Stupid thing to get in trouble over.

This story from the Spokane Spokeman is a good reminder for me as I continue preparations for taking my daughter hunting this year.

Sheriff’s detective said lying about hunting tag was mistake, records say

Gee, you think?

First off, my official answer.  Bad Sheriff's Deputy.  Bad, Bad Sheriff Deputy.  David Herrin, you are a bad, bad person who showed poor judgment.

Unofficially...on the list of things that qualify as poaching...putting someone else's tag on a deer that is otherwise legally harvested(in season, correct number of points, shot between daylight hours) is perhaps the most difficult for me to get all kinds of angry about.  Is it wrong?  Yes.  Is it something I have ever done?  No.  Is it something that I have heard about?  Hypothetically speaking?  Maybe I have heard the barest of rumors about something like this happening once in my 20+ years as a hunter.  And like I said...maybe it's rationalization, but as long as the harvest of the animal is reported to the Fish and Game folks...meh.

I am already worried at some point this hunting season, I might be tempted in this manner.  I have had my daughter out shooting several times now, and...she is getting better.  But, in the back of my head, there is that doubt, leading to the question 'How many times do I let her miss?'  The answer...as many times as she needs to.

It's not that same as spotlighting a deer at night and never reporting it, or shooting a deer in one area and reporting it as being shot in a different area.  Those things effect how many deer are available for other hunters, or throw off the data used to determine future hunting opportunities.  It's still against the rules as they are written.

Bah.  I'm not saying let the dude off the hook.  In the end, this wasn't even a case of dad shooting a deer and putting a kids tag on it...this was a buddy shooting a deer, and putting your daughters tag on it.  If you read the 3rd paragraph from the end, it's clear that this probably wasn't the first time this happened either....so...I'm almost tempted to scratch this whole post, because it's looking less and less like this was a one time lapse of judgment.

BUT.

What makes me the maddest about this whole thing is how the guy got in trouble.  His ex-wife and a co-worker who was NAILING the ex-wife(while she was still the WIFE!) reported him. 

Really...you were already sticking it the guys wife behind his back...and now you are turning him in for throwing the wrong tag(illegally, yes) on deer?

Bah.  You I can't defend any of you on this one...except the kids. 

In the end, that is why I wouldn't get caught doing something like this this year...I owe it to my daughter to teach her the RIGHT way to do things...it's one reason I went through the effort(and expense) to get her selected for a special doe tag that clears up the white-tail/mule deer restriction we were looking at initially.