When enough is enough

Shawn Linn

Shawn Linn

Active member
6:38 the first shots of the shots of the morning rang out over the marsh, only 8 minutes early this morning they must have slept in. On previous mornings they 20 minutes early. The shooting continued all morning wandering all over the marsh totally destroying everyone's chance at a hunt with decoying puddle ducks. Closer and closer the shots came until the five individuals showed up 150 yards from where we were set up and shot at something down the ditch we were sitting on. Undeterred by our alerting them to our position there they sat white faces gleaming in the sun shine. Finally one of my hunting companions blew a gasket and less than politely asked them to move on. Three of the group headed out leaving only two behind. Feeling that these were the same individuals who have been blazing around the marsh all week I made a call to NJ Fish and Game hoping they could educate them on how to subtract 30 minutes from the sunrise time and start shooting at the legal time. I knew there was no hope of teaching them how to be polite or respectful. No sooner had I hung up the phone when shots rang out and a heron gull plummeted to the marsh. I voiced my displeasure and dialed again, this time I got a return call from a warden on route and working together I was able to help him find the spot where the individuals were, still shooting, and he made contact. With his permission I recovered the bird that was dumped in a ditch that I had to back 100 yards to get out of. After deciding to call an end to the hunt we headed for the ramp.

The warden called to let us know that he had caught up with the group and asked if we could stay put so he could collect the evidence. When he finally arrived he asked if I would provide a written statement and I complied. As I wrote he gave me the run down, one in the group had a previous charge of getting someone else to tag a buck he shot, one had a pending charge for poaching a trophy buck in August, two were hunting with unsigned stamp including the poacher, they were carrying buckshot, and the seagull offender confessed. There bag for the day one hooded merganser, what about the other 40 shots????

While we all make mistakes and sometimes we upset other hunters plans; there are certain individuals who make a habit of trampling all over the laws meant to protect the species we love to chase an those who do the chasing. At what point is enough enough and do we step up and do something to stop the abuse?

Thanks to NJ fish and game.
 
slobs are just that in any aspect of life

it is great you took the time to report and stuck by it to see it through

and very good to hear the NJ wardens took the matter seriously,
i wish they did in every state

a ruined hunt- but nice job - hopefully that gives you some satisfaction
 
Good job, you were a bit more patient than I probably would have been. Too bad there isn't a REAL penalty that could be leveled on such sub humans.
 
I wish I could get 150 yards of distance between me and some of the other groups out hunting some of these spots. Luck to get 100.

Mark W
 
Good job Shawn! You sir are a good sportsman. I really wish more guys would act like you did and take the bull by the horns. Duck hunters don't need slobs like that, or any other type of hunters for that matter.

Steve
 
Good for you Shawn. It's got to make you feel a little better knowing that the slobs will have to answer for some of their behavior.

Last year on the opener of our second half I watched these clowns drive around in front of us and shoot several sea ducks under power. We even ended up picking up some of the ducks that they did not recover. I called the ECO and he came out, but unfortunately he couldn't't catch them in the act.
 
Hopefully they will take a lesson from this experience, but I am not hopeful. They likely did not have good mentors, and without intervention would continue to slaughter without a care for the future. Hopefully some stiff fines and getting in front of the magistrate will curb them. Note the state fine for killing seagulls $500.00 the federal fine $5000.00.
 
Glad you made the call. We need to curb that behavior anytime we witness it.

Early shooting really sets me off. Have you ever noticed how much louder guns are before and after legal shooting time?

I had an incident on a public site a few years back when some people decided to shoot early 2 days in a row and flush hundreds of birds off the site. No one else ever fired a shot when the ducks were pouring out of the area. The secomd day I had the wardens number in my phone after a conversation the prior evening. One call the second morning and the warden was there. Every hunter she spoke to gave the exact same time that the early shooters cut loose and they told which group shot. With everyone willing to testify to what happened, I guess the shooters confessed. The hunting was much better in the weeks after the early shooters were written up.

Thanks you for making the call.
 
Good job on taking the time to get the scumbags. Lots of BS down on coastal all year long. I think that some believe rallying the birds is legit. Especially some of the local police. I have had all sorts of run ins down there from guys blasting decoys to having a violator pull a badge and tell me he would arrest me!!
Just a word. Watch you vehicle now. I maybe wouldn't go back to that ramp. Especially if they were at it or got your name. I even had a bird watcher I thought was going to get into a fight with me over killing "his" ducks.
Outrageous things happen in Coastal!!
 
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