
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/wtdeer1.jpg

Sounds like what happened is an abuse of powers. Find out the CO's supervisor and set up a meeting with him personally. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row and come straight to the point.
Also any time anything is seized from anybody, get a receipt for it and take a picture. Nobody can seize something and use it for personal use down the road. There has to be a statute for it, ask the officer under what leg/reg is the antlers being seized.

Sounds like it needs to be corrected before it get further out of hand.

Cheers

SS

as the OP of this thread indicated at no time the CO issued a "File#" or a formal "Notice of Seizure", I call BS as for the CO's reasons for taking said antler sheds, and further more the CO in question has NO AUTHORITY on private property unless he has a search warrant or is issuing a Citation , as there is no indication of any charges, I call FOUL !

[GoatGuy]

Is his last initial a 'B' ?

subtle.....