The discussion of baiting came up in the migratory bird forum. Here is a rather dramatic example of a game warden 'raid' in Bell County. this was 1992. Ticketed were 39 hunters, including the sheriff, county attorney, 2 justice of the peace, and a captain in the local state game wardens. Ex state district judge was the host of the hunt. Kind of an interesting read if anyone is interested. I can tell you NONE of these guys had any clue that the place was baited.

Ex-state district judge fined $10,000

Interesting

That would suck...

I would guess hunters unknowingly hunting baited areas goes on a lot more than people realize. It would be a tough call for a game warden in that situation. It all comes down to whether or not he/she believes the hunters.

I remember that

Are you ex-judge Don Busby ?

Ok, how do they determine if the seed has been out for 10 days or not???

A friend of mine got popped for the same thing years ago. I don't know if the same is true here, but they were watching my friend and knew exactly when he put the bait out.

I think it would most likely be gone within 10 days if there's any sort of population of birds there

It happens more times than not because people believe you can just disk and throw seed without having the intention of growing a crop. It was a lesson that I learned myself any years ago while hunting with a small group of guys. I was just hunting with a friend and had no idea how the law dictates dove hunting over a crop field, but understand it completely now. It must be a "legitimate" crop planting in which there is solid evidence it was planted with the intention of creating a harvest. Or, it must be a field in which a harvest has taken place. Simply put, it must be an area where "normal agricultural practices" have taken place. My best dove hunt ever was on a soybean field just a few days after it was harvested. There were leftover beans everywhere. And yet, because a true harvest had taken place, it was completely legal to hunt over it.

In the earlier case, it was an abundance of uncovered seed that cost all of us fine. Who is going to plant a crop and not make a solid effort to cover the seeds?

I've also known people to hunt over cattle feeder troughs. Based on my interpretation of the law, it's completely legal so long as cattle are being kept in the field.

""Are you ex-judge Don Busby ?""-------- no, but I was there and got a ticket.

The article mis-spoke. The regulation is you can't hunt the field for 10 days after bait has been removed. So, if you get caught hunting a baited field, in order to hunt that field again (anyone) the bait has to be removed and then 10 days must pass. You can't throw out a ton of milo on October 21st and hunt opening day if the milo's still there.

That's correct, bait has to be gone for 10 days.

Learn any lessons?

I did ------ never trust a district judge, a game warden or county atty.

Then you'll understand when the GW has a tendency to not trust most hunters

Navasot, they are schooled that way.

And our civilians are much different?

True Navasot, true.

The artical said all the charges were dropped against the other hunters because Busby said his guest did not know, which I found surprising, normally cases are not dropped for that reason.

It's just Busby that should not have been trusted, right? Or did the others know?

So if a person gets pulled over and has a car full of drugs and the passenger didn't know the drugs were in the car do they get off with no charges? I doubt it.....

That should be a given no matter the circumstance

In 2007 Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace in Wise County (almost) got a little preferential treatment from the game warden. He only got a warning for the same offense (at the same location and time) that his hunting buddies received citations for. The game warden even said that it was because of who he was in the county. It made the paper and then someone decided maybe they needed to pay the Fine

Same thing happened in Palo Pinto county a few years ago . Several county officials were at that hunt not sure who got what except the land owner and he got the big fine.