Hey Graydog, I dont know you and you dont know me so I am not offended by your posts...... I do have to ask thou, if you were approached by an ECO and you knew who put carcasses on land you have permission to trap and hunt and you also know THEY have permission to coyote hunt it would you blow them in? I admit I should have said I knew about the bait pile and took from said pile (which is illegal).... Next question I think would have been ' do you know who put them there?' How would YOU have answered?
Yup those guys have a tough job, but ya know what, part of the job is determining the bad gays from the not so bad guys, personally I believe when you assume everyone is a bad guy it is time to find a different profession... I am a Quality Engineer - if I assume every product or process is bad, my company doesnt ship anything and goes out of business, yet it is my job to assure ALL product is good. Most of us have difficult jobs, right?
My bad was taking stuff from a legally placed bait pile = he didnt write me up for that.... HE did manage to get me booted from land that I had permission to trap ( the farmer happens to be the town Supervisor and the leasee of the land - who the landowner has given him tags that hang on folks rearview mirrors to acknowledge that HE has given hunting permission on said land) The ECO also wrote me up for not having a tag on a trap that WAS tagged when I placed it, could thios happen to you? a week ago I would have said NOT to me.... As far as checking those traps - in my opinion there was no way those traps could catch any animal when incased in 10" of SOLID ice.... and my thought was confirmed when WE dug at two of the traps.... also I offered to take him to each of my sets to view each of my traps for tags..... Again you don't know me and I not you, but one thing I can tell you about me is I goose hunt in a group that for 15 years plus we have included any geese we feel we 'hit' as part of our bag limit, does that make us hero's - nope -but this is the type of ethics we impose on ourselves. This is part of what bothers me, I try to play by the rules best I can, yet in this case I got a ticket for what I feel I didn't deserve.
I understand that there are 'good' (prolly not the right word as it has various meanings) sportsman and bad sportsman, can you agree that there are also 'good' law enforcement professionals and bad as well.... Not saying he was or is a bad person, BUT ... I (the only person of all of us including him) knows the trap WAS tagged.
I didnt ask for sympathy as I know you guys are smart enough to know there are two sides of every story.... All I asked for was advice, given my side of the story..... I am thankfull that I feel I have gotten that advice - and I also understand it is NOT legal advice, rather personal advice.... BUT you guys are fellow trappers and I respect ALL of the opinions.
And Blueticboy is right - I should have checked my traps prior to sun up and gone coyote hunting with him - he has great dogs and we (at least I ) have had a great time listening to his dogs music.
Thanks guys, I respect all the input you have given and hope I can make this fraternity proud.