Anti-crossbow leader nailed for baiting!

[Riflemanz]

A Wisconsin Bowhunters Association board member who is also its legislative liaison and represented the WBH on a 2007-08 stakeholder panel that helped rewrite DNR policies on chronic wasting disease was cited for illegal baiting/feeding Nov. 17 in Portage County.

Baiting/feeding deer was banned in Portage County after CWD was found there in 2002.
Ronald G. Kulas, 48, Delafield, one of 22 directors for the 6,000-member WBH, also represented the politically active group recently on DNR-appointed citizen committees that reviewed deer management-unit boundaries and alternatives to earn-a-buck.
Kulas was cited about 10 a.m. on opening day of Wisconsin’s nine-day firearms deer season by Department of Natural Resources warden Barry Meister. The citation notes Kulas was hunting from a tree stand about 40 yards from where corn was spread, and Kulas admitted dumping “about half of a 5-gallon pail of shell corn” the previous Monday, Nov. 12.
“The subject stated he placed the corn at this location because his elderly father was planning on hunting from this stand, but (his father) changed his mind and hunted elsewhere,” Meister wrote. The citation also notes Kulas shot a spike buck before Meister arrived.
The DNR banned baiting/feeding in Portage County because 80 deer on a fenced shooting preserve called the “Hall Farm” tested positive for CWD between 2002 and 2005. The farm, now quarantined DNR property, is about 20 miles south of where Kulas was cited.
The DNR has tested for CWD in Portage County annually since 2002, and confirmed the county’s first case of the disease in wild deer this past week. The sick 11/2-year-old doe was shot Nov. 18 west of Stevens Point near the Mead Wildlife Area. Two CWD-positive wild deer also were discovered in recent weeks in nearby Adams and Juneau counties.
When contacted by email Dec. 17, Kulas declined comment on his citation. He said it was a “personal matter” and he did not contest it in Portage County court in Stevens Point because of health-related family obligations.
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“I own my mistake and (will) pay the cost ($343.50), but I would hope folks would respect my families (sic) privacy in this matter,” he wrote. Later that week, however, Kulas posted a 1,900-word explanation on a Bowsite.com forum.
Besides testifying often for the WBH at legislative hearings, Kulas has administered the WBH’s online forums. He also contributes often to other online forums, writing under names such as “Rancid Crabtree” and “Retch Sweeney,” characters created by humorist Patrick McManus for stories in Outdoor Life and Field & Stream magazines.
Kulas knew baiting/feeding deer is illegal in Portage County. Writing as “Retch Sweeney” on an April 23, 2012, online forum, he said: “I don’t place bait. It’s illegal in the parts of Wisconsin I hunt. If it were legal, I would still not place bait. I hunt dairy (agricultural) lands, so there is plenty of ag-intended bait I hunt around.”
On another online forum in August 2011, Kulas wrote: “Unless those ‘magic stumps’ are within 50 yards of your house, they are illegal bait sites, which makes (you) as good as a poacher.”
In explaining his Nov. 17 citation, however, Kulas claimed on Bowsite.com that he was cited for a feeding, not baiting, violation, even though Meister noted both are illegal.
Kulas further claimed he didn’t pour corn at the site, but “snapped off a few ears” in a nearby field, and wrung the kernels from the cobs. He wrote:
“It was the wrong thing to do but I rationalized it as doing what I could to help my dad get a deer for all he had done for me over the years. Besides, in six days those kernels would be gobbled up and long gone, even if it was squirrels and jays that made off with it. ... My dad was unaware of what I had done. He would not have wanted the help.”
Near the end of his online explanation, Kulas said he called the WBH’s president, Mike Brust of Wausau, to explain the situation. He wrote: “I am going to be resigning my position on the (WBH) board and as legislative liaison. It’s the correct thing to do. Nobody asked me to resign. ... I can continue to help the (organization) as an active volunteer, though not on the board.”
When contacted last week, Brust declined comment on Kulas’ citation and whether he or the WBH board accepted Kulas’ resignations. Brust said the organization doesn’t have specific policies for directors who receive fish and wildlife citations, but the board would discuss Kulas’ actions Jan. 12 at a directors meeting in Stevens Point.

[Riflemanz]

This one of the biggest anti-crossbow groups in Wisconsin.I'm glad they caught this guy!

[lscha]

Karma for Rancid Crabtree!! Love it.

[Pegasus]

Why do they have such a hate on for crossbows?

[Boo]

Why do they have such a hate on for crossbows?

It's understandable to not like something but it takes a whole lot of energy and rationalization to hate and he's been at it for a long time!

[one shot scott]

I remember rancid's ramblings here well. This looks real good on him. "For his elderly father" my butt. Lol!

[wheelie]

One gets to well know then you walk around with a target on your back. I am sure alot of CO's just want a feather in their cap sometimes to make them feel all powerful and mighty. So I don't pay to much attention to things like that. Some jelious person likely reported him.

[one shot scott]

And to get busted early in the morning on opening day, I'd say he's made more enemies than just crossbow owners!

I wouldn't have expected someone as pompous as rancid Crabtree to shoot a spike buck. The way he carried on, he seemed the type to think it was beneath him to do that.

[secret]

"you get what you give" Im glad he got his!!!!!!!

[onebigskittle]

"you get what you give" Im glad he got his!!!!!!!

Shame is people like this will never change an they never think about what goes around comes around.

[Limbs and Sticks]

I've had harsh words for him on this forum and called him the WEASEL that he is a number of times here, what ever fines or time he gets should be times TEN and take his hunting privilege for five yrs, I hope

Wes

[agingcrossbower]

What a shame. He will be missed. NOT!!

[Geodehunter]

Justice has been served. He needed to be nailed!!!

[j.krug]

Karma for Rancid Crabtree!! Love it.

You nailed it Laura!! I'm laughing my ass off over this!

[Peacemaker]

I have an unrelated baiting/feeding question.

Here in Virginia, it is illegal to bait or feed deer from September 1 through January 5th (2012 dates; 2013 will likely be similar).

I obviously would seek advice from counsel if and when I seek true legal advice, but I am curious as to opinions here. If I legally put out mineral licks or mineral bricks in August, am I required to remove them come September 1? The regulations and the law seem to be silent on that point.

Bow season starts in some areas (pertinent to me) around September 1, and other pertinent areas around October 6th.

Not meaning to thread jack, but this thread seems to have generally run it's course already....