Card Hit - 2016 style

[huntlines]

Oh come on, people must be stuck in rush hour

[Jrodphx]

Oh it's getting good again. Popcorn ready, let the guide bashing begin

Had the day off for the Holliday. Had to keep myself busy but here I am again checking for hits.

[trphyhntr]

 

so this whole time someone could have just told me they were doing it tomorrow.

Then there wouldn't be this crazy all over the board thread.

 

[Chris]

When I know that I've been drawn, I don't go to Sportmans or anywhere ..... I just feel ALIVE again. it's a wonderful feeling!

 

So, according to rumors, they start tapping cards tomorrow!

[Big Browns]

Interesting info!

[Guest 300ultramag.]

I bet he knew it was a3 if it was the case. Guides are always rubbing elbows

[huntlines]

I bet he knew it was a3 if it was the case. Guides are always rubbing elbows

Or fist

[AZMThunter]

How the heck did I not know about that radio show? Crap!

[Coues79]

http://ktar.com/player/?a=320275

 

Listen about the 36 min mark

WTF

Woulda been nice to hear this last weekend LoL

[bonecollector777]

Alrighty for everyone curious as to what happened I'm not afraid to talk about it and get it out there. Shedhunter seems very concerned about it so I'll tell you exactly what happened and how everything has played out.

I'll first start off with no I do not have an established guiding business and no during the time this all went down did I have my guides license. I obtained my guides license a month after the incident.

At the end of July I went out to check some new country with my nephew in unit 23 because my dad had the Archery tag. We had checked our cameras and I decided to check a new spot way off the beaten path. I had studied the area in Google maps and was excited to check out a water hole I saw there. We got there and checked the pond and found a lot of good sign of elk and coues deer and felt it was a promising place to put a camera. As I walked around the pond I noticed a camera on the back side on some salt. I looked it over and made the mistake of deciding to take it. Was it a good decision? Absolutely not. Was it a good example to my nephew absolutely not. Had I not been caught with it could I have continued to see the need to take other cameras? Probably.

In the end as I got the camera and made my way to the truck I noticed a utv headed down the road towards us a long ways off. Startled I jumped in my truck and drove down the road and hid my truck behind a tree and they soon came flying by and didn't see me. As they tore around through the woods in their razr looking for me I hid there silently and they buzzed around off road for about 2 minutes until they gave up and left.

Still not knowing it was their camera I sat and waited about an hour and decided to make my way back down the road which was the only way out. I removed my license plate as I drove back but still had my front license plate on. I figured it was their camera due to them pursuing me and I also figured they would be waiting for me down the road somewhere but knew there was nothing I could do other than face them.

As we drove down the road they were there across the road waiting. I pulled up and rolled my windows down while they recorded me. I knew one of the guys from previous hunting trips and knew the other guy slightly just from knowing he was a guide. We talked about it civilly and they asked if I took the camera and I said yes. They then asked me to follow them down to a ranch house where they had a law enforcement officer waiting. While I didn't have to comply with their demands of following them I knew I was in trouble and decided to make it easy on everyone and do it. We pulled into the ranch and got out and talked about it and talked about hunting and BS'd for a while and was told it wasn't their decision to do something but the outfitter they worked for was deciding if he wanted to do anything to me. After an hour wait the first service officer showed up. They talked to him alone, I talked to him alone told them what happened, gave him the camera and from the officers own mouth he said he didn't know what they could even do to me other than a possible minor theft charge but I needed to call the outfitter and work it out with them. I agreed and was told I could leave.

As soon as I got service I called the outfitter right away and told him what had happened and how he wanted to proceed. He said he needed to talk to his partners and figure out what would be best and for me to think about what I would do to make it right. I agreed to think about it and waited for his call back. A week later he called me and asked what I'd do to make it right. I offered to give him three new cameras with lock boxes ( a value of around $400-$500.) He seemed upset that I would offer such a small amount and said he wanted more. So I then told him I would buy 5 cameras with boxes. He still said he wanted more because other cameras in the area had been taken and he assumed it was me and my friend who had the 23 tag a year prior. I told him I had never taken another camera and that he shouldn't accuse my friend of stealing cameras without proof. ( the main reason he was accusing my friend was the year before my friend went in and chased the same 400 inch bull his guide who caught me was chasing. My friend stuck the bull three times and his guide refused to back off and let my friend do continue to find the animal and kill it. In the end the bull was pushed out and never found.) So they weren't happy with him for chasing "their bull". Anyway back to the original story. After offering the five cameras and not accepting it he said he wanted more and also wanted me to write a letter of apology to them and make it something that could be posted publicly to discourage others from doing what I did.

I agreed to write a letter which I did that night apologizing and admitting I screwed up and the consequences of what happened. I emailed the outfitter the letter and still have a copy if anyone would like to see it or want a copy of it.

Another week passed and I got a voice-mail from him saying he liked the letter but that they would accept nothing less than $1000 or they would press charges and that I better not mess with them because many of their clients were big time rich attorneys and if I tried to fight it I was guaranteed to lose so I better just pay. As I thought about it I thought you know if I can pay $1000 and post this letter online and face a little criticism from the hunting world it would be worth it to get it over with.

The next day I called him back and said I got his message and agreed to do it. I was then told his partners had talked about it and they decided $1000 wasn't enough and they wanted $1500 and the letter posted. I told them I would talk to my brother who was an attorney and let them know. After to talking to my brother he suggested to offer $1000 and the letter and no more and if they kept wanting more and more money that was extortion. So that's what I did and they did not accept it. At that point I'd had enough of their extortion and told them you know what I messed up and I'm trying to make it right and you guys are going overboard. I'll take my chances in court.

He followed up with i hope you're ready to be ruined and just wait to see how much we get you for and how much money you're gonna pay among other threats of how powerful they were and I messed with the wrong people. Before I hung up I told them look I was willing to work with you and get this over with and you're taking it too far. I told them as soon as they pressed charges for the theft of a $120 camera I would be turning them in for destroying live trees by lag bolting cameras into them. ( I found at least 10 I know are theirs) and also turning them in for tearing up the forest driving off road like maniacs looking for me while I was parked literally next to the road behind a tree. That was the end of the communication between us and to this day I have heard nothing else from them or law enforcement. This post by shedhunter who had nothing to do with it was the first I've heard of it again since August.

After everything happened it helped me see that I really did a stupid thing and I honestly tried to make it right. But there is a limit to how much I'm gonna put up with from these guys even if I did take their camera. I was willing to pay $1000 and publicly post about what happened but that was not good enough for them. Take it as you want and think of me what you will but I can only do so much to fix an mistake like I made. I decided to let the law run its course and whatever come of it come of it but I was not gonna deal with their threats of power and richness scaring me.

I'm sure you have all figured out the outfitter is A3 and I have no hard feelings against them or the guides that caught me. Matter of fact I've ran into one of the guides and we talked like everything was normal and have communicated through Facebook and Instagram occasionally.

Soon after it all happened I looked up certain mistakes the guides that caught me had made in the past and there are some things on their record regarding game violations and one of them serving jail time for a hit and run. Do I think they are bad people for what they did? No I don't. It's in the past and that's that. We all make mistakes and was more than willing to do what I thought was right to get it over with and in the past. As of today March 31st I have yet to see any charges pressed against me and don't know of any court case I'm in like shedhunter claims. If you don't believe me go look under my court records. Last thing I was charged with was lighting an illegal firework on fourth of July. I don't have a prior record of anything besides a few speeding tickets. If you would like to check my name is Blake Owens birthday 07/13/1990. You'll see there is no lawsuit or charges pressed against me as of this time. If there is in the future I'll face them and whatever the outcome is ill deal with it. It's in my past and have moved on. Apparently shedhunter and A3 still have it out for me but there's nothing I can do to change that.

Once again I made my mistake and have learned from it but I'll only take so much before I give up on making it right out of court and take my chances in court. Any questions send me a PM and we can talk about it.

Blake

[DesertBull]

After the draw results are out there will be another long predictable thread about how the system needs to changed because they are tired of not getting a tag.

[Eagle mountain ranch]

No dog in this fight,but we just might make a record of posts if it hasn't been done already. I'm headed to the store for some more beer. Whoo l...think I'm gonna need it too keep up with this thread, and some aspirin . Good luck in the draw boys

[Shedhunteraz]

That is a man. That takes huge balls to admit it. When we talked and helped me out With my ordeal, which I am very great full for, would have never guessed you would do this. But all said and done I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for you for taking ownership of this. Hope you can get past this and learned a valuable lesson. I apologize if I have ever offended you or it seemed like I was not your biggest fan. Like I said earlier I thank you for your help with my ordeal and huge a huge amount of respect for you to explain this.

[AverageJoe]

Lopeman is a real ahole isnt he

[couesmagnet]

I would say after an answer like that, that deserves forgiveness. I've never stole a cam but have made mistakes in the past and would hope someone forgave me like I asked for it. No ones perfect, that's for sure. Cams are like a girlfriend . Something you just can't mess with without permission. Nice post bc777 that must have been hard to do.