Behind the Badge - Greed
Greed
District Game Warden Drew Johnson
During the second weekend of the 2017 deer gun season, I was out patrolling a section of the Sheyenne River Valley in Unit 2F1. The weather that morning was ideal for hunting with clear skies and cool temps, so I was expecting a busy day. It didn’t take long as I encountered three hunters in the valley that were walking a stretch of heavy cover. Each hunter was dressed in fluorescent orange and carrying a bolt-action rifle.
Soon after encountering the hunters, I watched them meet up and begin making their way back toward two pickups that were parked in a nearby approach. I left my position and headed for the pickups to check the hunters.
I greeted the hunters as they made it back and asked how their morning was going. One of the hunters stated that they were seeing a few deer, but overall the hunting was slow.
After visiting with the hunters for a few minutes it was time to check their deer tags.
The first hunter was in possession of a 2F1 antlered deer tag. The second hunter handed me a 2F1 antlerless tag that instantly sent red flags my way. The tag was in rough shape, had the month of November notched out and had a strand of what appeared to be deer hair sticking out the side of it. When I flipped the tag over, I noticed that the backing had been removed and placed back on as it wasn’t perfectly aligned.
Without saying anything about my observations, I then inspected the third hunter’s tag. This tag, also 2F1 antlerless, had the month of November notched out as well. I noticed that the backing on this tag had also been removed and placed back on.
I then asked the hunters why the month of November was notched out. Both hunters indicated that the deer gun season is held in November so they pre-notched the month on the tags.
I then flipped the tags over and removed the backing where I observed deer hair, blood and dirt stuck to the adhesive side of both tags.
I looked up at both hunters and asked them to explain what happened.
The hunters explained that they each harvested a doe the day prior and were not ready for their season to be over. The hunters said that they only notched the month leaving the days open so they could keep hunting. The hunters explained that once the deer were tagged, they then transported them home. When they got home, the hunters had carefully removed the tag from each deer and placed the backing portion of the tag back on.
I seized both rifles and asked the hunters if they could take me to the residence where the deer were. The hunters agreed and we left the area.
Once we got to the residence, the hunters showed me the two deer. I could see where a slit was made in an ear of each deer. Both deer were loaded in the back of my patrol vehicle and secured as evidence.
While at the residence, one of the hunters indicated that the plan was to reuse the tags and claimed that they were also trying to assist the first hunter who held the 2F1 antlered tag.
Each hunter was cited for failure to maintain tagging requirements and hunting big game without a license.
I documented the rifles and completed an “In Lieu of Seizure Form.” After explaining the form, I returned the rifles to the hunters. Both deer were seized and ultimately donated to families in need.
Both hunters pled guilty to the charges and each paid $825 in fines and fees. Each hunter also made a Report all Poachers donation in the amount of $500.