Got a ticket from G&F

[Coach]

Crazy story! The only thing I can think of is that maybe the officer thought you were road hunting. When would it be considered that you were actually hunting in 27? I know plenty of guys that consider just driving roads as hunting. You were already planning on hunting in 27 so driving down a road in 27 could be seen by the officer as hunting in that unit since you said you were planning on hunting the unit. If you saw a buck run across the road would you stop and go after him? Not trying to be rude just pointing out some possibilities.

 

Yes, Optic Nerd, I was typing another response when you added this, but that's basically what the prosecutor said. Not the road hunting part - there was never any mention of road-hunting or hunting from a vehicle at all by the officer or the prosecutor.

[DesertBull]

"Officer XXXX observed Jones in the field with his compount bow, arrows and broadheads. Field photographs were taken of Jones holding his archery equipment." What this doesn't say is that I was in my vehicle - driving when he "observed" me, or that after our conversation he asked me to get out of the vehicle and hold my bow so he could take a picture of it, which I did, in an effort to be as compliant as possible. When asked about it by the prosecuter he verified that I was in fact driving at the time, just didn't put that in the report.

 

 

LOL

 

Barney Fife

[joeybari]

Joey, I can certainly understand your skepticism. I couldn't believe it either, nor could any of the people I hunt with. All I can tell you that it is absolutely true. The warden who wrote the ticket used to frequent this site, maybe still does. I would invite him to chime in as well. I fully expected that when I gave my statement to the prosecutor, and she verified that it and warden's version of the events matched, she would toss it out complelely.

 

I even printed out the definition of "Take" from the G&F rules, and pointed out that with the broadest interpretation of that definition, which includes the word "persuit" I didn't see how they say that I was actively persuing game, let alone "taking" game. Her response was, (parphrasing) the general rule, is that you are hunting, just by being out there with the intention to hunt. Her reasoning was that if you happened to see an animal you could/would persue it.

 

You could tell she really didn't want to persue the case after knowing the full story, but my sense was she felt obligated to. I might have been able to fight it in court and win, but the stakes would have been a lot higher, i.e. losing hunting rights for 5 years, big fines. And if I couldn't convince her that I wasn't in violation, how could I be sure I could convince a jury?

 

One last thing - I still have the incident report, and the way it is written leaves out key components. Here is an example (this is verbatim except for the officer's name) from the last paragraph:

 

"Officer XXXX observed Jones in the field with his compount bow, arrows and broadheads. Field photographs were taken of Jones holding his archery equipment." What this doesn't say is that I was in my vehicle - driving when he "observed" me, or that after our conversation he asked me to get out of the vehicle and hold my bow so he could take a picture of it, which I did, in an effort to be as compliant as possible. When asked about it by the prosecuter he verified that I was in fact driving at the time, just didn't put that in the report.

i would get a lawyer at that point. what he did is not normal protocol

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Officer XXXX observed Jones in the field with his compount bow, arrows and broadheads. Field photographs were taken of Jones holding his archery equipment." What this doesn't say is that I was in my vehicle - driving when he "observed" me, or that after our conversation he asked me to get out of the vehicle and hold my bow so he could take a picture of it, which I did,

 

Sounds like hunting over bait to me!!!

 

Asks you to take your bow out and hold it for a picture.......that is rough.

 

In order for me to maintain my sanity when it comes to law and law enforcement in general, I always have to think in my mind what those guys put up with every day, day in and day out.

 

Then I tell myself that all of us will get a day in front of the main judge and he will prosecute justly.

 

Feel for ya.......

[AzHuntingAddict]

Hmmm, I would like to hear the other side of the story too. Were you holding any part of your bow, arrows etc. that might have made the GF thing you were in pursuit? It may be a stretch, but if the bow was not in a bag or cased, that would give the officer the probable cause.

[cw4192]

there is no "quotas" for tickets these days leo's are way to busy responding to call after call, at least in the bigger cities. I will tell you that some leo's are pr!cks cuz they can be and they dont have a life. to bad one leo is a pr!ck and it ruins for the rest of them. Dkont get stopped by a motor officer cuz that is their job, traffic enforcement. I would not have paid nothing on that ticket nor would I have made a donation. Same things happen in the Kiabab but with the park rangers, you just have to let them know that they aint gonna bully you.

[CouesWhitetail]

It would be nice to hear AGFD's version of this story......it all seems so ridiculous from what you have told us.

[ronaldo]

This is probably gonna cause an uproar, but the sad fact is that its true........ If you would have been a good ole boy with one of the right last names from over there in good ole boy round valley, you would have got off without any harassment at all from the "SHE" judge.Ive seen it a dozen times in the last few years, speeding tickets, poaching cases etc. Lark hit the nail on the head when he said you can go on a killing spree over there if your a juvenile and get away with it.. They are soo bass ackwards over there its not even funny. 20 years behind times.

I like the other post about just keep on rolling by when they try and talk to you... Im gonna do it from now on..

Ron

[AntlerObsession]

It is a habit of self preservation, and the trutIh the majority of the time, but if anyone asks what I'm doing, I'm hiking in the woods."With a gun?" Hunting coyotes... Is that legal...SIR!?!

[cw4192]

I 100% THINK THAT IN THIS CASE GFD LEO WAS WRONG. "WE" HUNTERS HAVE TO STICK TO OUR RIGHTS AND MOVE FORWARD. THE GREENIES AND LEFTIES ARE COMING. HANG ON

[DCS]

This is reall a sad story,when you wasn't even out of your car actually hunting.I have heard several stories in the last few years,that make me shake my head in disbelief.Just because you get a ticket,doesn't mean that you deserve it.I will have to plead my case in front of a judge.SORRY!!!!!

[W.O.T]

man that story really sucks... I have a good one and bad one

 

1. bad one

I was fishing in the Tonto arm of Roosevelt lake, back in the sticks one day. I hadnt seen ANYONE all day and about 1pm, from outta no where a large boat comes busting thru the trees with its lights on, a boat cop... one man and one lady. She didnt hesitate to stop, but rammed the side of my new bassboat! didnt say a word, no sorry or lets put a bumper between the boats! The man is cool, the lady is a nazi, she checks my livewells, measures my fish(they are good), asks for license, registration, fire extinguisher, throw-cushion and life vests. She then reads the side of both life vests(they are identical) to see if they are the correct "Type". One has very clear printing, the other had printing that was worn off so you couldnt read the "Type"... She begins to cite me for that, I mention they are identical and I get a sneer and the male officer finally comes to my rescue and says come on, thats enough to the lady officer. No citation and they leave... with a large bag of would-have-been-eaten-fish-by-cited-anglers, but these have since rotted from sitting there all day. what a waste.

 

2. good one

a "friend" was fishing a tournament a few yrs back at Roosevelt. He had just got his boat back from Tempe Marine. They were in a cove when a boat cop shows up and begins checking every boat in the cove. My buddy starts getting everything out so it would be a quick check and they could get back to fishing. He told me he suddenly realized he forgot most of his stuff he usually carries since he had removed it prior to going to the dealership and he forgot to put it all back in. The boat cop pulls up, no fire extinguisher, no tags at all(new boat), no throw cushion. On and on down the list. My buddy tells the cops to take him to jail now, as he and his partner have a nice solid limit in the tournament. He is more worried about his friend kickin his #$%^^ from being DQ'd, then the tickets he will receive! The boat cop shows mercy and gives my friend a fire ext & throw cushion and reminds him to be ready next time. No citation today.

[bojangles]

I think if i got a ticket for something i didn't do, i would fight it to the bitter end.

 

 

[azslim]

this is total BS and I would be fighting it in court and pushing G&F hard to do something about an officer that abuses his authority.

 

I had some friends from Wisconsin here in Dec. Jethro shared a story about a friend that had the Wis G&F write him a ticket for too much bait. He took it to court and wasn't the female officer surprised when he pulled out a game camera photo that showed her putting out the excess bait. Sad part is she wasn't canned, just moved to a different district where she had fresh hunters to try and entrap.

[russd]

thats why no more courtesy stops to the g&f for me unless i know the guy. if they want to talk to us they can pull us over. we had a bs ticket on the kaibab years ago. got dropped due to the office not showing up in court. i have also been told by a g%f supervisor that everyone is going to be doing something wrong at some point. they just have to catch you doing it at the time... wrong attitude on their part.