DM

I'm NOT judgeing anyone, but i know hunters that poached longer than 33 years and NEVER got caught! To say he's "not guilty" just because he never got caught before, is BS.

Drilling Man

rather_be_huntin

12345 or what ever your handle is Bobby, I'd have to lean towards what you had said. I think what's most important is what really happened. Let's face reality here...if we didn't have so many people out there trying to break the law this story probably would have been much different.

I heard of a story told to me by my own uncle a few years back where he nailed a guy for shooting two bulls. He flat out told me the guy thought he shot a bull, it ran into some trees and ran out the other side so he shot it again and dropped it. The guy went to claim his elk and realized he had shot two bulls but he never saw two bulls at the same time. The guy thought he had made an honest mistake and called an LEO and the LEO that responded was my uncle. Well my uncle nailed him to the wall for it. He arrested him and and charged him with all he could. My uncle just said that's the law, it's not the story you're told,it's what you can prove. He said he never really paid much attention to his story, only that he shot two bulls.

This seems to be a sad trend with LEO's these days. They deal with bad guys so much (much like us reading about them) that when honest mistakes happened many poeple start thinking of covering their mistake rather than owning up to it. If Berry's story is true then most of you that have responded are guilty of the same thing, just wanting to throw the book at him, his story be damned. He had a lot to lose and if his version is true the LEO's probably didn't pay much attention to his story and just wrote what they could prove.

Obviously he made a mistake by trying to cover his tracks. But even if he did shoot the bull in Montana and the thing died in Idaho and he just tagged it, the story would probably still read, "Berry caught hunting in Idaho with Montana tag! What an idiot he even tagged it!"

For those of you who say he had his bow with him while walking to Montana, what was he suppose to do? Mail it? Ok seriously, that is a violation but only by the letter, not in spirit. One of those laws we wouldn't have to worry about if there weren't so many bad guys out there. That's what I'm tired of, the bad apples ruining it for the rest of us. Because mistakes do happen.

I know I personally will not hunt near any kind of border anymore. Private vs. public, state vs. another state, one unit vs. another just because of this sort of thing. I've heard similar stories before and from my own uncle. If the thing didn't bleed enough from where you shot it, you're screwed!!

rather_be_huntin

Sorry, double post.

CAPT BRAD

Hey DM.
Just because he did F5\^%$@^up doesn't mean he's been doing it for 33 yrs.On the other Hand to say "He's Guilty" because he made a mistake is just as much Bull$hit.

This is not the Nepolanic Law System here. He's considered innocent until proving guiltyI believe a man that stands up and admits his faults shows character

Howler

You can find much more about this on the Mathewsbow forum, in the hunting forum. Apparently, there is no doubt about which side of the state line Berry was hunting on, apparently there was no wounded elk that they were looking for, apparently they tried to cover, literally tried to hide, the elk with branches so it wouldn't be found. Apparently, Berry lied like a dress on prom night, UNTIL he was behind bars about the whole incident, BUT one of the guys with them ratted him out!
Even the Idaho fish and game officer replied over on that other site, if ya want toread his side of the "story"!

idahoelkinstructor

Over in bowsite there is a huge thread with over 400 replys that covers the entire subject. With that said when Idaho Officer "Lew Huddleston" posted on bowsiteI called the IDFG officer"Lew" at his house that night (I know him) to ask him if he did in fact just post about it that day. People were saying it was just a inposter trying to stirr the pot.Lew did infact post because Mr. Berry was not telling the whole storie and was trying to defend himself saying it was a simple mistake and the IDFG just didn't get the facts correct and they were misleading and lieing to the public. I stated the same thing that I am going to state here not word for word of course. I want all to know that Lew is a good guy and a excellent Fish and Game Officer and all who care about hunting and wildlife should be proud of him because he did his job to the best of his ability. I also think that Mr. Berry is in fact a good guy but he made a terrible mistake and in trying to redeem himself and to save his business and he made even more mistakes by not telling the whole truth.If he would have been a honestman up front and admited his wrong doing that might have been different but he lied trying to cover up his wrong doing.I feel bad this has happend not only for him but for all of us becaue we all as hunters suffer the consquences of his wrong doing. Mr. Berry is in the spot light and in doing so lives in a glass house so to speak. It's even more inportant for him to tote the line and be a law abiding citizen.Though I might feel bad I will not support Mr. Berry because he is a poacher, thatmay be harsh but that is how I and many other feel. I know that Sportsmans Warehouse has pulled all of Mr. Berrys calls and will no longer sell them. We have to stand strong together as one and defend our sport at all time. That also means follwing the laws, all of them,not just the ones we deem inportant.To the antis we as hunters are all a bunch of criminals, we all need to work at proving them wrong, and not showing them they are correct.
For those who want to read the long thread over in bowsite here it is.
http://www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/TF/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=317967&messages=401&fo rum=5#1865900

muley69

I can understand to a degree that if he made a mistake, he got a little panicy, and tried to cover his azz, after all, he has a lot more to lose than most of us. What doesn't sit well with me is the fact that he seemed perfectly willing to let the animal rot on the side of the mountain rather then take responsibility for it. He wasn't a stand up guy with character as mentioned by an earlier poster, he didn't take responsibilty until he was forced to, that is not a stand up guy. If he had it his way, the animal would rot away and he would have washed his hands and nobody would have ever know the better, not a stand up guy in my book.

DM

I agree, and that was my point all along. I thought my origional post was clear on the fact that i "wasn't" judgeing anyone at all.

BUT, to be honest, "if" the guy was as "upstanding" as he'd like everyone to believe he is, then things like trying to hide the bull, leaveing it ungutted, and lieing about it over and over proves in my mind he's still in denial. I don't think he has itquite figured out yet, that "once you piss in your milk, you can't strain it out!!"

Drilling Man

jones123

He pleaded guilty - four times. No need to prove anything.

rather_be_huntin

Once again I am guilty of trying to give what seemed to be an honest guy the benefit of the doubt and came up disappointed. From what I have read on bowsite it looks like this was not an honest mistake, but a deliberate case of poaching. I can only shake my head with sadness and be glad that he was nailed. I commend the officer that handled the case and the people who were honest with the officer. I used to use Berry's calls but I will never again. Sad, truly sad!