The Illinois Whitetail Disaster - Don Higgins

I will tell you something Atlas. I could not stomach thinking I worked so hard to shoot and kill a deer legally, only to have to d-bag neighbor (not you, but in Don's case) not allow me on his property to retrieve my deer. Heck, I may be the one charged with trespassing after dark......

 

Stories like Mr Higgins make me feel better about hunting in an area where a 130" deer is newsworthy. I enjoy hunting and so do all my friends/neighbors. If someone needs to retrieve a deer from the farm I hunt, be it doe or buck WE GO GET IT! There seems to be a lot of bull**** involved in hunting these big buck states, you guys have at it I will keep enjoying every sit from Sept till Jan .

 

Quite honestly, sometimes I think it would be more fun to sell out and just play golf and go on a few hunting trips every year. Like the other night when a neighbor to one of my farms called to tell me that he just ran off a pickup that shot and killed a nice 10 point on my property. Shot it from the road. I told the neighbor he could have it and I can not even stomach going out to look at it yet. Big antlers have really made a mess of things.

 

I noticed that also. If that is the case then Mr. Higgins article and this thread has served it's original purpose of bringing light to the situation.

 

EXACTLY! There had to be some bad blood between these guys (over this buck?). I don't think this incident took place "out of the blue". The real shame here is that this story had to be brought up AGAIN, this really is OLD NEWS. I think there might have been 2 or 3 folks in this whole thread who weren't aware of it.

 

Maybe in part, but Most of the traffic I believe was due to the ATA Show coverage.

 

Good point. I didn't consider that, but I just now noticed there's a Forum just for the ATA Show. So, maybe it was mainly for this specific thread. As was mentioned, at least the plight of the IL deer herd is under the microscope.

 

Maybe the high number of people on here had to do with the crappy weather. The below zero temps, high winds, and blowing snow had more people stuck inside and bored out of their minds

 

What, you mean like us?

 

I agree with you guys and the vast majority of times as long as the deer was shot elsewhere and ended up on my land then we can go retrieve it together (you unarmed). We also all know sometimes the situation isn't that black and white. My good friend got a call that a bear was shot and went on his land this year.......his neighbor called mid day and my buddy got excited and said he would get his tractor and meet them at the logging road to go search for the bear..........a silence was followed by "Oh, we got him!.......we took the atv's and our tractor up and found him." WTF???......Why didn't you call me first??......you obviously have my number. To his credit the bone head answered honestly........"We were afraid you'd say no and it was the kids first bear". Now they are not allowed on for any reason and will get slapped with trespassing charges if they do wander.

There is also a guy who owns 20 acres that shares a small line with our 350.........he hunts RIGHT ON THE LINE facing a stand straight down the line actually cutting his legal shooting space in half. Worse then that when we met him he was a total jerk, ranting at us he has hunted this land (ours) for 25 years and still has permission from some guy who died 10 years ago. We tried to be nice and explain the land was ours now and he needed to respect the lines but over the first couple years we found everything from him on our trail cams to arrows stuck in our trees and piles of corn near his stand. Why would we ever even consider showing this clown the respect of letting him get a deer off our land when he refuses to be respectful towards us??

Respect is a two way street..........in situations involving deer you can bet one guy feels slighted by the other long before that deer was killed.

 

People are nuts man.........our neighbor spent most of last year planting pines between his food plots and the road because he is sick of running off poachers.

We caught 2 separate vehicles parked along our main field this year..........both idiots with binocs out and glassing the field and rifle on passenger seat.........both claimed they were walking their dog when we slammed on their window LOL.......must have been a new excuse they dreamed up at the poachers convention last year.

 

This thread turned into an absolute train wreck. Don, you do realize that you're doing the very thing that you're accusing him of doing right?

What you meant to say is...."you are a moderator and as such you are going to treat me with the respect that I deserve because I'm Don Higgins!"

I don't get it? Who are you? You're a guy who's killed some deer and has written books, written a blog and spouted an opinion. Who died and made you king of all Illinois Deer and moderators? I didn't know you were calling the shots with all of your 24 posts. Bottom line is, I don't think you get to make the call on who's moderator or not, and to start throwing Graf's name around basically baiting him into removing Dan as a moderator is a bit ******y.

However, I'd like to share what I took from reading your entire article, and maybe I can shed some light on why you're having difficulty working with the DNR.

First, the "article" as you call it, isn't really an article. It's a rant. You don't offer any scientific data, you don't have quotes from individuals involved that offer anything enlightening. You went on a rant, you said how you don't like things, and you pointed the blame at members of the DNR. Why? because you feel that he likes ducks more than bucks.

Next, you've offered to work with the DNR. From the tone of your rant, why in the world would they want to work with you? I get the feeling from your rant and your subsequent posts, you're a "my way or the highway kind of guy". So why would anyone, who didn't have to work with you, want to work with you? I'm just being honest here, I work with people for a living. I would avoid you like the Black Plague.

Here are my recommendations.

1. If you want to work with the DNR so badly because you feel you can do a better job, get a degree, and get the job. Surely, once you're hired in, they'll realize that you're the greatest deer expert that has ever walked and promote you quickly. Now, if you say..."I'd have to take a pay cut" that only shows that you don't care about the deer as much as you say you do.

2. Since we like throwing cliche's around....I've got one. "You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar". (That means.. be nice)


Here's my name: Paul Compton. Let me know if you need my address or phone number for any ensuing litigation.

Lastly, as I've said 1 million times. No good can come from using your company name and/or likeness on a social media site.

 

Atlas, I'm totally with you on the trespassing thing, a landowner deserves respect. But do you think there would have been a stink (wardens, cops, lawers, ect) between the property owner and Don Higgins had this been a doe, or small buck? I doubt it.

 

Ask yourself a question. If I shot a deer on my property, he traveled to your property and died, (here's the important part) and I could prove without a doubt (maybe entrance wound site) that I shot him on my property, would you have a problem with me recovering the deer? I seriously doubt you would. I don't care if it was the size of an indian elephant. But that's not the case here, and that makes my spidey senses tingle. We're getting one side of the story, we're missing 2 sides.

Wish I had those court documents right about now.

Again, my name is Paul Compton

 

I found the article. So my question is....How can such an "esteemed" hunter not know where he's at in the woods? Or was it a simple case of 20 point fever? And for the record, I'm a property owner, I know the exact moment I would cross my property line. It's not marked anywhere except in my mind.

By KRISTA LEWIN, Staff Writer
GAYS -- Hunter Don Higgins talks about the 20-point buck that temporarily got away from him.

The conservation ticket against Higgins for unlawful hunting and retriveing of a white-tailed deer without permission of the landowner was dismissed. Moultrie County State's Attorney Marvin Hanson filed a new charge of criminal trespassing to real property, to which Higgins plead guilty. Higgins was sentenced to six months supervision and was fined $500 plus court costs. Both the dismissal and the new charge were also filed on Jan. 6.

During the investigation, the buck was confiscated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Higgins said he shot the buck on land where he was given permission to hunt. For Higgins, who has hunted for 27 years, the rare 20-point white-tailed deer buck was the hunt of a lifetime.

"I wanted one like that and it finally happened," Higgins said.

Higgins had been on the buck's trail for a couple of years.

"I had seen him four times in two years," he said. "I had never seen a buck this big before."

Perched in his tree stand Dec. 1 about 4 p.m., Higgins saw four doe and one eight-point buck. Following the eight-point buck was the prized 20-point buck.

"He was in the same spot where I had seen him two years ago," Higgins said.

Higgins took his bow, aimed and scored a lethal shot into the buck.

After being shot, the buck ran for 80 to 100 yards and then died, said Higgins.

"He (Higgins) called me on my cell phone and the first words he said were ‘I got him,'" said Joe Johnson of Windsor, Higgins' friend. "He was really excited."

Later that day, Higgins, along with Henry Hortenstine, Johnson and Cy Hopper, set out to search for the buck. With flashlights, the group followed the blood trail to where the animal had died and transported the animal to Higgins' farm.

The next day, Higgins received a visit from a conservation officer who said he received a complaint from a landowner that Higgins was trespassing when he killed the buck.

Nearby landowners claimed Higgins had killed the buck on their land, where he didn't have permission to hunt, but Higgins, unaware he was trespassing, said he, Johnson, Hortenstine and Hopper had only been on the property in question to remove the buck.

Higgins, who was devastated about the charge, had no choice but to relinquish the deer to the conservation officer until the investigation was completed.

"We didn't realize we crossed property lines," Higgins said. "There were no signs or fences."

"It would take a surveyor to determine whether or not we were trespassing when we picked up the buck," added Hortenstine of Gays. "The area in question is an imaginary property line in the woods."

Hortenstine and other supporters of Higgins started a letter writing and verbal campaign to bring attention to the situation. Little did they know, Higgins would receive overwhelming support including phone calls from across five states.

"Ninety-five percent of the hunters who I have talked to have been supportive," Higgins said. "They knew what happened and they understood because they knew it could happen to any one of them."

Higgins thanked his dad, Hortenstine and Johnson who reminded him to remain calm and cool-headed because the truth would prevail and the buck would be returned.

Joe Bauer, IDNR spokesman, said the situation was extremely rare for the IDNR because the property owner requested Higgins be arrested for trespassing and that the officers confiscate the buck.

Usually a property owner will call the conservation officers to tell the hunter to remove the deer from the property and then request the hunter leave the property, he said.

Bauer said the 20-point white-tailed buck Higgins harvested was indeed rare and that an animal that size can bring in thousands of dollars.

Moultrie County State's Attorney Marvin Hanson filed a motion Jan. 6 requesting the charges against Higgins be dismissed. In the motion, Hanson said evidence supports that Higgins did have permission to hunt on the property where he killed the deer but that he didn't have permission to be on the property where he removed the deer.

However, there is no evidence that Higgins had a weapon on the property where he removed the deer; indicating he was not hunting, Hanson wrote. The statute only says it is unlawful for any person to hunt or trap upon the land of another without first obtaining permission from the landowner, Hanson wrote.

If the statute in question had stated it was illegal to "take" deer on property where the defendant didn't have permission to be, the defendant may have committed a violation of the statutes, Hanson said.

Higgins, who writes for Bowhunter and North American Whitetail, said he has received an offer from a producer of a hunting show who is interested in featuring his story on a video.

 

There are a lot of people that won't let others access to retrieve a dead deer, especially a very large deer. It surprises me that this seems odd to you.

 

No, not after you asked me permission. But, I think it was more the "type" of deer killed (big buck) and not so much that permission wasn't granted to recover it? Like you said, "wish I had those court documents right about now".

 

Are we still talking about a deer herd or tresspassing?

If it is the later, then I believe this thread has run its course.

 

The only thing I am sure of after reading this abortion that this tread has become is be thankful when you have decent neighbors. The amount of ****** baggery precribed by some on here would be laughable if it wasnt so sad.

 

I want to apologize for my part in "derailing" this thread. I just realized I'm only helping to take the attention away from where it should be, on the deer herd in IL. Not what kind of guy Don Higgens is. Live and learn.