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Accidental trespasser: Faulty coordinates cause hunter to bag buck illegally
By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer
The marvels of modern science led Brookings hunter J.C. Holm to his first mule-deer buck last November near Reva.
They also led to a trespassing charge and a $158 fine, as well as a budding friendship with the same rancher who turned Holm in to the local sheriff.
"He was very decent about the whole thing," Holm said about Reva rancher Gordon Helms. "It was a bad experience for both of us. But I made a good friend in Gordon. He realized what I did wasn't on purpose. And I realized I should have checked with him to make sure I was in the right place."
Holm used a Global positioning system, or GPS, unit and directions from a computer mapping service to plan his hunting trip to northwest South Dakota. He planned to hunt on U.S. Forest Service property. But the data he received from the mapping company was wrong, and Holm hunted for almost two days on Helms' ranch before he shot his buck and got caught.
"He downloaded the data from his computer into his GPS unit, and that's what he was going by," Helms said in a telephone interview this week. "He walked around on our place for two days and ended up shooting a deer."
It was a good-sized mule-deer buck with five points on one antler and six on the other. Although not a monster, the buck was big enough to previously catch the eye of Helms and another hunter who was paying to hunt on the ranch. Although Helms is part of the South Dakota Lock-Out — a group of ranchers who have closed their land to hunting because of a dispute with the state Game, Fish & Parks Department — he still operates a limited commercial hunting business on his ranch. And he was guiding a paid customer in hopes of finding the buck Holm shot.
"We were hunting that deer," Helms said. "I get $2,000 to $3,000 for a man to hunt on my place. He took a $3,000 deer away from me. And I had a guy who went home empty. How do I get that replaced?"
When Helms discovered Holm on his place, he called Harding County Sheriff Bill Clarkson. Clarkson met with the men, listened to Holm's story and decided to write him a citation for unintentional trespass, rather than a more serious intentional trespass charge. The two carry the same $158 fine, but intentional trespass can also involve a one-year suspension of hunting privileges.
Clarkson and Helms agreed that Holm didn't deserve the stiffer penalty.
"He really felt he was on forest ground," Clarkson said. "He actually did not believe he was on private land. And he was very cooperative. I had coffee with them, and when I left, they were getting ready to go back out and pick up the buck."
Clarkson also teased Helms for not patrolling his property very well. "I said, 'Gordon. You got to shape up, if he's been hunting on there for two days,'" Clarkson said.
Holm said his choice of hunting clothing showed that he wasn't trying to sneak around and hide from anybody. "I was hunting in blaze orange coveralls," he said. "I had to look like a big bumblebee going across there."
Helms blamed the state Game, Fish & Parks Department for the mix-up. He said the agency doesn't do a good enough job of reducing trespassing problems by making sure that hunters know the boundaries of public land. But Holm said the error came from the private mapping company, not GF&P, which had the correct property lines on its Web site maps.
Holm said the incident convinced him to double check information from maps by talking with local ranchers. Holm also is writing letters to state newspapers to warn hunters to make sure of their map coordinates and to make courtesy stops at local ranches.
"I'm not the type of person who would do something like trespass on private property," Holm said. "I checked my GPS two times before I shot that deer to make sure I was where I was supposed to be."
Holm went to western South Dakota planning to stay for a week and take his time in filling two deer tags. But the trespassing incident changed all that. "I took the whole week off, and I'd only been hunting two days," he said. "After that, I just wanted to go home."
Helms said he felt badly about turning in Holm, who recently served a tour of duty in Iraq with a National Guard company.
"I had a really hard time doing this, because the man had been over in Iraq, and he had honored our country and everything," Helms said. "But I had steps I had to take. It's not that guy's fault, and it's not my fault."
Helms also warned hunters to double-check their map information. "Just because you have a map and a GPS doesn't mean you know where you are all the time," he said.
Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or [email protected].
January 21, 2006
http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/01/21/news/top/news01.txt
By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer
The marvels of modern science led Brookings hunter J.C. Holm to his first mule-deer buck last November near Reva.
They also led to a trespassing charge and a $158 fine, as well as a budding friendship with the same rancher who turned Holm in to the local sheriff.
"He was very decent about the whole thing," Holm said about Reva rancher Gordon Helms. "It was a bad experience for both of us. But I made a good friend in Gordon. He realized what I did wasn't on purpose. And I realized I should have checked with him to make sure I was in the right place."
Holm used a Global positioning system, or GPS, unit and directions from a computer mapping service to plan his hunting trip to northwest South Dakota. He planned to hunt on U.S. Forest Service property. But the data he received from the mapping company was wrong, and Holm hunted for almost two days on Helms' ranch before he shot his buck and got caught.
"He downloaded the data from his computer into his GPS unit, and that's what he was going by," Helms said in a telephone interview this week. "He walked around on our place for two days and ended up shooting a deer."
It was a good-sized mule-deer buck with five points on one antler and six on the other. Although not a monster, the buck was big enough to previously catch the eye of Helms and another hunter who was paying to hunt on the ranch. Although Helms is part of the South Dakota Lock-Out — a group of ranchers who have closed their land to hunting because of a dispute with the state Game, Fish & Parks Department — he still operates a limited commercial hunting business on his ranch. And he was guiding a paid customer in hopes of finding the buck Holm shot.
"We were hunting that deer," Helms said. "I get $2,000 to $3,000 for a man to hunt on my place. He took a $3,000 deer away from me. And I had a guy who went home empty. How do I get that replaced?"
When Helms discovered Holm on his place, he called Harding County Sheriff Bill Clarkson. Clarkson met with the men, listened to Holm's story and decided to write him a citation for unintentional trespass, rather than a more serious intentional trespass charge. The two carry the same $158 fine, but intentional trespass can also involve a one-year suspension of hunting privileges.
Clarkson and Helms agreed that Holm didn't deserve the stiffer penalty.
"He really felt he was on forest ground," Clarkson said. "He actually did not believe he was on private land. And he was very cooperative. I had coffee with them, and when I left, they were getting ready to go back out and pick up the buck."
Clarkson also teased Helms for not patrolling his property very well. "I said, 'Gordon. You got to shape up, if he's been hunting on there for two days,'" Clarkson said.
Holm said his choice of hunting clothing showed that he wasn't trying to sneak around and hide from anybody. "I was hunting in blaze orange coveralls," he said. "I had to look like a big bumblebee going across there."
Helms blamed the state Game, Fish & Parks Department for the mix-up. He said the agency doesn't do a good enough job of reducing trespassing problems by making sure that hunters know the boundaries of public land. But Holm said the error came from the private mapping company, not GF&P, which had the correct property lines on its Web site maps.
Holm said the incident convinced him to double check information from maps by talking with local ranchers. Holm also is writing letters to state newspapers to warn hunters to make sure of their map coordinates and to make courtesy stops at local ranches.
"I'm not the type of person who would do something like trespass on private property," Holm said. "I checked my GPS two times before I shot that deer to make sure I was where I was supposed to be."
Holm went to western South Dakota planning to stay for a week and take his time in filling two deer tags. But the trespassing incident changed all that. "I took the whole week off, and I'd only been hunting two days," he said. "After that, I just wanted to go home."
Helms said he felt badly about turning in Holm, who recently served a tour of duty in Iraq with a National Guard company.
"I had a really hard time doing this, because the man had been over in Iraq, and he had honored our country and everything," Helms said. "But I had steps I had to take. It's not that guy's fault, and it's not my fault."
Helms also warned hunters to double-check their map information. "Just because you have a map and a GPS doesn't mean you know where you are all the time," he said.
Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or [email protected].
January 21, 2006
http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/01/21/news/top/news01.txt