Taking hunting licenses is a shot fired in the right direction

With his sights set on bagging repeat violators of hunting-related laws, Bucky Owen, commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, recently authorized revocations of the hunting licenses of two hunters convicted of criminal trespass. The revocations marked the first time that licenses were taken for a violation of Section 17-A, which also includes assault while hunting.

Without question, it was a shot fired in the right direction and it struck squarely where it hurts – in the wallet. In this case, however, that doesn’t mean money. Obviously, there are people who regard some hunting-related violations and their fines with disdain commonly shown for parking tickets. But lightening their wallets by revoking their hunting licenses leaves them feeling broke.

Word from DIFW deputy chief warden Parker Tripp is that more of the same is in order: “Our law committee will be meeting to set the gears in motion regarding repeat offenders and license revocations. Included will be a requirement that convicted hunters complete a hunter-education course before reinstatement of their licenses. Also, lifetime revocations are being considered depending on the number of repeat violations.”

The Warden Service Law Committee consists of a chairman, Lieutenant Greg Maher of Division E headquarters in Ashland, and a sergeant from each of the service’s five divisions.

Warden Sergeant Chuck Allen of Division C in Bangor is the coordinator of Operation Game Thief, a program that offers financial rewards for information leading to the arrest of poachers.

“It’s unbelievable what’s going on,” said Allen. “Using a decoy deer, warden Jeff Lewis and I recently wrote 18 summonses in two days. Most of them were for shooting from paved roads, shooting from vehicles, and shooting too close to dwellings. This was in broad daylight. It’s absolutely amazing the disregard these people have for the law.”

If that didn’t get your attention, try this: While working in the Princeton area, wardens Bob Brown and Jim Davis wrote 22 summonses in five hours. If that doesn’t sour the cream in your coffee nothing will.

A claim often heard around the hinterlands was that the use of decoy deer constituted entrapment. The fact is, a decoy merely provides opportunity; intent to shoot it is provided by a poacher. Let’s face it, a decoy deer is no more entrapment to a poacher than an automobile dealership’s vehicle lot is to a car thief.

Most interesting, however, was Chuck Allen’s comment regarding license revocation: “When I issue a summons for shooting from a vehicle and tell the violator the fine will be $120 including court costs, they don’t even flinch. But the first thing they ask is, `Will I lose my license?’ ”

There you have it, Sport. A fine can be payed off by dipping into the egg money or working overtime, but losing the privilege to hunt would be pure bankruptcy to a lot of people hereabouts. With that in mind, the DIFW plans to reduce the ranks of repeat offenders by hitting them where it hurts, which, of course, means the wallet – but not in the customary manner.

Speaking of wallets, warden pilot Dana Toothaker lost one 20 years ago after landing his “Beaver” floatplane on Moosehead Lake. It was a cold, windy day, Toothaker recalled, and it was too risky to turn the plane downwind so he sailed it backwards, allowing the wind to push it along. But when he leaned out to see past the tail section, his wallet slipped out of his pocket disappeared into the lake.

Well, last fall the Warden Service Dive Team held a training session at Moosehead. While diving in Greenland Cove, the aforementioned Jeff Lewis spotted a white object protruding from the muddy bottom. Fetching it, the warden discovered it was a cellophane insert from a wallet.

You can imagine the surprise among members of the diving team when they discovered the insert contained a 1974 combination hunting-fishing license, a DIFW identification card, a Miranda card, a photograph and a pilot’s certificate – all belonging to Dana Toothaker. Several of the items, particularly the combination license and ID card, were remarkably clear and legible despite 20 years of immersion in Moosehead Lake.

Although nothing else remained of the wallet, the diving team attempted to rankle Toothaker by thanking him for the party they had with the money found in it. The veteran pilot has logged too many hours of flying time, however, to be put into a tailspin that easily. “I was just a new recruit at the time,” he said, “and I know I couldn’t have had more than just a dollar or two in it.”

From what I’m hearing, you can bet your best reel that the verbal casting will be serious and steady at the Quality Fisheries Initiatives hearing scheduled for Dec 2 at Stearns High School in Millinocket. Legal fishing time is 7 p.m. Hone your hooks and set your drags.