Ugh... one bird too many. How screwed am I?

Game wardens seem to come from everywhere during duck hunting. Duck regulations are harsh. It’s almost impossible to identify species at 70 miles per hour in dim skies, and flapping wings. If I accidentally shoot a black duck instead of a female mallard or a pintail female you can bet it gets thrown in the sawgrass for scavengers. Not taking any chance with federal rules.
I recall a joke, but not well enough to retell it fully about a guy duck hunting. He kept encountering the GW and would insert a couple of fingers up the duck’s butt to identify it. Finally the GW asks where he’s from or something like that and the guy responds, “Would you care to do one of these” while holding up two fingers. Ok, I doubt I was in my double digit years when I heard it.

Me also. My attorney neighbor has a plaque on his desk: Good attorneys do great things. Great attorneys know the judges.
A lot of truth to this. I had a conversation with the criminal atty at a particular four name firm in High Point regarding having a number and name to call if I should ever be forced to use a gun in self defense. He gave me his (non office) info and said keep it in your phone. If you’re out of Guilford county, you will need someone local that goes to the cocktail parties and rubs elbows with the judges but I will still be able to get things started and get you help.

Such a testament to the legal system. :rolleyes:

Anyway, my one non encounter with the bunny police, it was my birthday, Labor Day Monday and I went out on this long artificial break wall of large concrete blocks on Lake Erie that were at all odd angles to go fishing with my parents. I had to take a leak and the porta Johns were a 30 minute walk away, so I climbed down in some of the blocks. While peeing, I had an odd feeling I was being watched. I climbed out and the GW was talking to my parents. He asked for their fishing licenses and they produced them. He didn’t say a word to me. Turns out, the feeling I had was him standing up on the rocks watching me take a piss.
 
No but probably thought it would break and allow that fourth shell. I got stopped in ‘96 while dove hunting and the Warden commended me for using a pencil as my plug because I had forgotten it and had to figure a “fix” before dove hunting, so they are not all bad

I’ve got a pencil in my shotgun case that IS my plug lol

ole Rem 870 Express mag don’t care what’s in it
 
People following hunting regs are like the people you invite into your home.
Most people you tel make yourself at home.
There are a few, however, you have to remind they they are in someone else's home.
 
I’ve got a pencil in my shotgun case that IS my plug lol

ole Rem 870 Express mag don’t care what’s in it

I don't hunt with auto's or pump's but why do people remove the plug to begin with?? I know you can hunt non migratory birds with an unplugged gun but really, if you haven't hit the bird with 3 shots what on earth makes you think the 4th or 5th shot is going to be magic??
 
I don't hunt with auto's or pump's but why do people remove the plug to begin with?? I know you can hunt non migratory birds with an unplugged gun but really, if you haven't hit the bird with 3 shots what on earth makes you think the 4th or 5th shot is going to be magic??

Quite a few folks use their hunting gun for their home defense gun.

For a while my same 20g bird gun was my squirrel gun as well.
 
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I don't hunt with auto's or pump's but why do people remove the plug to begin with?? I know you can hunt non migratory birds with an unplugged gun but really, if you haven't hit the bird with 3 shots what on earth makes you think the 4th or 5th shot is going to be magic??
And on the other side of the fence, why does it matter how many is in the gun.
Government control and they need to have some reason for their stupid over priced citations.
 
And on the other side of the fence, why does it matter how many is in the gun.
Government control and they need to have some reason for their stupid over priced citations.

You must go through a LOT of sour candy..... Why don't you just stop hunting and then you won't be bothered with them....
 
Wiping out the bison had more to do with conquering the plains indians than hunting
Maybe...but there was also human greed involved, especially at the onset of opening the west.
 
I don't hunt with auto's or pump's but why do people remove the plug to begin with?? I know you can hunt non migratory birds with an unplugged gun but really, if you haven't hit the bird with 3 shots what on earth makes you think the 4th or 5th shot is going to be magic??

I used to use the same shotgun to dove hunt and then deer hunted with when season came in. When deer hunting, why limit yourself to only 3 shells when the gun can hold 5 legally, take the plug out.
 
I don't hunt with auto's or pump's but why do people remove the plug to begin with?? I know you can hunt non migratory birds with an unplugged gun but really, if you haven't hit the bird with 3 shots what on earth makes you think the 4th or 5th shot is going to be magic??
Lol, plenty of folks hunt with AR’s claiming the need of additional rounds.
 
Maybe...but there was also human greed involved, especially at the onset of opening the west.

Greed was allowed to run rampant as the army did not enforce the treaties we signed with the natives. The reason for this was simple, starve them out and force them onto the reservations.
 
MOST of the time I feel the rules and regs are there GENERALLY for good reason.

But it appears to me that dove season is a good example of where good intentions get overshadowed by fundraising.

I remember one time when I was younger (early 20s) I was not hunting opening day because I had some stuff to do with a vendor at Old Fashioned Farmers day in Silk Hope, which ever since I've been alive was on opening day of dove season. Back then dove season did not start until noon on that Saturday. So I was eating an early lunch at the Burger King in Siler City. In walks almost TWO DOZEN NC Wildlife "Enforcement" agents!

I didn't understand how there could be that many about to work Chatham County. Every time we would call trying to get help with spotlighters killing deer and shooting around our cows and houses we were always told we didn't have more than 3 officers in Chatham County and that was the MAXIMUM on a good day. Same when we would be fishing in the river below the dam for crappie, and some migrant workers would show up, wade into the river in their underwear, and start illegally catching massive amount of crappie by using a throw net. Never got a game warden response in any scenario like that. And with the spotlighters we would call SEVERAL times per month. Multiple neighbors calling at that.

So I was flabbergasted to see that many at one time. As close to noon as it was I knew they were gonna be working our area.

Some years later, a warden working Chatham that I became friendly with, explained to me that for opening weekend of dove that they hired off duty law enforcement (deputies etc) to be paired with "real wardens" and that is how they got their numbers up.

MOST everybody I know that hunts, ONLY dove hunts 1 or 2, maybe 3 days out of the season. And that is usually the first two days, and maybe the following Saturday. Maybe. Because that following Saturday is when the archery deer hunting season starts. Most everybody I know then hangs their shotguns up.



All that being said, after subtracting the Sundays, this dove season has 87 hunting days. (Sept. 5th-Oct. 10th, Nov. 14-28, and Dec. 12-Jan. 30).

You are allowed 15 birds per day.

87 x 15 = 1,305

I am allowed to kill 1,305 doves this season.

1,305

Even the most notorious drunk hunting rogue piece of crap that I have ever heard of around here, who is willing to shoot 60 birds in a day, hardly ever goes more than 2 or 3 days, and comes ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE CLOSE to killing 1,305 birds in a season. Nobody. Period.

This makes it obvious to me that the crush/rush of wardens on opening weekend is absolutely about fundraising, especially since you can apply federal law since the birds are considered migratory and cross state lines.

I've seen wardens take a shotgun and try to repeatedly and forcibly try to break the plug and get an extra shell into a 13 year old boys shotgun. If it had been my 13 year old boy, and he handled that gun the way the game warden did, I would have whooped his tail in front of everybody for being a little punk and treating his equipment that way. But here is a grown man, representing the government doing the same thing. Disgusting behavior. It also reminds me of the ATF modifying the AR with the rubber bands to convict the National Guardsmen whose worn out AR went full auto at the range.

Between the above-mentioned numbers, and the behavior I have witnessed, I am comfortable saying that at this point, whatever good intention the law was made for, has NOTHING to do with how it is enforced.
 
I don't hunt with auto's or pump's but why do people remove the plug to begin with?? I know you can hunt non migratory birds with an unplugged gun but really, if you haven't hit the bird with 3 shots what on earth makes you think the 4th or 5th shot is going to be magic??
How do you know the guy with an unplugged gun has missed his first 3 shots? I always bird hunted with 5 rounds. I've had many times when the whole covey doesn't rise at once. My buddy is reloading his o/u while I'm bagging 4 or 5 birds. It makes for great retrieving practice for your dog when that happens.
 
@thrillhill, I've seen the same on opening day and I'd bet if you followed them they were going to a baited field they had found by air a few days prior. Back in my GSP days I helped a few times with baited fields.
 
I agree with Thrillhill about the limits. The birds are hammered opening day and perhaps the first week of the season. After that there are exceptionally few dove hunters and perhaps that should be taken into account when dealing with one bird over the limit. I'm not talking about the people that shoot a limit and then go hide it and come back out to shoot another.
 
I went to school with a guy that became a Fed Game warden. Yes we poached as kids together but it was KY. Me and a couple other buddies made it our lifes work to poach deer in Mammoth Cave National park. It drove him crazy he couldnt ever catch us. Those were the days of 1 deer only. We shot em with 22's by the dozens. It became a game we won. Everytime he saw us it was I know you're doing it & I'm gonna catch you. We are friends to this day. He went to work selling boats for Bass Pro & was damn good at it. As a game warden not so much.
 
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$300 for one dove. I firmly believe a punishment should fit the crime. Apparently the courts don’t. Seriously, that’s like a 1/4 of a cow...

guess my lesson was learned. Shame it was that the courts really are a business to generate revenue and not that I was out of line for excessive bagged game for some sort of moral or environmental reason...

Big props for my lawyer though. Great guy and I’m very happy he got charges dropped. Guess charges have a price if you’ve got the dough.
 
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Basically a slap on the wrist compared to what the max could be. Congrats.

Thats kind the problem though. For a seat belt ticket or a speeding ticket you can basically tell what your fine would be. For this I couldn’t find any solid info and it was like “just whatever the judge feels is right”? I don’t feel like $300 was a slap on the wrist. I’ve known DUIs who’ve gotten off for less. I’m fortunate to have a great job and can afford this. $525 for some folks is half a monthly income. That’s way out of line for the “crime” committed.
 
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My point was it was a federal offense. Anybody who thinks $300 is nuts should just plead guilty and check into a federal prison for 6 months. Fine could have been up to $15,000.00 for offenses. Wearing a seatbelt should not be a law but it is. What’s the fine for it. Couple hundred dollars?

Plus the OP got to keep his gun and rights to hunt.
 
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