Saturday going to a friends to pull some ladder stands before the snow is gone, we pulled in behind a police car along with 2 other vehicles in my friends driveway. We then noticed they were loading a deer in the back of a pickup. A man came over and told us he had just hit 3 does and tracked the one in his pickup on my friends property before the police officer shot it. I then asked if the landowner had been contacted and he replied no they hadn't. My dad and I were just waiting for them to clear out so we could get through when I realized they had totally ignored the big no trespassing sign clearly posted right next to the driveway and proceeded to track and kill a wounded deer on my friends property. Eventually the landowner arrived and the cop stated that he had supervised the entire dealing and was finishing writing the pass for the deer for the man that hit it. I was ready to light in and explain they had absolutely no right to be on this property or to shoot a deer and give it away when there is a no trespassing sign and nobody bothered to even contact the owner first. Of course I didn't say anything,but I would of if it was my land. I am totally enraged that the cop thought it was totally OK just because he was supervising. What do you think? What would you have done?
I can sir understand your rage sir. But, if you were in need of emergency assistance you would not expect to run out an give them the okay sign. When life is said an done the place you have an live, is in the county or city that you live in belongs to them. You have the rights to it for now. But, when your time comes it will return too the said. Unless you have made prior arrangments for it to be passed on to your successors. The wildlife does belong to the state.
The only real wrong I could see in the situation was that the GCO wasn't involved. That is really who should have supervised it. Also, as we have seen numerous times on this forum, if a land owner does not want a deer retrieved on their property they can refuse entry to GCOs and police in some states. So, technically without the landowner's permission the officer was wrong. However, I really don't see any harm in what was done.
I agree. While I'd have liked them to include the landowner if at all possible, I think the situation called for direct action.
I think it went well and as it should, the man with the damaged car deserved the deer,he also stopped and made sure the law was contacted and paper work filled out and injured game retrieved. Take it from someone that has deer laying in my front yard killed by a passing truck that didn't even stop let alone take care of the deer, things worked out very well here. maybe you should put up deer x-ing sign up.:D:D
In Colorado, had something like this occurred, there would have been several legal and ethical issues. Legally, the man who hit the deer trespassed...so did the police officer (no crime had been commited, therefore, no probable cause). Despite the fact that the wildlife belongs to the people of the state, ownership rights are safeguarded to a much higher degree. Permission to trespass should have been sought by all involved. The owner has the right to say, "no" (had it been me, I would have said yes-but that's me. I do not speak for all). Ethically, a deer may or may not have been suffering (was the deer in clear sight?). The only way to acsertain that information was to trespass. The deer was found alive and thus suffering in this case. What would have happened if the deer was found dead? Was time of the essences? The owner should have been found-that's just being courteous and practicing good police work. I think each circumstance dictates spontaneous, rational, common sense decisions. If we make the wrong decision, we should accept the consequences. In this case it seems there was no harm, no foul.
BTGUY, I think you need "re-adjusted." As most of the others said, the RIGHT thing was done. I suspect they couldn't have tracked "too far" as the animal was wounded and able to be tracked down and finished by the LEO. I'd say ANY landowner who got their "panties in a bunch" over something like this has ISSUES!!! Stuff happens, it's part of life, DEAL WITH IT!!! I see people DIE all the time, sometimes it's because somebody made a wrong choice or error, that's worthy of gettin' all "wadded" up, this is a COMMON SENSE, do the right thing situation in which you should be glad that the venison was put to GOOD USE, rather than left to ROT in a ditch. I don't care if it was YOUR property or MINE, the RIGHT thing was done.....PERIOD!!! Sorry Bry, but that sounds like an "institutionalized response." Around my parts, we have ONE GCO/Warden per county, and he has a job, does it, has some "deputy wardens" that assist, but to pull him out of bed for such an issue seems a bit silly to me. There are probably 500 or so deer hit a year in my county, I think that job would be VACANT real quick if he got called every time someone hit a deer!!!! Leave GCO to deal with real GAME issues, this is more of a traffic accident issue. Going back to the OP, some people get too overprotective of their property!!!! I'm a bit more free I suppose since I offered up my ATV to a couple young guys who came to me because they thought they had a deer on my property and were trying to track it. I also told them ANY time they have a deer run on my property, feel FREE to track it, as that's the RIGHT thing to do. Likewise I'll track my deer on another's, and if they don't like it, they can call the law and make issue. I'm not trespassing to check out their Marijuana patch, scope out their stands, etc, I'm retrieving an animal that I OWE that to as I chose to end it's life. I'll use common sense, if it's during hunting hours, I'll certain wait until I'm not screwing up someones hunt, but I'm not leaving my deer to ROT because it's 50ft or 500ft on someone else's property, and I'm gonna drag it out the way the Indians did, not w/ a quad or something.....But again, if your deer is on my place, I'll help you drag it back to yours as well. All part of being gracious to one another, and treating each other as we would have others treat us.
First off I totally agree that it's great to see a deer not go to waste and help put food on the table. Every deer that gets hit, I hate to see rotting on the roadside. That is not the main issue. The issue is that the officer gave the OK and helped track down a wounded deer past a clearly marked no trespassing sign and then drew his gun and shot the deer without the landowners consent. While yes, I don't like seeing a deer suffer, and yes, in order to obtain permission you must first "trespass" on the property, but regardless of what a person feels is the right thing to do, or common sense, the law is the law. A police officer is a man of the law, he is supposed to know the law, yet he broke the law. The landowner has the only say in any matter on their property. While yes, a good act was done, they committed it while breaking the law. I love seeing deer put to good use, and help a family out, however before any of the above action takes place the landowner should have been contacted and permission obtained before moving to the next step.
I think you're view of reality seems a little mal-adjusted. It's wounded deer from a car hitting it, not someone sneaking on the property to "steal" a new World Record.
As I slightly see your point, but, there are much better things for our men in uniform to do than go door knocking trying to find a landowner to ask for permission to put down a wounded and suffering deer. Just my opinion.
If the guy came onto our farm and shot the deer with a weapon I'd get involved and get mad. But hitting a deer with a car is a different story. If it ran onto my family's land I would have no problem with how the situation went down. Someone got some meat, and a wounded deer was put down instead of dying slowly.
