Made To Feel
Like a Criminal

I've been deer hunting around Rochester for about 30 years. We started off with about 17 hunters and we are down to two. Hunting has been very difficult for the last few years; I don't even remember when I've last seen a buck.

Most of the guys hunt New Hampshire and Mass. now but I stuck it out here. I extended my hunt to include black bear. Last season I shot a bear near a cornfield but it did not go right down. It was getting close to dark so I called to get permission to continue looking.

No luck, so at first light we continued looking. Keith Gallant the warden showed up the next morning, he checked my licenses (even the guys that didn't have guns for a license) and he climbed up the tree to make sure I had my name on my tree stand. Everything was in order but we never found the bear.

This year on opening day, while I was sitting in my stand, Keith came running up to my stand at prime time, he asked for my license and said he had checked my stand earilier that day and could not find any name on it. I used a new stand and had forgotten to label it He took my license and came back and said the fine was $141. He checked and said I had a clean record. (I didn't know I had a record.)

I never poached, only hunted during legal hours, never shot from the road, never littered, no loaded gun, played by all the rules yet I felt like a criminal—I had a record.

I reently retired and have been looking forward to retirement so I could hunt and fish but I never expected this. I have a record.

I have to reach deeper into my pocket to afford the $170 for the license and with the added cost of gas it's been difficult. Now I find someone else's hand reaching into my pocket and I just can't afford it.

I played by all the rules, had only one speeding ticket in my life, have never been arrested, spent two tours of duty in Vietnam, volunteer one day a week to help at the group home for the retarded. I even saved a life once by administering CPR.

I feel like I've been a good citizen and did my share for society yet I'm made to feel like a criminal.

Is it a crime for senior citizens to forget? No first time warning, no make sure you label ASAP—just pay the fine. Is this the way to treat senior citizens? I certainly don't feel welcome anymore.

Marcel Proulx

Rochester