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Warning: Long story-
Awhile back and through a mutual friend, I was introduced to a local farmer who was having troubles with elk damaging his fences and his fields. He will be referred to as Mr Bubblegum. He was a little high strung but he seemed like an intelligent and decent guy. I have experience harvesting elk. He had none and needed the help. I own a few firearms in 30-06 and he didn't own a rifle so we agreed that he would be using mine to take his. We would take two elk out of the problem herd using land owner damage control tags issued through ODF&W. I would help him skin, gut and hang his animal and I would put one in my freezer. I do not know this person well, but it seemed like a pretty good arrangement for the both of us.

I get a call from him that the tags are issued and then wait for a call when the elk show back up in his field. That day comes. I drop my elk in his pasture. Mr Bubblegum hits his but it ran off into the timber. I tagged my elk, he found and finished his off using a pistol, at which point I told him he needed to tag his elk. Two elk on the ground, one tagged and I remind him 3 times that he needed to tag his. Each time he became more evasive. Firearms involved, dead wildlife on the ground, red flags on a secluded property, I tell him I need to run home for more supplies. As soon as I hit the asphalt I callled OSP, explained what was happening and ask that they come check the situation out.

I return to the property 20 minutes later and get to work on my elk. I'm not touching his until it is tagged and a fourth reminder produced no results. As I am getting ready to start skinning my elk I hear voices behind me. Three state troopers are standing around the guy and I hear "Mr Bubblegum, you are a convicted felon. You are not even supposed to touch a firearm". Yeah, my heart sank.

The troopers ask some questions, asked where the rifle was and stated that they would need it for evidence. Heart sinks a little further. This rifle is my most prized and sentimental possession. I immediately beat myself up for allowing it to slip through my fingers and unleash a string of profanity towards Mr Bubblegum that may have also involved his mother.

I asked the trooper about the consequences of unknowingly handing a convicted felon a firearm and he informed me that I did nothing wrong as he had been deceptive with me. He also assured me that he would recommend that the rifle eventually be returned as I was just trying to do the right thing. At this point he said "Mr Nwwoodsman, you can take your animal and get out of here". As I leave I see Mr Bubblegum handcuffed and crying talking to the officers.

Charges for Mr Bubbblegum included 2 counts of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of failing to immediately tag a big game animal
He eventually pleaded guilty to one count of felon in possession, sparing a trial and my testimony. His punishment- 2 years probation and $500 in court fees.

Today I was allowed to pick my rifle up from the evidence locker. I have spent every day for over a year anticipating this and being concerned about the condition of the rifle. It was last used in muddy moist conditions and it hadn't seen a drop of oil the entire time. I figured surface rust at best and a complete reblue or rebarreling needed at worst

A few things I learned during all of this-
1. I will never ever let anyone outside of my immediate family touch one of my firearms again without them undergoing a full background check first. Not for show and tell, not for target practice, nothing. I like to think of myself as a good judge of character, but this guy had me fooled. 30 seconds in the wrong hands almost costs me very dearly.

2. Criminals have no need to worry. This guy faced two felony in possession charges. One for using my rifle to drop an elk. Not the crime of the century. However, he was also illegally in possession of an illegally obtained handgun. No further investigation as to where he got it. His punishment was a whopping 2 years probation.

The rifle came back in much better shape than I expected. There was no rust. However it was completely coated in fingerprinting dust. An hour of cleaning and it is almost as good as new. The writing by the evidence tech will be left as a reminder.

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I would have thought there'd be more/greater punishment for the handgun possession considering he was already a convicted felon. Guess criminals have nothing to fear and the public at large has much to fear, as there's a general lack of deterrents to crime and even violent crime…
 
I would have thought there'd be more/greater punishment for the handgun possession considering he was already a convicted felon. Guess criminals have nothing to fear and the public at large has much to fear, as there's a general lack of deterrents to crime and even violent crime…
That was a surprise to me. When I started researching sentencing, I assumed he would get around 5 years. I almost started feeling kind of bad for him, facing 5 years over in the clink all for taking an animal, but then I remembered his past, the consequences I was facing and all sympathy was lost.
 
Here's a different perspective on your story:

You and the landowner would both be much better off if you had simply helped him process his elk and then gone home. You never had to even see the man again.

Speaking as a landowner, this kind of thing is one of the reasons I won't invite anyone - ever - to hunt on my place. If I did, what's to stop the visiting hunter from noticing something about me (or my property) that's not quite kosher with the Powers That Be, and deciding to report me?

The world has definitely changed since I was a young man.
 
Here's a different perspective on your story:

You and the landowner would both be much better off if you had simply helped him process his elk and then gone home. You never had to even see the man again.

Speaking as a landowner, this kind of thing is one of the reasons I won't invite anyone - ever - to hunt on my place. If I did, what's to stop the visiting hunter from noticing something about me (or my property) that's not quite kosher with the Powers That Be, and deciding to report me?

The world has definitely changed since I was a young man.
The world has changed. It is a lot easier to catch someone doing something illegal. He put me in a position of being an accessory to his crimes. I am not risking my freedom or gun rights for anyone nor would I put someone in the position of doing the same for me. If he had been honest with me from the beginning, there would have been no problems for either of us.
 
Here's a different perspective on your story:

You and the landowner would both be much better off if you had simply helped him process his elk and then gone home. You never had to even see the man again.

Speaking as a landowner, this kind of thing is one of the reasons I won't invite anyone - ever - to hunt on my place. If I did, what's to stop the visiting hunter from noticing something about me (or my property) that's not quite kosher with the Powers That Be, and deciding to report me?

The world has definitely changed since I was a young man.
The landowner would be a lot better off if he asked for a bow instead of a rifle. He made a willful choice and he's lucky it didn't turn out a lot worse. Where do you suppose he got the handgun?
 
I too was wondering about the tag of #2 Elk. Did he not actually get the second tag? If he did get one, why the hell not the other? If he had the second tag why was he dancing all around and not just tagging the damn animal? Since he knew he was not supposed to be using a gun, why all the stupid games with the tags?????
 
OP,

What did the LIAR aka FARMER in this case do that made him a CONVICTED FELON in his past history?

Did he serve time in JAIL?

What was his CRIME that made HIM a BAD GUY from the gitgo - his original crime?

He should have used a bow and arrow as NG said unless they 'BAN' those for out of jail convicted felons.

I always THOUGHT that some convicted FELONS could not VOTE or HUNT in some states. Depending on their CRIME and STATE.

In some states they could USE black powder hunting rifles or B/P handguns to hunt depending on their so called crime or whatever the INDIVIDUAL LAW was/is in SOME states.

I have seen where that VOTING deal for felons has changed recently in politics in SOME states too.

Do you know if they traced the handgun and found the actual HISTORY of 'said gun' there?

ADDED more here:

Quote by you:

"However, he was also illegally in possession of an illegally obtained handgun. No further investigation as to where he got it."

Wow, so NO more checking out the 'handgun'?

I am GLAD that you got your rifle back and that YOU did NOT get into trouble with the LAW by lending someone your rifle who was NOT honest with you from the gitgo. Lesson learned for sure! Take care!

Cate
ADDED more and typos.
 
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I got a few questions: Is it common practice for Or DFW to issue damage tags to convicted felons? How did your elk taste? Is the mutual friend still a friend? I'd trade a rifle in purgatory for a year for an elk as long as I got to choose the rifle.
 
I would have thought there'd be more/greater punishment for the handgun possession considering he was already a convicted felon. Guess criminals have nothing to fear and the public at large has much to fear, as there's a general lack of deterrents to crime and even violent crime…
If it had been one of "us" and they got us on some technicality/etc., they would have thrown the book at us.

That said, my one encounter with an OSP (misunderstanding about a handgun or two), the DA declined to press charges. I doubt they would be as understanding today.
 
Good Story.

Glad that rifle got back to you. Seems these days "Law Enforcement" is not what it was 20 years ago. That rifle could have been lost these days, I would think, they way some agencies have been operating. It appears the "Wildlife Division" is not too bad. Still understaffed probably.

I'd be curious about what the guys felony was? We do know that a lot of crimes have been added that trigger a felony count that weren't felonies before, don't we?

In any case, the guy being so twitchy when it came to tagging his elk was extremely odd. Tagging your game is the second best part.
 

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