What a morning!

by Bill Gray
(Culpeper, Va.)

I work on a 72 acre farm in the woods. It's a nice cool Monday morning and since I couldn't hunt on Sunday, I'm ready.

Have my 7mm Weatherby laying in the back of my truck while I'm trimming trees, knowing that the deer run through here every morning about this time.

A short time goes by and I spot a good size doe running my way through the field, she is headed for the woods and I've got a shot. I shoot, the hind legs go up and she starts running away. I watch her direction of travel and I go back to work.

20 or 30 minutes go by and crows start flying around up above where the doe fell down. So I decide to hike on over and find this deer.

I get to a point where I had to go around an un-maintained fence/border property line. I knew the deer was not that far away, the blood trail was getting thick. I crossed the line maybe, 15 or 20 yards, find the deer and see this hunter walking up toward me asking what I am doing on this property. I tell him and he flips out a sheriff's deputy badge.

Well things turned to s_ _ t from there. Here's an off duty cop out hunting on a piece of land that the land owner said he could hunt on if he would keep other hunters off. So this cop tells me that I am trespassing and calls the land owner, the land owner says that he does not want to press any charges because he knows who I am.

Now he cannot get me for treaspassing, but the cop ain't satisfied so he calls in the game warden. Well the game warden explains to me that it is not doe day. What I said, it's deer season. No, there are certain days that you can shoot doe and certain days that you can shoot buck. Oh-Boy the warden writes me a ticket for an illegal kill, and not having my bright orange on.

This is great, right before Thanksgiving and the warden gives me tickets with a court date in Feburary, takes my hunting license and photographs my rifle and then confisicates my rifle till after my court date. Culpeper, Va.