I think he should pay the fines for the statutes he violated. The restitution is complete BS. He had a valid tag for the area he was hunting and killed it during legal shooting time with a legal weapon.

He made a mistake and should have to pay for it. Some of y’all act like he is the scum of the earth.

My goodness there are some self-righteous yuppies in here. I’m not a road hunter, meaning I do most of my hunting far off the road. But if I have the option of killing meat closer to the truck and saving some pack distance, you bet I’ll take it. We have road hunting laws here too, but ours only refers to the driveable surface, no setback distance. What that means is that if I see a legal bull on my way to hunting, or work, or the store, I get out of the truck, step in the ditch, wait for the bull to clear the road, and drop him. And thank God for the blessing of easy meat.

So tell me, you holy judges of “fair chase”: if a guy is on his way to go hunting and a legal bull/buck crosses the road in a legal area, what would be the procedure to meet your standards of “fair chase”? Give the buck a certain head start? Close your eyes and count to 10? Or would you simply keep driving and go somewhere else you could walk a certain distance before seeing game, so that would make it “fair chase?” Does game have to be spotted from foot to make it “fair chase”? What if I see one out the kitchen window? Do I have to give him a head start too?

Once upon a time, before liberal idealism started getting into hunting, if game came to you it was considered a blessing. The guy’s crime was either not knowing the law or getting excited and shooting before it got off the road, and he should pay the fines for that. “Restitution” in a negligent game hunting case is a crock of bull.

I didn't see anyone saying he should lose his gun or vehicle or anything like that, just pay his fines and get some time off to think about. Get caught speeding, pay a fine. Speeding in a school zone, bigger fine. Speeding in a school zone and crush a mailbox, pay your fines and replace the mailbox.

What if he was a trapper and trapping illegally, say out of season? Let's say he caught a truckload of rats the week before the season started, should he just pay a fine for trapping out of season, or should he be responsible to compensate the state and every public landowner (all of us) for illegally harvesting that resource. He was just going to trap them all a week later anyway, he just decided to get started early.

Shooting deer on private property , Gee I guess they should be the only ones hunting those chosen few that own all the best property . That's not really hunting either when you have 12000 -or more acres to yourself

I dont think he should have to pay every one back for the resource, that just stupid. I also think every time someone breaks a game law it hurts the look of other hunters and trappers but it hurt it a lot more when It gets posted all over the internet for every one to see. People have been poaching ever since there was laws instated and there will be poaching long after hunting is no longer allowed. I think maken stuff like this public is quite dumb the guy broke the law it isn't any of my business what happens.

It won't be called poaching when hunting Is outlawed. It will be called killing to feed ones family.

That's what I thought it was called now. I just think there is a big diffence in killing a elk standing on a road and taking the meat then killing 10 elk and taking the heads and leaving the rest there.

The guy screwed up. He also needs better hunting partners.

Not a good way to end the story of being the winner of the raffle and also free processing. With all that hype one would think that one's guard would be up and better judgement would prevail.

Bryce

The goal was to kill an elk as was allowed by the game commission . In fact , I'm sure they expected all of the few tags given to be punched. 100% success if you will

So if the dude stepped off the road would his elk be any less dead ?

It was part of their management objective wasn't it ? For the elk to be killed

I'm surprised at how many people are don't seem to care this guy broke multiple hunting regulations. To each their own I guess. Or if they think the rules are dumb, they're ok to break.

Yes we have to defend these anti law groups to protect our rights to hunt. Sometimes it is difficult to know who the antis really are.

Bryce

No one so far has said he shouldn’t pay the fines. Maybe you didn’t read the details. He’s being charged $440.80 in fines, for shooting from the road. And $2000 in “restitution.” That’s the part we’re arguing against. What’s the point of restitution in a game violation case? Does it go to the other hunters or the public, no. Can they buy another elk with it? No. It simply goes into the state coffers.
Imagine if a cop could pull you over for speeding, give you the standard ticket, and then say “I’m adding $2000 in restitution to the state because I decided to.”
The fine schedule is on the books because it was determined to be appropriate punishment for the crimes. Allowing state officials to arbitrarily add any “restitution” charge at will is a dangerous precedent.

The restitution is added to further deter the behavior, and is different for different animals. Mostly because the fish and game laws are weak and barely a slap on the wrist for some violations.

I can't wrap my head around trappers and outdoorsmen who don't want stiffer penalties for game violations. It gives us all a black eye, whether it's our business or not that we know what he did.

I believe Wisconsin has a restitution schedule set up for whitetails that is directly related to the size of the rack in order to deter poaching. The bigger the buck, the bigger the restitution.

I personally don't feel like $440 is enough of a fine for shooting an elk from a road, but the added $2,000 makes it sting a bit more, and maybe the publicity will make the next road hunter think twice, although with the limited elk tags we have, it will likely be a whitetail hunter and thebredtitution isn't quite as high.

Ya throw the book at him and blow it up.

Maybe then we can give Elk back to the Wolves. Obviously people aren’t responsible enough.

What this guy did was illegal and should not be excused. On the other hand, acting like he shot it from Interstate 94 is a little over the top. Most Forest Roads up here haven't been regraveled in 20 years and are little more than 1 lane 2 track logging roads with a sign.

The restitution is because the animal(s) are wards of the state. Hence the term “game wardens”. Meaning that they belong to all of us. So by illegally taking of the game animal, is considered stealing from all. Whether a hunter or photographer or whoever.

I just heard that terminology used on North Woods Law.

If you shoot a deer illegally do you have to make restitution to the state?

Here is the list of what they call the Wild Animal Protection Surcharge from the bond book.

I can’t believe it’s only $87 for a wolf. Figured that to be much more. Or even ducks and geese. They would all fall under federal laws.