[Scorch]

When I first read this thread I was not going to reply, but I will anyway.

The FIL shot a deer he did not want (greedy, poor judgement), then told the wife to go buy a tag and tag the deer (poaching, party hunting, premeditation, falsifying an application, and failure to promptly fill out and attach the tag to harvested game). Then he got caught (bummer), but apparently he was OK with that (told the warden what he'd done) until they hammered him (your day in court= bummer #2), so he starts looking for sympathy (not a crime in itself, but WAAAAAAH!). So the OP come onto a forum and says (in effect) "look how unfair they are being". I am sorry, but I have a hard time sympathizing with either of them, because (a) the FIL thought it was OK to poach but not once he got caught, and (b) because the OP went off half-cocked (didn't now what the charge or the crime was) looking for sympathy among a bunch of ethical hunters who don't poach (certainly don't brag about it).

If the FIL wanted the bigger deer, he should have held out and passed on the smaller deer. His greed cost him.

Does anyone know what a monkey-trap looks like? it is a jar with a small opening that the trapper baits with some food. When the monkey reaches in and grabs the food it cannot get its hand out, and it will not release the food even when the trapper returns because of its greed. People eat monkeys, you know. Greed is dangerous.