Poaching is it ok or is it a Crime

[ScottD]

I don't post much, but this one really touched something in me. I believe the question, if I read it correctly, was "Is poaching a crime, or is it ok (as in the case as described)"?

Is poaching a crime? Yes. The Texas Penal Code (or maybe the Wildlife Code) says that it is.

Is it okay, in this case? If this guy was truly and genuinely trying to feed his family, with other options exhausted, then it's okay with ME. But that would not mean it would (necessarily) be Okay within the legal system.

Stretch, you will be in my prayers as well. I don't live far from you (about 2 hours and in Texas, that's not far) and if you guys can use a deer (or a hog or a turkey, for that matter), I'll bring you one. Butchered and wrapped. I'd like to know more details as to what kind of work you did, what you are looking for, etc. Feel free to contact me either by phone or email, even if just to visit or bounce ideas around. Emails are [e-mail], [e-mail], or phone [phone].

ScottD

[CoonDawg]

Stretch I really feel for you because I was in the same boat. Unemployed and my wife work making $10 an hour with a family of 4 they said she made to much money to get food stamps

I finally got a job with no overtime and maybe 40 hours a week. I kept praying and my old boss called me back to work after being gone for over 2 years.

Now its 80+ hours a week and little to no time to hunt and enjoy life, but I'm still going to try.

[Stretch]

You guys are awesome!! I am proud to be in your company!!!!

Scott...

When I was laid off I was a Technical Recruiter (Headhunter). Companies would hire me to search for and secure particular employees. The Technical part means that I specialized in technical employees, like computer programmers, database engineers, web developers, basically anything to do with technology. The money was great, I worked on an hourly basis and my fee was $35 per hour. I worked 60 or more hours a week and still made time for family, but hunting was on the back burner.

Before I got into the recruiting, I was an Animal Control Officer for the city in which I live. I worked there for 15 years, when I started I was a kid (19 yrs. old) and was married and had a baby on the way. When the kids got old enough, is when I decided I was burned out on my job. I was tired of seeing all the meaness of mankind. Having been called in on several murders, murder/suicides and many animal cruelties. The horrible and wretched things man are capable of really gave me a bad taste for people in general. Unlike police officers, who stick with each other on and off the job, Animal Control Officers didn't even want to be with family, much less someone they worked with. LOL

I literally couldn't handle the job. I got real calloused and did not care about anything in life, whether it be people or animals or whatever else. I just didn't care. That bothered me! I wasn't raised like that and I knew it. So I got out of the work and it was almost as if a light switch came back on and I almost immediately felt the pressure relieve. I wanted to be around family and have my friends, but some of those were lost simply because of the work I did. I killed a couple hundred thousands of dogs, cats and other animals, and no one wanted anything to do with me, I was just the mean ol' dawg ketcher. One good thing? I learned who my real friends were!!

Anyway, when I quit the city, I went to school for computer programming and ended up in the recruiting end of things, since I wanted to be working with people more than computers. As you know, technology was the hardest hit when the unemployment rates started going up. Then the 9/11 attacks happened and it knocked the bottoms out of the industry and all the employees it could take with it. MCI, Cisco, Nortel, Perot Systems/EDS, TI, Raytheon and even Microsoft lost thousands of jobs because of the technical crunch! In Dallas alone there were 90,000 technical jobs lost, mine was one of them. LOL

Earlier I said I had applied for over 800 jobs. That is the truth! Most of these were applied for online, using the major job boards. On Monster alone I had over 450 active applications in the first year. Then there was Dice, Jobs.com, Yahoo and some others. I went for several interviews but none of them produced for me. Then after a few months of no employment on my resume, the calls stopped coming in. I knew they would, this was one of the things I had to use caution on when I was hiring folks. Long periods without a job is usually an indication of employment problems. The last thing an employer wants is more problems... LOL

After a while of not getting anything in my line of work. I started applying for local "kid" jobs. The supermarkets, fast food places and the likes. McDonalds never even called me. Krogers called after I turned in 3 applications and said they weren't interested in my application and that it was a courtesy call to keep me from getting high hopes or discouraged for waiting for a response. In other words, don't apply again, we don't want you. Don't call us, we'll call you kind of thing. I got the hint and got discouraged, depressed and even worse...

Well, July 2003 marked 2 years of unemployment for me, Needless to say, I didn't celebrate. LOL

So here I am on food stamps and struggling to make ends meet. I found out that I am married to an angel! My wife has to be one of the greatest persons alive to have stuck with me through all of this and giving me moral support almost every step of the way. We've had our problems, but she is still here and still trying. Even after I have all but given up.

I do appreciate the offers for help, guys. It's just not for me. Not yet. You folks are an awesome group of individuals and have offered to help me when no one else can. I really do appreciate it. But I am getting by right now and there are probably folks that need the help more than I do. I will do what I can to make it myself. As hard as it is to turn down a turkey, venison and hog meat... LOL I'll keep in touch with you guys and let you know if anything develops. I enjoy Bob's board and visit every couple of days or so. I'm suffering from insomnia right now. It's 5AM and I didn't just wake up, I haven't been asleep yet... LOL

I sold another Loudmouth and plan on buying a hunting license this weekend and doing some calling. I need to kill something besides brain cells and time. So I reckon I'll be getting some much needed time in the field with any luck!

Thanks again you guys!! God Bless each and every one of you!!!

[BozoWise]

Hunt well my friend.

[Texpppr]

CRIME, enough said.

[sormi]

Not only would I let him have the Deer, I'd give him $20 to buy all the fixings. I'd also tell him if he needed more meat not to shoot anything I'd find a way to bring him some. My father in law work for a mission in north Texas. He tells me there are a lot of people in Texas that are really starving. That's kids too. I must admit I don't like these panhandlers on every corner. I know one group that heve been at one light for two years now. This "Just hungry, God Bless" does not do it for me when I see them smoking and living on corner store food. My 2c...