$53K fine levied for the 278" Texas buck

[sectxag06]

i just hope this POS is permabanned from this forum.

[SolocamShooter]

Pressured deer are easy to hunt....at night with a light

Yup

[sectxag06]

And every one of them is locked.

also true which i can't figure out. i get that they don't want this rehashed over and over with multiple threads. but, they should keep one thread active in my opinion.

[Dale Moser]

What could he hope to get/gain out of said civil suit?

I'd bet he's already made a pretty penny on the value of the land when he sold it, as a result of the deer having been killed there, and potential for others to be.

[AntlerCollector]

278” will make a good man go bad quick!

No it won't! If seeing a 278" deer causing someone to become a criminal, then in their heart they weren't that good to begin with. IMO

[bossbowman]

i just hope this POS is permabanned from this forum.

Oh from his profile he was lurking around here at the beginning of deer season.

[Jcjohnson]

No it won't! If seeing a 278" deer causing someone to become a criminal, then in their heart they weren't that good to begin with. IMO

Gotta agree with this, if you would shoot a big buck illegally what else would you do when no ones looking? The only reason to do this is for the general public to think of you as some great white hunter. There can’t be any personal gratification out of it. It took 0 skill to harvest this buck. A buck of that caliber and age to be taken legally would have taken tremendous skill. Part of the penalty for committing this crime is the opposite of what he was initially seeking from the hunting community. I’m sure he would pay another 53,000 for it to go away.

[jshouse]

Oh from his profile he was lurking around here at the beginning of deer season.

Innnnnteresssting....

[Dale Moser]

i just hope this POS is permabanned from this forum.

Why?

It's not ours, or Texasbowhunters job to punish the guy. Michael certainly has that right as the forums owner, but I don't think that would be fair. Agree with it or not, the state has decided his punishment, and when he's payed his fines and satisfied the terms of his probation...then he's free to do as he pleases.

What he did was wrong. That doesn't make him a horrible person, then or in the future. I've employed people who've done a lot worse than poaching a deer, and found them largely to be nice people who had a rough patch of life, or made some bad decisions. I'd be interested to read Travis' version of events and what it's meant to his life outside the case...I'm sure it's been rough.

[Uncle Saggy]

No it won't! If seeing a 278" deer causing someone to become a criminal, then in their heart they weren't that good to begin with. IMO

Very true


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[WCB]

By the company that some of the “great hunters” that were on here defending him keep, they are probably doing about the same kind of hunting as he was.

I defended him and I don't poach. And I now see he did wrong.

You may consider putting the broad brush down that you are painting with concerning those that initially came to his defense.

A man is certainly known according to those in which he keeps company. That said, folks can surprise you with the decisions that they make. I met Travis a few times and had dinner with him and a few other TBHrs at the Mexican place in Whitesboro the night before a hunt at the H. Seemed like a nice guy. I’m not defending him or his actions. People can surprise you.

Yup, just because I defended him doesn't mean I poach.

I think it's pretty unfair to say that because he's a poacher, his buddies must be as well. I bet some of those that defended him early, wish they had not. But, that's what friends do. That's the kind of friends I want and the kind of friend I aim to be. I think they were probably the most surprised when the truth came out and he put those faithful buddies in a crappy situation by not being what his friends thought he was. World's full of *******s like that.

I don't feel bad about defending him in the beginning. We are more like acquaintances but I thought he wouldn't poach a deer. He plead guilty and now I won't defend him. End of story.

I was referring to a few that hang with multiple known outlaws.

If I hang with outlaws I don't know it. They never told me they were one...

There's a guy on here who's a felon (conviction directly related to hunting/fishing) and people worship the ground he walks on. It's amazing.

Who?? So I know who SolocamShooter and you are talking about.

[CabezaBlanca]

Gotta agree with this, if you would shoot a big buck illegally what else would you do when no ones looking. The only reason to do this is for the general public to think of you as some great white hunter. There can’t be any personal gratification out of it. It took 0 skill to harvest this buck

Shoot another one and get fined 53K.

[Slew]

Cool. I didn't know. Glad to know you can and win. Money would be about the only thing to keep a poacher in check. 53k or even 10k is a pile of money for most folks.

Do they have a means to collect it or is it just another worthless judgement the state will never collect? Not buying a license for 2 years doesn't stop anybody from hunting. If they'll shoot a deer at night he's probably sitting in a stand somewhere right now reading this thread laughing.


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[lovemylegacy]

I think you all would be surprised how many convicted felons there are actually on the GS... to me, that is NOT an automatic disqualifyer for me to be a friend to or invite to my campfire... We all make mistakes (no I am NOT a convicted felon or anything). It makes a difference to me how the person's character is afterwards... I believe in repentance.
Heck, I hired a guy that worked for me for over 15 years that was a convicted felon for murder! Thing is I knew the guy and the why behind his actions...

I don't know Travis and I don't know his character. Also don't know many on here who have spoken strongly before him or against him... I'll not judge.

Nice way of putting it

[Buff]

Gotta agree with this, if you would shoot a big buck illegally what else would you do when no ones looking. The only reason to do this is for the general public to think of you as some great white hunter. There can’t be any personal gratification out of it. It took 0 skill to harvest this buck. A buck of that caliber and age to be taken legally would have taken tremendous skill. Part of the penalty for committing this crime is the opposite of what he was initially seeking from the hunting community. I’m sure he would pay another 53,000 for it to go away.

I am in my sixties and I don't believe I have ever done anything I am truly ashamed of and have always tried to be a good role model to my sons. That said, I was working in a Coal mine 20 or 30 years ago and one evening leaving the mine I had a giant mule deer buck standing in the ditch right beside my truck. No one was around, No one would ever know, I REALLY REALLY wanted to shoot him and had a .44 in my truck that some how got into my hand. This was the biggest mule deer I had ever seen and it was a close thing but I didn't shoot it.
I said all that to try to say that I can understand how a big deer could make a fellow do something out of character