Ruined Squirrel Hunt

[stinkyfeet]

Has anyone else had there tree rat hunt ruined by someone reporting that your shooting deer out of season. I walk out and next to my truck and a regular police officer stops and tells me to put my gun down (45 cal pedersoli frontier flinter)and walk towards him. He tells me to stand in front of the car and not to move. He picks up the gun and is trying to figure it out, he finally ask how to unload it so I tell him to cock the hammer and pull the trigger while pointing at the ground, or to make it legal just dump the powder out of the pan and talk him through it. He ask where the safety is and how to put it on. I laugh in my head and say theres no safety and attempt to explain it to this officer the whole full cock, half cocked hammer forward pan open, and get a 5 minute lecture on how unsafe it is to hunt with a gun with no safety The whole time I ask him what I did wrong and he repeats he has a report of a guy shooting deer out of season and I fit the description. Hmmm I guess since I am 6'6" I meet the very tall bill. So a few minutes go by and the game warden comes on scene and starts asking me questions. I show him my licenses and 2-squirrels and he looks at the gun and says he is a front stuffer to and always wanted to try squirrel hunting with one. I told him he needed to talk to the other officer and let him know the rules and how flintlocks operate to avoid further confusion in the future. The warden laughed and asked if he could use my rifle for a few minutes and gave the policeman a crash course. The warden and I plan to go hunting Sunday morning for squirrels together. In the end all went well but the hunt was still ruined by people accusing honest folks of doing wrong when they are very much legal. I am sure others have been through a similar situation just wanted to hear their stories so I don't feel bad about a ruined hunt.

 

[buford87]

Seems to me that you are doing the best thing to avoid problems in the future, go hunting with the game warden. Any how at least the hunt wasn't interrupted by the idiot police officer................watch yer top knot.............

 

[VEARL]

I retired from a police dept in 1988.
Now days it seems that the people they are hiring as police officers, have never hunted or have never been in the woods for anything.
P.S. As soon as he told me that I matched the description of a possible deer hunter violating the law, I would have said yea...and you look like a very smart officer and chuckled. Drives the new one speechless. lol

 

[Drago]

Well at least he did'nt think they were two trophy bucks you had there or you could a really been in trouble!

 

[Flint311]

Maybe one hunt ruined, but many more good ones with a hunting partner? I'd say turned out pretty good. :thumbsup:

 

[nchawkeye]

How was your hunt ruined??? Sounds like you were finished and headed to the truck???

Plenty of folks don't understand the game laws or flintlocks...

 

[Dave K]

30 yrs. ago a couple of friends and I were on our dirtbikes circling the trail in the woods. We had earlier agreed to get together on out bikes and to bring hand guns along to shoot the cans in thrash pile that allot of woods have. As we shot for awhile apparently a deer left the woods and was seen by a neighbor. Next thing we know we are leaving and a cruiser slams it sideways in front of us. He wants to know where the rifle is and where the dead dear is. We of course knew nothing about any deer and we had no rifle. He took our guns and said he would get back to us after we gave him our names, addresses etc. We heard nothing for about 2 weeks. Then we all got a call and an apology from the Sheriff He said his investigation showed no wrong doing. Our guns were promptly returned to us that day.

 

[stinkyfeet]

How was your hunt ruined??? Sounds like you were finished and headed to the truck???

Plenty of folks don't understand the game laws or flintlocks...

Well I spent a large amount of time dealing with the law, and after it was over my mood to hunt at another location was shot but its likely a good thing because it was 95 today.

 

[MattC]

I know it sucks now, but in the long run it is a good message. I would hate for them (whoever it was) to be afraid to call if someone actually was poaching in the area. Now, that local cop was uninformed about bp stuff and it was good that the game guy showed up, but I'm glad that the people in that area cared enough to call.

I am in law enforcement now, so I see the result of the fear of calling the police.

 

[Roguedog]

Personally, I wouldn't mind them calling the law if they actually had some real proof that people were poaching. Maybe some gunshots at night or somebody dragging a deer out of the woods might qualify, but to call the law for somebody out squirrel hunting? Seems to me there's too many people trying to mind other people's business! Chances are the original poster knew more about gun safety than the cop did. Hopefully the police officer apologized after he realized the man had done nothing wrong. Anyway, I'm glad things turned out okay.

Jeff

 

[Vaino]

A few years back I was squirrel hunting in corporate land that was open to hunting and after the hunt was cleaning a few squirrels and along came my Dad's neighbor. We talked awhile and then he left. Shortly the sheriff arrived and asked me what gun I was using, showed him the .45 flint LR and then he asked whether it was a legal gun to hunt small game with? I said yes and he left.

A couple days later the neighbor called the game warden to report me for using "such a big gun" for squirrels. The warden told him it was legal.

This I found out from another neighbor and never asked the "nosey neighbor" why all the concern about the gun I was using.....Fred

 

[tenngun]

thumbs up... cant get the icon to work

 

[stinkyfeet]

thumbs up... cant get the icon to work

Well I had to ask the cop "Do you really think if I was going to poach a deer I would do it in broad daylight, wear bright orange, and use a flintlock?" his answer was violators never cease to amaze me anymore...

 

[George T.]

I know it is the pitt's but you did our proud by acting like a true sportsman. I live in the sticks and the cluster of small towns spends very modest amounts on out protection.

I guess we do look a little goofy using traditional MLR's to hunt. Oh Well! I love the smelly rascals! Geo. T.

 

[necchi]

he finally ask how to unload it so I tell him to cock the hammer and pull the trigger while pointing at the ground,

:rotf:
I would have liked to seen him do that!!
Can you imagine what he might have done when the pan flashed followed by the boom!

The Cop was dumb yes, but he was just doing his job.

You can't even park on the street to check your road map anymore, and somebody's calling 911 with cell phone reporting suspicious activity!

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Some people's knowledge of guns is limited. Young police officer wanted to know where the de-cocker was on a 1911 .45 he was looking at. He didn't have a clue what he was holding in his hand. Glad it worked out for you. Dan.

 

[Roguedog]

Matt,
I just re-read my post and and I apologize if I sounded condescending towards police officers. I appreciate you sticking your neck out to help keep others safe. I hope I did not offend you.

Jeff

 

[MattC]

Thank you for that, Roguedog, and don't give it a second thought.
That local sounded like a campus cop; the kind of kid that went right from college to the streets without the kind of life experience you need to be able to relate to the people you see well. I personally believe no'one should get into law enforcement until they are at least 25.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

So this sheds some light on why people who know me tend to think I'm a pita ( pain in etc) But. . . . That case should be closed. If so the call to 911 is now public record, you can get a copy of the tape. If they lied ie " I watched him shoot at a deer" it is false reporting.

I did this once when I was accused of a crime. The caller turned out to be an x employee who lied like a dog, false reporting is a crime.

But if you hear the tape you can tell if it is an anti hunter making trouble, or just a good home owner that was misinformed.

The Cops WON'T like you asking for the tape, but that gives you power to ask them to explain small game hunting to the caller.

*****All this is based on Colorado law don't ask the cops they in general don't like giving 911 info out, ask at the state level before hand. *******

IMO my goal would be to bring a level of understanding to the caller and the cops so that I could hunt there again without wasting my time and the department,s time whit false calls of deer hunting.

 

[MattC]

Absolutely right. Colorado Open Records Act.

And it is important to differentiate between a legit call and an abuse of the system.