A Bad Experience with Tennessee Wildlife Enforcement.

[TN Whitetail Freak]

Recently, a situation that occurred last season was brought to my attention when a YouTube video dropped last week. Idk how this floated under my radar given I follow the group pretty regularly. I just have to say this a sad deal when the guys doing things right are rewarded with a 'tough yugo' response from a publicly paid employee on publicly paid ground in regards to what would have been an outdoorsmans biggest accomplishment to date. Anyone hear about this story?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I watched this last night. Nothing surprises me anymore. I'll say this - he handled it a lot better than I would have.

 

[Pilchard]

Not doubting the hunter but I would like to hear the other side of the story before passing judgment.

 

[Pilchard]

I watched this last night. Nothing surprises me anymore. I'll say this - he handled it a lot better than I would have.

Link to watch?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Link to watch?

He shoots the deer at the 9:40 mark...

 

[buckbstr_1]

Dang, what an rear end... I do not think I could have been that nice.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Bad deal, and a shame the deer was wasted. Being that close and not being able to retrieve it would burn me up. Would also begin to question the lines and the accuracy of them.

 

[Volbuck777]

That dude is a saint. I could deal with a lot but nobody is going to talk down to me when I know the truth. That guy might've carried an ass whippin from some fellers I know. State ranger or not.

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

The guy it happened to is a non resident I believe and was gonna let it go but I refuse to let that happen as well as a few other guys I know. It appears our efforts have worked because the hunter has been contacted by Tennessee State Representatives.

 

[Andy S.]

Wanton waste at it's finest. Everyone has a boss, everyone! Assuming he was 100% legal, legit and transparent as he claimed, I would have continued elevating it until I got to head of the Agency, elected officials or the Governor.

 

[Specializedjon]

There's bad apples in every bunch. It's a shame he met one on THAT day. I think I would've ended up in cuffs over a deer like that. Good on'him.

 

[Roost 1]

Wanton waste at it's finest. Everyone has a boss, everyone! Assuming he was 100% legal, legit and transparent as he claimed, I would have continued elevating it until I got to head of the Agency, elected officials or the Governor.

Exactly

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

No reason for me to lie. About 2 a.m. that deer would have disappeared if the jackwagon ranger hadn't already come back and cut his horns off.

 

[rem270]

No reason for me to lie. About 2 a.m. that deer would have disappeared if the jackwagon ranger hadn't already come back and cut his horns off.

Dang right. He did it right the first time and asked permission. 2nd time I wouldn't make the first phone call and go retrieve my buck.

 

[Rakkin6]

What a tool that Ranger is/was. If I owned a large chunk of private land and someone's deer ran on my property there is no way I would deny them. Let alone a state agency that is supposed to be committed to conservation and ETHICS.

 

[tree_ghost]

Abram is a very good friend of mine. He was at my house this week while we finished modifying his hybrid saddle. There is a lot to this story and it has been elevated very high via the chain of command. It hopefully will change some things in the future but as of now there is no ground to stand on….

 

[Lost Lake]

Was this the Natchez Trace property that the buck ran onto?

 

[cbhunter]

Was this the Natchez Trace property that the buck ran onto?

I may be out of line but i'm going to say no because Natchez Trace does allow hunting

 

[Lost Lake]

I may be out of line but i'm going to say no because Natchez Trace does allow hunting

I meant to ask if the property butted up against the NT Parkway. I didn't mean to imply that he was hunting the wrong property!

Sorry for any confusion.

 

[rem270]

Abram is a very good friend of mine. He was at my house this week while we finished modifying his hybrid saddle. There is a lot to this story and it has been elevated very high via the chain of command. It hopefully will change some things in the future but as of now there is no ground to stand on….

So there's still no chance to retrieve the antlers given they're still there ?

 

[tree_ghost]

So there's still no chance to retrieve the antlers given they're still there ?

Negative.

 

[cbhunter]

I meant to ask if the property butted up against the NT Parkway. I didn't mean to imply that he was hunting the wrong property!

Sorry for any confusion.

I didn't think you was saying that at all. I assumed you were talking about Natchez Trace state park and not the parkway so i may have misunderstood

 

[cbhunter]

So there's still no chance to retrieve the antlers given they're still there ?

Them horns are long gone but i bet one would know where to find em!

 

[Rem7600]

Unfortunately I will most likely ask for forgiveness than permission. Especially when without a doubt legally taken which all my deer are I like to play by the rules but that's not right in the least. I probably would say if I had good blood I'll go maybe 50 yards over the line before I go talk to someone about retrieving my deer. I don't like doing that but ugh what to do?

 

[megalomaniac]

Unfortunately I will most likely ask for forgiveness than permission. Especially when without a doubt legally taken which all my deer are I like to play by the rules but that's not right in the least. I probably would say if I had good blood I'll go maybe 50 yards over the line before I go talk to someone about retrieving my deer. I don't like doing that but ugh what to do?

It is no longer a legal deer once you tresspass onto property you do not have permission to be on.

My take. In this particular situation, the hunter did everything right about contacting the park ranger to assist with retrieval of the deer. In that situation, the hunter can show the ranger the exact tree he was in, and the blood trail starting on the private property leading to the state park. Once verified by the ranger, he should have used his judgment and recognized this was an honest hunter who was playing by the rules, and then should have helped him drag his deer off state lands and back onto private property.

Totally different situation if he had been caught illegally hunting or illegally retrieving game off a state park.

Been in the same situation myself as the landowner. Caught poachers hunting on my property, shooting game on my property, and people retrieving game on my property without permission.

All the above got prosecuted except for one last year.... neighbors sons friend who gut shot a deer, then drove his truck through my winter haylage planting and rutted the field to begin his search, and I caught him at 10 pm destroying the blood trail through my woods. Prosecution would have caused too much bad blood between neighbors, but I asked for restitution for the destruction of the parts of the winter crop he ruined.

The flip side... had a few call me asking permission to retrieve game that ran onto my property after being shot. If you call first, I'm ALWAYS going to allow you to retrieve your game, and if I'm close by, I'll even help you drag it out or to one of my roads if it makes retrieval easier. IF you ask for permission first.

 

[megalomaniac]

Just a question... why is the title of this thread bad experience with TN wildlife enforcement???

Sounds like TWRA wildlife officers did everything they could to help the hunter. Unsuccessfully unfortunately, but at least they tried.

The bad experience was with the park ranger himself, a state park law enforcement officer, not a wildlife enforcement officer.

 

[Andy S.]

^^^Agree, misleading title IMO.

 

[Andy S.]

We have a State Park Ranger or two on this forum. I'm anxious to know if they have the "ultimate authority" for making the final decision on access and game retrieval.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

Abram is a very good friend of mine. He was at my house this week while we finished modifying his hybrid saddle. There is a lot to this story and it has been elevated very high via the chain of command. It hopefully will change some things in the future but as of now there is no ground to stand on….

Just curious, but was the ranger also somehow "hunting" that deer? Jealousy is the only reason I can come up with to be a punk in the situation. I'm sure the ranger probably gets tired of dealing with poaching, but it should've been pretty easy to see the guy wasn't poaching.

 

[tree_ghost]

Just curious, but was the ranger also somehow "hunting" that deer? Jealousy is the only reason I can come up with to be a punk in the situation. I'm sure the ranger probably gets tired of dealing with poaching, but it should've been pretty easy to see the guy wasn't poaching.

I do not think he was hunting that deer no