Accidental "poaching"......

Has anyone here accidentally harvested or over harvested.......

I did a couple years ago in Canada. We were lake trout fishing, and I made sure that I was under limit and within the parameters of my license.

And the Lakers SURE were good.

After posting my trip report on a BWCA site, I got an email from one of the members that I wasn't "legal" when I took trout from xy lake. EVEN though I checked the regs, there was a 1 line sentence about NON-Canadians and harvesting from a PARTICULAR lake. We had taken a daytrip to that magical "laker Lake" and harvested a couple lake trout.

I actually contacted the MNR about the details and it was a "misprint" in their guidelines. Non-Canadians could take lake trout, but to do so you had to purchase a normal license and not a conservation license.

Funny thing though.......the conservation license up there allows you 1 lake trout/day on EVERY OTHER LAKE.........

Later,

Geo

I'll fess up but it wasn't fish. We were stalk hunting and I was shooting a shotgun with 00 buckshot. I saw a buck standing in thick bushes and finally found a place I could get a good shot. I fired and TWO deer fell, one of them was a doe. OMG! Talk about scared! I looked around and every bush that shook looked like a wildlife officer to me. lol

When I was a teenager we were rabbit hunting with some friends. The dogs got up next to a woodline and we followed. While we were there I saw a squirrel jumping from limb to limb and shot him. I walked over to pick him up and put him in my game vest, when my dad said "what the h#ll are you thinking, sqirrrel season went out two weeks ago."

I believe the statute of limitations has run out on that one! :)

As a kid I never knew the laws but as an adult I don't think I ever took more than allowed. Of course I don't keep fish but have dove hunted with alot of success and always stayed within the rules.
Take it one step further..... If you get caught "poaching" because of your own fault (ignorant to the laws or a simple mistake on your part) are you gonna be pissed or just take your medicine and move on?

[QUOTE=DJD;484842]As a kid I never knew the laws but as an adult I don't think I ever took more than allowed. Of course I don't keep fish but have dove hunted with alot of success and always stayed within the rules.
Take it one step further..... If you get caught "poaching" because of your own fault (ignorant to the laws or a simple mistake on your part) are you gonna be pissed or just take your medicine and move on?[/QUOTE]

Take my medicine and move on.........I also broke the law by cleaning some rainbow on the water at Cumberland. I didn't know about the cleaning station. I'm glad the warden was in a good mood :):) I was completely expecting to get a fine that day, and told him I understand if I get one.......He gave me a warning.

And I ended up talking to him for nearly an hour about possession limits, etc, etc.

Later,

Geo

One day a couple years ago, when the limit at the FiNS lakes was still 8 trout, my wife and I went and had a really nice day at Fisherman's Park, lounging around for several hours, and putting our fish in the same basket. Apparently we lost count, because when we got home I cleaned 17 fish. Oops! But had I gotten caught, I just would have done like George said, just face the music and move on. I mean, what else is there to do? I might be ticked off at myself for a while, thinking, "Man, that was a dumbass thing to do," but oh, well, doo-doo occurs :)