Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Season over for me Heart Attack

I thought I would wish every one here good luck this season and be careful out there!
Check your hunting area CAREFULLY as to what your state laws consider
illegal BAITING!
My son- in law last year had asked me about going in with him on leasing some Timber Co.
land we could work on develop for us to hunt on
as not to have to deal with public land hunting here in Alabama where
they will just walk in on top of you every time no matter what!
I agreed and he found 80 acres about 1 1/2 hours south of us
here in Alabama

We bought seed for food plots,hung stands,game cameras,Corn Feeders,
I did not want the feeders but son in law said under new laws they were
legal as long as the corn had been completly gone by 10 days before opening day.
I gave in!
I was sick opening day but went with him any way and sat in a old shooting house some one had built before us the son down at the creek.
Saw nothing but the Game WARDEN walking down the road bed across from me to the creek where the son was then back up past me then back and down again then left.
We decided to bag it early and head home.
Son in law went back next weekend I was to sick with flu to go.
Son hunted creek again Game Warden come back did same thing again
down and back several times.Son gave up left early called me about
him hanging around our little plot.
I asked the son are you sure we are legal as to the empty feeders?
He says yes!
This Sunday I felt a little better and got up early and went down to the land and got in in shooting house before dawn.
Saw nothing the whole day but I kept hunting all day.
That evening at 4 pm I hear foot steps at the door to the shooting house the Game Warden checking for my Hunting Lic.
No problem just doing his job.
I comply and see he is jumpy about my rifle so I unload it to settle him down.
Then he goes off about me illegal baiting for deer!
Surprized what bait?
fEEDERS are empty and have been for over a month.
No they have to be moved or come down he said.

He then walks down in front of the house a points to a rotten pumpkin
that my son in law had thrown off the back of his truck that had been
my grand daughter`s jack o lantern for Halloween a month ago.

He said to most Game Warden S that would not consider baiting but to him it was ! And HE wrote me up for the rotten pumpkin rhine and some pumpkin seeds son in law didnt clean out when he carved the jack o lantern.

He then walks me all the way out to my truck and shines his flash light in my truck bed to point out 5 kernels of corn wedged in the seam of the bed!
That HE considered Baiting also!
He wrote me up for a $500.00 fine and kept asking me to fight it
in front of the judge !
That he loved to go to court over his tickets and that I had better
show up or"They would come get me"?!
This would thing went on for over a hour with him talking a mile a minute.

Then he said I had to remove the rotten pumpkin and the pumpkin seeds
before I left !

I drove my little Tacoma 4x4 down the skidder track to the shooting house , and on hands and knees scooped up the rotten rhine and seeds by the high beams of my Toyota.
THAT took me another hour so I did not get back home till LATE!
No cell service down there and my wife was going nuts worried that
I had been hurt or shot by another hunter.

My WIFE is a R.N. and said I was GRAY skin color and SWEATING bad when I finally got in that late.
I have never been that angry in my 54 years on this earth!
God forgive me!
I guess he WAS just doing his job but the sick smile he had the whole time he had me alone in the woods
He REALLY enjoyed writing me that $500.00 ticket for that rotten pumpkin and pumpkin seeds!
That the son in law did not tell me he had done and
I did not see the the tall grass and did not know was there.

I take bath but just can`t let the anger go!
I then have a massive pain in my chest and wake up in the E.R. with a
funny talking Dr. telling me I had a Heart Attack.

I should be fine they say down the road but real weak now.

I drove down 12/09/2015 to pay the $500.00 for the infamous pumpkin
rhine and seeds and the Lady in he Clerks office in the Court House
shook her head and wished me a "Merry Christmas"
Sorry for the LONG post but please check your hunting area real good
before you hunt!
This new baiting law here in Alabama is unclear to my feeble mind.
Thanks AMRA

that stinks, hope you are on the mend.

Ed

Sorry about your heart attack. I had one seven years ago and if you follow your doc's advice to the "T" you should be ok.

Regarding baiting, everywhere I have ever hunted having a feeder in your woods- empty or not- constitutes baiting. If the deer fed from it before it's likely they'll swing back around from time to time to see if there's anything to be had. They (the deer) don't know it's empty, so I can understand why it's still considered baiting. On my buddy's farm on the Eastern Shore we set up a couple feeders in late winter to help the deer get through a tough time but we are darned sure to remove them come summertime. Apples, pumpkins, corn present at or close to a stand will get you a ticket regardless of whether you know about it or not. Ignorance is no defense in the eyes of the law, and how is a game warden to know if you honestly are clueless or just an adroit bullshitter- he has to write the ticket under those circumstances.

That said, it would seem that the warden who wrote you up was over-reaching a bit-- especially with the bit about the corn kernels in the bed of your truck. (I would have had a few choice words with the SIL for dumping out the pumpkin where y'all were hunting too.)

I get that baiting is a time honored and legal approach in many areas of the country, but personally it always seems a bit too much beyond the tenets of fair chase, but that's only me.

Glad you survived the h a.

Hope you have a complete recovery.

Some G Ws are pricks, just because they can be!


Jerry

What an [bleep].

Glad you're ok.

Glad you came thru the Heart Attack.

The Game Warden is a badge heavy prick.

99% of the Game Wardens I deal with are good guys and good LEO's.

Sounds to me like that one needs a good ole fashioned ass whoopin.

What was your response to the clerk who said, "Merry Chrismas"?

I know what mine would have been.

Glad you're recovering from the heart episode.

Direct from Alabama Regs:

220-2-.11 Prohibited Methods and Devices for Hunting

(7) Any area where feeding has taken place, until all the feed has been removed or consumed for at least 10 days prior to such hunting


220-2-.157 Definition of Area Regulation
For the purposes of Section 9-11-244, Code of Alabama 1975, and Rule
220-2-.11, Alabama Administrative Code, as it applies to the hunting of deer
and feral swine, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that any bait or feed
(as defined in Section 9-11-244) located beyond 100 yards from the hunter
and not within the line of sight of the hunter, is not a lure, attraction or
enticement to, on or over the area where the hunter is attempting to kill or
take the deer or feral swine. For the purpose of this regulation, “not within
the line of sight” means being hidden from view by natural vegetation or
naturally occurring terrain features. This regulation shall not apply on public
lands.
__________________________________________________________


I have lived in Alabama and hunted it all my life. I have been friends with a Game Warden that was in the business for 30+ years. Regretfully he passed within the last year with Cancer. He tought me how to deal with theses types of issues. There can be no presumptions. For instance, you are walking out of the woods and its 2 hours past dark. The game warden is standing at your truck and writes you a ticket for hunting after legal hunting hours. Unless he physically saw you in your stand in the act of hunting the ticket will not stand. There can be no presumptions. You could have fallen asleep in the stand and not woke up until late, etc.

1 - An empty feeder is not baiting. You will win that in court every day. See the reg. It specifically says the feed has been removed, and says nothing about the feeder.

2 - Regarding the pumpkin, was it more than 100 yards away and not in the line of sight? If so, definitely not baiting according to the regs.

If you complied with number 2 above I would have gone to the court and won. If the pumpkin was within 100 yards, the ticket will stand.

File a complaint with Internal Affairs and provide them with the information. Also contact his "higher up". My guess is he has a pattern of this?

That sucks all the way around.

Might I ask what county?

Sounds like a Montana Game Warden.......

Randolph Co.

Son in Law called his Captain and spoke with him awhile and
all his boss said was that the GW that wrote me up was
over aggressive sometimes but the local JUDGE really likes
him and never throws out ANY ticket he writes.
Rotten Pumpkin SIL threw out in front of the shooting
house that he did not tell me about was just UNDER
100 yards according to the GW

I have met 2 Alabama game wardens and never had issues. I understand they wield a lot of power. Too bad some of them abuse that power. Sorry about your Heart Attack , hope you heal completely.

I was a GW for several years. Folks are always suprised when I tell them I quit. The next question is why, isn't it a cool job?

No, its not especially when you have to work in a group comprised of chest thumping , power hungry, suck ups.

Not all of my co workers were jack asses but well over 75 percent were.

You met one of that percentage obviously.

Get better brother.

The discussion seems to be mainly about your "friend" the game warden, but as an old fat man, I'm more interested in your heart attack.

Did you know you were at risk due to BP, cholesterol, smoking, etc? You said that you were sick on the opener; possibly you were already on the verge of having an attack then.

At any rate, you dodged a bullet, well almost. A pretty good percentage of folks don't wake up from what happened to you. It's fortunate that you're not going to need surgery as many that do seem to go through some pretty bad emotional/mental issues in the months following the operaton. Hope you mend up okay.

I am Guilty of NOT heeding the warning signs of my heart
attack,HIGH BP,70 LBS over weight,don`t know about my
cholesterol???
But TEMPER runs in the family!
I was PISSED !!! the night it happened BAD!!!
That is what the Doc told me at the E.R. that
my BP was so high I blew a gasket!
Yes I had the FLU bad leading up to my "EVENT"

WEAK as PUPPY PISS now!

I just hoped all the hard work me and the SIL
did down there all this year would mean some meat
for the freezer for the first time in 18 years!

And just maybe THE BUCK I have been after 50 years
To FINALLY get some horns on the wall
before I pass on.
Thanks AMRA

AMRA,

First and foremost I am glad you survived the heart attack and will get stronger again with time. Sorry to hear about the ticket. Its ashame it could not be handled better by the GW and why it took him 2 weeks to actually approach you and write a ticket. Hunter numbers are down all over and the guy could have "educated" you on the law and asked it be removed in a timely fashion.

Get better soon.