DID I JUST POACH A BUCK THANKS TO GOHUNT?

[NOTAGS]

Warning vs citation? Didn’t know there was a written warning …citation would lead to a hearing. 

[gunthenbow]

1 minute ago, bigorange said:

Not going to pile on criticism since you already owned your mistake. I do want to echo others that you did the right thing and you should be proud of that. Also consider yourself lucky…a friend had a similar issue a couple seasons ago and did the right thing but was not so lucky. He got his charges dismissed but spent a lot in legal fees to accomplish it. 

Thanks, I was definitely lucky! Maybe actually driving all the meat and head to the office myself helped.. I later found out that you’re supposed to call a hotline to self-report instead of going in.

[Adicted]

Pic of deer?

[AZBIG10]

Read the regs. And stop paying go hunt. 

[Calamado_Guey]

23 minutes ago, gunthenbow said:

 

[Calamado_Guey]

22 minutes ago, gunthenbow said:

The G&F officer handed me the written warning and said because it was a written warning, it would not be going before a judge.

I get it…. Just never knew they had that type authority. 

[CatfishKev]

After all this publicity that warning might turn into a citation. 

[oz31p]

2 hours ago, gunthenbow said:

 

Well I never thought I’d have to do this but I just got back from manually reporting myself at the AZGFD office. To rewind a little, you all know AZ has started a new system this year with manually reporting when you kill for OTC deer. Well, Friday night, I hopped on Google to check that my unit was open. When I typed it, an article from GOHUNT was one of the top results. It was titled, ‘Changes to Arizona’s OTC deer hunts’. I naturally clicked it since I am a GOHUNT insider and am on their website like every other day e-scouting/looking through their gear shop, etc. Within the article, it had all of the units with which season dates that were open for each particular unit. (See original article PDF below for article) under (one of the 40's), it showed August 19- Sept. 8th 2022, Dec 9th-31st, 2022 and Jan 1-31st 2023 all open. I promptly got off my phone and started getting my things together because I was going hunting! Fast forward to the next day, my wife spots a cool buck, we bed it and it happens to bed in the perfect location for a stalk. Between perfect wind and lots of luck, I made a solid shot on my first ever mule deer buck and my first ever bow kill AND it was even in velvet! I was on cloud nine, telling all my friends and even got some of them to help me pack it out. Fast forward to the next day, Sunday. It was time to process all the meat so my wife and I spent around 5 hours trimming vac sealing and labeling all the cuts to put into the freezer still high on life wondering how I was so lucky to make a bow kill on a mule deer in the desert in August. Fast forward to the next day. Monday- mandatory reporting day. I hopped on google again to find where I needed to report my harvest and that’s when I found out that the season wasn’t actually open for this time of year in (we will just say, one of the 40’s) and a lot of other units GOHUNT claimed were open. (One of the 40’s) was one of many other units that were incorrect on which seasons are actually open right now and the rest of the year. I guess I’m writing this article to hopefully help anyone else who might make the same mistake I did. Anyways, I loaded up the cooler with the meat neatly wrapped and labeled in vac sealed bags and the head and went on down to the local AZGFD office to report myself because I felt like it was the right thing to do. I also called GOHUNT on the way and they didn’t answer of course. I told the G&F officer what happened and he didn’t seem too upset about it. He said something to the effect of “these kind of things happen and you did the right thing by reporting yourself. However, we will be seizing the head and all the meat but you’ll only receive a written warning.” I know it was lucky to get off with just a written warning but the whole thing turned a magical experience of my first ever bow kill to nothing but feeling sick to my stomach. I NEVER would’ve hunted that unit if I hadn’t thought it was open. GOHUNT let me down and they didn’t do anything to help me out with it.  In the same article, it states, “(details will be published in the 2022-2023 Arizona Hunting Regulations booklet and updated here when available).” I assumed GOHUNT was “up-to-date” like they said they would be. I was wrong and learned my lesson not to trust GOHUNT even though I pay them for that kind of trust.
 

Listen, I know it was wrong of me to rely solely on GOHUNT. However, I was under the impression that I paid these people to give the correct information regarding seasons and stats. I did get a call back from them on my way home AZGFD and I told them the situation and they said those were just “pending dates”. However, nowhere in that article did it say pending and it also said they would be updated when they were available. I don’t know, maybe I’m just being a big baby but I feel like I got screwed over and there’s nothing I can do about it. AGAIN, I DO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IN USING GOHUNT AND NOT AZGFD DIRECTLY AND WILL NEVER MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. I am writing this to hear what others think and most importantly, to warn anyone else of this issue before they make the same mistake I did.

And as for the nicely packaged meat we worked so diligently on- it’s going to the AZGFD animals rescue shelter to feed to the coyotes and other predators after it’s tested. The antlers will be auctioned off in AZGFD yearly auction. The gentlemen who took the meat from me even gave me his business card to send him an email to buy the antlers back from them when the auction happens.

 

Changes to Arizona’s OTC deer hunts.pdf

Lol. Did you not notice that you have the place to your self?

[Born2hunt]

That’s a cruddy situation and I’m glad you owned up to it. Its really cool of you to air it out in front of everyone with the intent that others won’t make the same mistake.  Especially knowing that you’ll get some criticism. Thanks for that. 

[HyNoon]

54 minutes ago, Calamado_Guey said:

I get it…. Just never knew they had that type authority. 

Ya from what I've seen and heard .... those written warnings are not warnings.... they are still sent for  Submittal for charges if the judge deems it necessary.

[654321]

8 hours ago, HyNoon said:

Ya from what I've seen and heard .... those written warnings are not warnings.... they are still sent for  Submittal for charges if the judge deems it necessary.

I've had a ton of written warnings over the years from DPS never once turned into anything else, AZGFD written warnings will be no different.

[ThomC]

Mistake number one is trusting, just look at the president, vice president, speaker of the house, fbi, etc.  Dont trust, verify.  Mistake number two spreading it all over the internet.  Did you put it on fakebook and titter also.  🤐 

[Heat]

I'm sure you've learned your lesson but next time don't take the shortcut, go straight to the source. There is no excuse not to read and be thoroughly familiar with the regulations, especially the parts that apply to you and your hunts.

[trphyhntr]

No, you poached a buck thanks to yourself. Change the title. Be a man, accept that you fukked up entirely on your own 

[trphyhntr]

I wonder if he really turned himself in or went Azgfd and they said “you killed this where sir?” 
 

how are you apologists ok with him blaming gohunt when he didn’t do his due diligence?
 

We live in strange times. Nobody needs to take responsibility for their actions anymore I guess