I'm not passing judgment on Andrea yet. I wanna hear his side of the story as well. I find this hard to believe.
Which incidents do you want to hear his side on.... 2000, 2005, or the most recent one with the whole family involved. Also worth mentioning is the 2000 incident that was linked was the appeal part of the trial, apparently after he had already been found guilty and an appeals board agreed with the lower court and upheld the decision. So when I know for a fact that he was found guilty of hunting well beyond legal shooting light in 2000(unless that is a different Andrae D') and then I read an interview from him describing another buck kill that reads: " I actually got in there late, I ran into traffic, and there were a couple deer already in the field. I was on stand about and hour and a half before dark, and he came out just before dark. He ended up scoring 184 7/8." I guess I can't help but think, really, was it just before darK? Or was it 15-20 minutes after legal shooting light, I mean hell it wouldn't be the first time he was in the stand well after legal shooting light with bow in hand and an arrow nocked. Call me a skeptic, I mean i'm sure he's a good guy and all.
Wow, i cant believe it. I thought he was a straight shooter but i guess i was wrong. Very dissapointing to read it makes you wonder about all the giant deer he has previously harvested, doesnt it!!like dan said making a mistake is one thing i forgot to call in a doe harvest last year, i tagged her but didnt call it in. That was a mistake and i was repremanded for it. But baiting and not buying licenses and lying about your residency, come on guys thats beyond a mistake totally intentional in my eyes.
I was reading another article about someone who had taken a few giant bucks. He was at a show, showing it off when he was arrested for it. He had taken the buck at night off someone else's property. Even in the article it said how the number of these big bucks taken legally has to be in question. They don't get big for no reason. I had a monster just out of reach all season but he wasn't dumb. He knew when to come out and where the land wouldn't allow hunting. If I was wanting to take him all I would have to do is mount a light to my stand and wait for the camera to go off. But that's illegal. I think there are some really good guys and straight shooters who hunt within the law and go out of there way to do so. The pressure on these guys would be enormous. They are expected to make shows and kill big bucks. But to the guys who do it right, I've seen their shows when all they do is sit in the stand and watch. It seems to me that's he's making up for ability with bait. I'm glad he got caught. The only issue is that he'll be in a stand again next year. I wish they could permanently ban some of these people. All sports have rules. The people who are successful are so within those limits.
After my own encounters with a couple"pro hunters", nothing surprises me. I'm glad he got caught. I won't be purchasing any future DVD's from him.
We were talking about this in the bowshop, today, Josh. Sure has happened (getting caught - cheating) to a LOT of people. Makes you think just how prominent this is in all facets of whitetail (and other) hunting, huh?
X2 We all know the media ONLY reports the truths - Right? Never misprinted / mislead / misinterpreted... I wouldn't be so naive OR ignorant just yet!!!
I'm just asking....as I don't have ANY stake in this. But, what would it take to make you guys on the fence.....believers?
Innoncent people seldom plead guilty to a crime they didn't commit. Hell, if we are waiting on his side of the story, maybe he'll tell us what happened the other 2 times he plead guilty, too.
Was this a case of actually hunting over bait or did he have mineral sites out from late summer? Big difference in my opinion, deer won't touch a mineral site this time of year but I bet it would still be considered baiting.
I got this from a website where guys are close to Andrae... "Last year when Andrae bought his Illinois license for him, his son Cody, and his daughter Ashley, he bought them over the phone. He forgot to purchase the habitat stamp. The article makes it look like he was hunting without a license, but really an illinois license is about $600 if the fine was $200 who would buy one? Read it again, its worded to look like he had no license. Second, the wardens found a mineral lick on the lease farm Andrae shares with several other people from Tennesee. No one was caught hunting over the minerals. They wrote a citation anyway and when it went to the DA's office it was thrown out. Hunting on a leased farm that has minerals somewhere on it is not illeagle. Was it Andraes minerals? I don't know. Maybe. I know one thing, he don't hunt over bait, but he has used minerals to grow racks in the spring and summer. The DA threw that out immediatly. So, all there is to the baiting is an accusation. If you read the news release you will see the small print where it says at the bottom the baiting charges were dropped. Believe me, if they could of, they would of. Further more, I have personally hunted with Andrae in 3 different states, and have been good friends of his and his family for over 20 years ( before anybody new who Andrae was ) His ethics are in my opinion the best I have ever seen in any hunter. He has passed B&C class deer because of the amount of camera light, or because he felt 22 yards is to far of a shot. I don't hold a candle to him ethically. As a matter of fact, I think I would not be as ethically sound as I am now, if it were not for having him as a mentor and friend.
I live and hunt in Menard county, and live pretty close to the Cass county line... interesting. I can't believe that harsher penalties haven't been given to him though. In Illinois they work on a point system against your hunting license and if you build up so many points then you're not allowed to hunt for a certain amount of time. I'm not really aware of the specifics as I've never had any violations filed against me. Sad to see them all getting off so easily though.
There's this: http://www.wisbar.org/res/capp/z1999/99-2712.htm Then this: "In 2005, Andrae D'Acquisto was cited for fraudulently obtaining Illinois resident hunting licenses, resident deer permits and providing false information to obtain an Illinois driver's license in Cass County. D'Acquisto ultimately pled guilty to an amended charge of obstructing a peace officer and was fined a total of $2,000 in Cass County." And finally this: "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced today that five hunters, including Andrae D'Acquisto - known for DVDs and appearances on the TV show "Whitetail Addictions" – and his son Cody D'Aquisito, entered into a plea agreement in a Menard County courtroom relating to baiting charges filed in 2009. ...... In the plea agreement, both subjects pled guilty to hunting without a valid Illinois license and habitat stamp and each was fined a total of $2,068. The remaining charges, including hunting deer by the aid of bait, contribute to unlawful baiting and making salt and mineral available for deer were dismissed." All of the above from earlier in the thread, who's ignorant / naive? This isn't just some story from the National Enquirerer. It is a legitimate media outlet reporting on the outcome of legal precedings. In 2 of the three incidents he pled guilty and entered into plea deals to have other charges dropped and in the incident in 2000 from the way it reads is he was found guilty and then appealed it and still found guilty mostly due to the direct testimony from a DNR officer who was an eyewitness to the entire situation. I'm not rushing to judgement by any means, there is no need to. He's already had his day in court and been judged.
Sounds like a bunch of candy-coated BS to me. He's been hunting around Illinois enough to know that you need to get a habitat stamp with your license.... how hard is it to remember? As far as the mineral blocks go... they're still illegal even in the off-season to grow racks. I think it's Illinois way to try and prevent diseases like CWD and blue-tongue from spreading around with communal feeding sites. The only way I could see them getting away with the mineral licks is if they had cattle on the land that they were leasing. I just don't think there's any way that you can have that much bad media around you and not be doing something wrong, especially when you enter a guilty plea.
LOL...Josh... Just watched the 30 for 30 special on ESPN over the holidays. Are you freakin' kidding me? Someone (even ONE) thought he was innocent?
