They gave her 6,000 in fines then say

"DNR chief conservation warden Todd Schaller said the incidents highlight two main points about hunting and safety."The first is to be sure of your target and what's beyond," Schaller said. "The other is, if you make a mistake, be honest and contact the department.""

uhhhhh... mistaking a bull elk for a deer is pretty stupid but coming forward only to receive $6,000 in fines, Yikes!

Dumb, stupid mistake. However, I think over $6000 in fines is excessive since she turned herself in. That will make it much easier for the next person who makes a stupid mistake to just S&S.

Two bull elk.

The elk restoration project has been ongoing for 20+ years and is still barely viable after spending tons of money on transplants, habitat, monitoring etc. Wolves are the major problem but incidents like this are a major setback. Kudos for turning herself in but given the costs the program has incurred I don't believe the fines are excessive and hopefully will act as a deterrent to some stupidity, obviously not all.

Said she was "FACING" the fines, not that she had been "GIVEN" the fines.

Beltran is a hunter safety graduate and has deer hunted for the last two years, according to the report. She once harvested a young buck.

So we have a 41 year-old woman in her third year of deer hunting who got excited to see what she thought was a young buck, shot at it, it disappeared, she thought it reappeared, shot "it" again, then discovered she had shot two different elk. Then she reports the incident.

I'd wager she's all done deer hunting. Especially after getting spanked with $6000+ in fines.

Maybe I'm just getting old and soft, but doesn't that seem just a bit excessive? What would the fine have been if she had not reported it but later was found to be the shooter? The same or more?

If the same, I'd say give her points for at least reporting it.

Six grand?

Seeing a lot over the last few years around Warren, last year I was surprised how many were there.

What's the moral high ground in turning yourself in? The elk is already dead - you can't put that genie back in the bottle. Getting a fine and losing your hunting privileges doesn't make anything better. She likely won't be able to hunt again and I'm glad about that but If I screw up that bad, I'm keeping my mouth shut.

I am all for following the law and being ethically sound but I disagree. If they haven't got the program up and running after 20 years, that's on them and to link her to pay for their failure is wrong. Also, high fines is another great strategy to deter hunters to hunt.

One Bull elk or two bull Elk wont effect squat

I am with you on this one Muskrat. It sounds excessive to me too. It will be more of a deterrent for future reporting than for shooting an accidental elk.

How in the world do you mistake an elk for deer? Even though I don't have that figured out $6000 is excessive considering she reported the mistake. That's a sure way to prevent any future mistakes made by anyone to be reported.

So I can go on an elk hunt guided out west for $5000.00 to $12,000.00. She gets to shoot to elk when many would love to have ever shot one. Yeah she gets no meat or horns but she shot 2 elk. She shot them at 50 , 50 yards come on, that is ridiculous and $6000.00 is not enough. She has shot a buck prior to this season, she has hunted before. Yep I want her in the woods near me. I sure hope she lost hunting privileges for a couple years! Absolute joke.

LOL

I shot two deer by accident a few decades ago. Immediately after shooting, the buck dropped where it stood. I was shooting a break open single shot 12 gauge. I immediately reloaded. When I looked up from reloading the buck was back on his feet right where he dropped, so I shot him again.

When I got up to where the deer stood, there lay two identical two point bucks. The second buck had apparently been bedded down and jumped up at the shot.

This was pre cell phone days, it was even before caller ID days. Naively I call the Game Department and asked the people what I should do, and what the implications would be. They wouldn't tell me a thing but just asked me for my name and phone number. I told them I would think about it and maybe call them back; I didn't.

Should a mistake like that receive a fine? Not in my book. I would have been more than happy to process that extra buck and donate it to a charity if given the option to do that. Instead it went in my freezer.

I could see the fine being excessive if she shot once, lost it then thought it stepped out and shot again. But she shot the first one 3 times, and the second one 4 times, and at 50 yards she should've been able to tell what she was shooting at considering it turned broadside. There's a pretty big color difference between an elk and a deer.

I wouldn't fault you.

Median household income in Rusk County WI is 41k and the average house cost 100k. A 6,000 dollar fine is probably a couple YEARS worth of saving, 6 months+ of mortgage payments, that is a serious hardship for most people, especially for a mistake (albeit a really stupid one) that you admitted to.

Yep , at fifty yards thats not an accident , thats just plain stupid


Not knowing your target until after its on the ground is how people get shot while hunting


Replacement costs for two elk from another state would be higher