I was one countless that got banned at the bowsite for just commenting on the thread. There was a 1900 word letter, well sob story that he wrote that the admin locked and pinned it so everybody would feel sorry for him but could not comment on it. Kinda back fired! RC bad mouthed way to many people in Wisconsin, Pat Durbin being one of them! If you go to the Wisconsin forum on Archery Talk, part of the sob story of a letter is there. This is the letter Ron wrote before the truth from the Warden came out! LOL!
In Rons own words before he deleted it off the WBH forum where he is the Admin, once the Wisconsin Outdoor News story broke today, he deleted it...LOL Read this and compare to what the Warden that busted him says happened. Enjoy.... Based on what I am reading here there is some false information being bandied about in regards to me and would like to set it straight. It starts back in 1976 when my father took me bowhunting for the very first time on the family farm . I was 12 years old the first time I hunted the family farm. We walked all over that farm as I learned about deer and hunting that day. We snuck up on a small field tucked back in the woods and saw a few does on the far end about 200 yards away. The deer didn’t seem interested in coming to us so my Father removed his hat and held it out by the bill and swung it back and forth like a pendulum. The deer caught sight of it and perhaps deer in 1976 were less wary than deer today because they started in our direction with their eyes fixed on the hat. They closed the distance quickly and even though they never got closer than 40 or 50 yards away, I was ready for them to get close enough for a shot with my recurve. Eventually they tired of the hat and turned and ran in leaping bounds with large white rumps and tails in the air. I was never so excited and had my first taste of buck fever. I was actually shaking. I got so excited, the event landed me in bed once I got home. My dad had introduced me to something that would forever change my life. My father never was a bowhunter. He was a farmer with a family of 8 so there wasn’t time. Sure, he gun hunted every year but it was a freezer filling activity for him. My passion is bowhunting and always has been. My father is now 78 and after two knee replacements, heart disease and surgery to install 5 stents, deafness not corrected with hearing aids and only one working shoulder, he does not hunt as much or as hard any more. The blood thinners prevent him from tolerating the cold weather so I thought I could solve at least that much of his problem by building an elevated, insulated deer stand that he can hunt from on the same farm where he introduced me to bowhunting so long ago. I have a little propane heater that would keep him comfortable in the coldest of temps so he would not quit on hunting. I thought this would, in some ways help him continue hunting just as he helped me start hunting. I owe him a great deal and thought this would help for al he had done for me. The family farm where the elevated blind now stands, still belongs to my uncle but he no longer farms so he leases that 80 acre portion of it to another farmer who plants corn on it. The blind sits on one corner and the farmer plants his way around the stand. The last day that I bowhunted in 2012 was the Monday prior to gun season since I didn’t have to work on Veterans Day. The gun season was only 6 days away and the corn had not been picked and with lots of rain it looked like it wouldn’t get picked making the elevated stand sort of useless for the gun opener which was pretty disappointing. I was really hoping he would get a lot of use out of that stand during the gun deer season and that he could take a deer on the farm where he took me on my first hunt. I really wanted to make the season as potentially successful for him as possible. Before I headed back home for the week I drove back to the stand to drop off a chair and other items and sat in the stand overlooking the tops of the corn stalks and was very disappointed because lately, every year he hunts seems like it will be the last year. Sometimes wanting something badly enough makes a guy do stupid things. I snapped off a few ears of that corn from that corner of the field and through them into the woods about forty yards to the East of the field into a location where he could see deer rather than just seeing the tops of corn stalks. I wrung the kernels off those cobs in a rather large area when I moved that corn from the field. It was the wrong thing to do but I rationalized it as doing what I could to help my dad get a deer for all he had done for me over the years. Besides, in 6 days those kernels would be gobbled up and long gone even if it was the squirrels and jays that made off with it. I learned a few days later when I called my father that the corn had been picked only 3 days before the gun opener. My dad was unaware of what I had done. He would not have wanted the help. The night before gun season opener, we gathered as we always do and talk changed to the unseasonably warm temps for the opener. My father opted to hunt on my sister’s farm where they had been seeing far more deer than my cameras were showing near the elevated stand. When he opted for a new location, I decided the elevated stand ought not go un-hunted so that’s where I decided to sit. Opening morning came and I was staring out over 80 acres of newly picked corn field and looking over hundreds of pounds of spilled corn and half cobs strewn about the field, left by the farmer. That corn remained even of the few ears I threw into the woods were already gone. At about 8:30 I shot a buck just to the East of the stand. After a few texts from others hunting the family farm wondering if I had shot, I noticed a truck enter the farm. The occupants, wearing blaze orange and not carrying firearms walked about 300 yards out to the neighbor’s stand who he had been investigating for the last few weeks on feeding out of season. I later learned they are having a family feud and a brother in law called him in because they would not let that family member hunt their farm any longer and while checking out the tip, that warden thought the elevated stand I built for my dad was also part of the neighbor’s land. The warden had visited their stand on Monday afternoon, the same Monday I moved the corn form the field. When they came from the neighbor’s stand the younger warden was carrying a trophy rock. The elder man asked for my name and I gave it. He identified himself as a game warden with the DNR. He told me he was walking around the elevated stand on Monday and saw corn in the woods just East of the stand. He asked if I had hunted that area between Monday and opening day of the gun season. I had not since I was back at work all week. He said placing feed more than 24 hours prior to season was illegal. He asked if I had placed that corn there. I explained the situation as I have detailed here and how it came to be that I was hunting the stand instead of my father. The first thing he said was “I’ll bet your glad your dad wasn’t hunting here and that Im not here talking to him right now.” I agreed. We walked over to the area where I had moved the corn from the field edge, the spot where the buck now lay. He said “how come this buck isn’t tagged?” I explained that I had not yet climbed from the stand to go to the deer. He told me to get my tag on the buck ASAP. We talked more. He took my information and said that I would be getting a $343 fine for feeding (nobody hunted over the corn and it was gone prior to the gun opener). This was my first encounter with a warden in the field and I was pleasantly surprised at how he handled the situation. I did a stupid and boneheaded thing, thinking I was helping out my Dad. Like I stated earlier, wanting to help him made me justify his actions on his behalf. I was wrong. The warden was incredibly understanding. Our talk was pleasant and not at all what I expected. The warden was honestly a really nice guy. Had this been an illegal baiting violation, he would have taken the deer and my gun but this was not a baiting violation. I was issued a citation for using feed. I know some here will want to think this was a case of illegal baiting but nobody hunted over any bait and the citation was for placing feed before season. I think at the same time some will want to disregard the events of that day and manufacture their own story that is more interesting than what really took place since this turns out to be rather dull. The warden was downright nice and did a god job of explaining the whole matter. Perhaps it was because the little bit of corn was so close to the same field it came from or because it was gone or that I was looking out over 80 acres of more farmer spilled and dropped corn than you can imagine. He even went so far as to say, “hey, we all make mistakes, I understand what you were doing but am issuing the citation”. I have since received a citation in the mail and paid the fine. I did not attend the court date (nor did I have too) I opted to stay with my wife to assist her recover from surgery. I was wrong in what I did and I own what I did and have paid the fine. Wanting to help out my dad is no justification for moving that corn those 40 yards. This was not a bowhunting violation. It was not even a gun hunting violation since it took place a week prior to the gun season and nobody hunted over it. At the end of the deer season I called the WBH President and explained the situation and told him I am going to resign my position on the board and as legislative liaison. It’s the correct thing to do. Nobody asked me to resign. I Just figured it would be the proper thing to do. I can continue to help the org as an active volunteer though not on the board. There have been some farfetched and wild accounts of what took place that I have read here and elsewhere by people wanting to make up bogus details and thus far they have all been wrong. What I did was wrong but I have not hunted over illegal bait. I did not receive a citation for illegal baiting. I have been trying to keep my dad hunting and in this case, went way too far to return the favors he has granted me over the years. I have long said that law breakers deserve every misery they have coming to them and I stand by that comment. I have paid my citation
Well hopefully he will get all the public humiliation one can handle and it will be the end for rancid crabtree. The only things that would make it more hilarious is if he had been caught hunting out of season, at night or from the road.....or if while out dumping his bait piles his wife was home cheating on him. :D
This is awesome, its pretty slick to find out what this guy was really about. Preach ethics and then go out and cheat the rest of us out of healthy deer to hunt.
Wonder if this was the tower? http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?29044-Tower-deer-stand-project&highlight=rancid+crabtree
If RC wasn't such a hypocrite, I'd have no problem with his story and him wanting to "help" his dad. I can understand that. BUT the man IS a HYPOCRITE and a LIAR and got what he deserved.
That's too bad. He has obviously done a lot of good for hunting and hopefully will continue. I got a ticket once for 'unwittingly' treaspassing. A dumb mistake shouldn't be the end of good efforts.
Can someone explain why he got banned? I know he was a dbag but what was the thread that broke the camels back? Sent from my SGH-T959 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
Illegally hunting over bait is not right but at least exercised discipline and held out for a buck....the article said he shot a spike.
There were several threads. Guy was argumentive, intrusive, forward, and a forum cancer. Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2
I agree RC personality wasn't the most pleasant...that said unless you had a real personal issue with the guy, I am not talking about arguing on the forum...I think its kinda bad Karma to be too giddy about someones misfortune and bad choice. Personality aside we all have made mistakes and stupid decisions, getting on here an gloating over someones mistake is in bad taste.
Thanks. I thought maybe there was one thread that he went more above and beyond than usual that lead to the ban. Sent from my SGH-T959 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
Really, lol. That guy was a total tool. Misfortune? Really, lol. Knowing breaking the law is not misfortune. He caused his own pain.
