Is this Bullshit or what?

Dr. Fowl · Oct-22-2006, 06:31 PM

First off, let me say rules are rules and I never break them when it comes to hunting. However Saturday my 2 Bro's got written up by DFG for some bullshit if you ask me. Let me lay it out for you. We capped the shit out of the birds Saturday morning. We were done in 15 min or so with straight Teal. If we would have waited it out we would have gotten a couple of Pins and some Mallards, but I couldnt help myself. I was in kill mode. Anyway we got done and were hanging out in the blind watching the ducks work and low and behold here comes Mr. DFG. So I am thinking thats wierd seeing the man on a private club. Oh I take that back, we had 13. My partner did hold out for one big duck. Anyway he walks up to our blind and asked how many we had and I told him 13, he said Whos are whos? I said these 7 are mine and these 6 are my buddies. He checked my gun, my Licence, my stamps, my shells, my cooler, my decoy bag, The only thing he didnt do was put a rubber glove on and stick his hand up my dogs ass looking for hidden birds. So he asked me if anyone was down the dike and I said "I dont know" I knew my buddies were down there but he had to just go look on his own. He did ask me why my gun was still loaded since I was done. I said I still have 25 coots to shoot and what if I see a goose? He just mumbled something then. Anyway as he is heading down to our buddies blind, stops around 50 yards or so away from us and says, you have another duck down here. I said What????? He said yeah. I said thats not ours. We had all of ours in the blind, its not like we had 13 floaters in the blocks when he rolled up. We collected all our birds. Anyway he told my partner he better come get this bird since it was " within 50 yards of us." I was pissed since we didnt even shoot that duck. He goes down to my buddies checks them, they are legal as well and heads back. I stopped him and said, you know I dont want to be a smartass, but that friggen duck you made us grab wasnt ours, since I am in the middle of the club am I responsible for everyones crips? He said you didnt HAVE to pick it up but now that you did grab it, its in your possesion. I said, thats not what you said, you said we had to grab that duck. Oh you must have misunderstood me he said. Whatever.......
So, this is where it gets good. We all roll back to camp, take a nap. Drink some beer and basiclly just relaxing. I cleaned all my birds and threw them on the grill. Yum. Later that evening my buddies say, hey lets eat the rest of these ducks for dinner, so we all agree fuck it, we have all been drinking lets just stay in camp and eat ducks. That way we dont have to drive anywhere. So they decided to clean thier birds right before dark so they could see what they were doing. They breasted them all out, I already had the grill out from lunch and we went off to set blocks so they would be out for Sunday. (they hunted a different blind on Sunday in case you wondering why they pulled them in the first place.) So I bet you know where I am going with this. We went to set dec's, got back in the dark and who was in camp? Thats right my buddy Mr. DFG. He was like how'd you guys do? We said you already checked us this morning. He said to me, wheres your birds? So I told him... I ate them. He said oh ok. Then the drama, he asked for my buddies birds. My hunting partner had his whole still in a cooler in his jeep. He looked at them then asked to search the rest of his truck. He was like sure I guess, I just showed you my SAME ducks you looked at this morning. He searched his jeep and then went on to my friends who just cleaned thiers for dinner. He looked at the bags of breasts and says, OH Yeah, this is a violation...... We were like what? we just cleaned them a half hour ago before it got dark so we could eat them. Sorry, gotta leave a wing on. Now like I said earlier, I dont break the rules and I know about the wing or the head being left on but they were going to be sizzling on the grill in another half an hour. NOPE, BUSTED ...

Now my friends have to either pay this off, or go back to El Centro to court. I swear this is the biggest pile of crap I have ever heard of. Its not like they were over limits or hiding ducks or anything. And all this on a private club.
Am I over reacting?

Bearded Clam · Oct-22-2006, 06:44 PM

damn dude, i've hunted all over the east coast (not say'n its a coast thing) but i've never had a dfg experience go bad. sounds like he was digg'n a little too deep for citations in my opinion. you can find something wrong with anything if you want to. fight it! how much was it?

**Marcus** · Oct-22-2006, 07:03 PM

Load of shit from what I have read. Definitely fight it.

Dr. Fowl · Oct-22-2006, 07:15 PM

Well I was legal. Its my buddies that are screwed. Now they have to miss a day of work and all that horsecrap. The Agent told my friend, its not much more than a speeding ticket. Whatever. I think one is going to fight it, the other one just wants to pay the fine (whatever that is) and be done with it. I think thier court date is sometine in January, I will defitnatly keep you updated. I swear, it is messed up.

Kurt · Oct-22-2006, 07:45 PM

WTF? This guy has a serious hard on. Police reject? Damn man, I'd fight that for sure. Don't they have to log all that shit? If so you should be able to use his own records to prove he already checked you. Ducks taste like shit with the feathers still on.

speedgoat · Oct-23-2006, 11:11 AM

What a load of bullshit. That guy is a serious prick. If it were me I'd fight it for sure.

**el Toro** · Oct-23-2006, 11:28 AM

I had this same issue come up while dove hunting a while back. I asked the warden when it was OK to take the wing off. He said when you eat them. I asked OK well how do I eat them without cooking them first and I don't think feathers would cook well. He said OK, it is OK to take the wing off to put on the grill. Then I asked, what about marinating them. Dove suck unless they are marinated. He said it was up to the discretion of each individual warden as this is grey area. He said that if he found a bag of dove that were all breasted, with no wings, in marinade and prepared for eating in the near future, he would not issue any ciation. Ever since then, I keep a wing on at all times, up until they go in the special sauce or directly on the grill.

It is obviously up to each warden and the mood he is in. Your's must have been in a bad one.

I'm sure you know this but it makes no difference whether or not you were on private land or not. DFG laws apply regardless of land status.

tattooedfreak36 · Oct-23-2006, 11:41 AM

The regs. state that a wing must be left on "until the bird is to be prepared for consumption." That is not gray and any warden saying it is should be reported. If you are obviously preparing to eat the birds, no violation, IMO.

Tailchaser1 · Oct-23-2006, 12:15 PM

BS! Fight it. I had a similar run in with a DFG officer in mono county once and had to fight it. I won! Long drive to fight being accused of being guilty before proving to be innocent!

Sluester · Oct-23-2006, 12:24 PM

They were not tansporting them. They were dressed for consumption. That guy had a serious woody for you guys. Bet they didn't take pictures of the carcasses. If they don't try and fight it they will now be on probation for 5 years or something like that.
He must of had reports of guys doing the daily double on the club.

Nice shoot BTW!
To bad about the DFG guy.

Did you sign across your duck stamp?

Fresh One · Oct-23-2006, 01:29 PM

Fight that. And fuck that DFG prick. I will tell you that I have run into some that are just fine and doing their job and others who are complete asses who act like they are on a power trip. Glad you had a good shoot.

Dr. Fowl · Oct-23-2006, 01:46 PM

Check this shit out. They are golden.

§251.7. Possession, Transportation and Importation of Game Birds.

(a) No person may possess game birds taken in this state in excess of the daily bag and possession limits. The exception to this is for the purpose of transportation, cleaning, storage (including temporary storage), shipment, or taxidermy services, where an individual may possess game birds taken by another hunter provided that they are tagged by the hunter who has lawfully taken them. The tag must contain the hunter's name, address, hunting license number, kinds and numbers of game birds taken, date and location of kill, and signature.
(b) Migratory game birds, except band-tailed pigeons, transported within California must have a fully feathered wing or head attached while being moved from the place where taken to a personal abode or commercial preservation facility. Doves must have a fully feathered wing attached.

They werent transporting jackshit.