I Just Got A Ticket!!...

Most of the previous posters are correct. There is a well-known rule in law that ignorance of a law does not excuse the offender...you will likely find that a poor defense at best.

RockabillyChick and Zeromason577 are on the level...in many places (including my own province), the fines are much higher (here, I believe it is $250 for a first offense) and any and all fishing gear you have with you can be confiscared from you (permanently).

In many places (again, including my own), all persons 16 years and older must hold their own fisihing license...and since licenses are usually under $30/year, its not so much to pay for the safety of having one...plus the funds usually go directly into conservation, fish stocking, etc....all the things that ensure that there are fish for you to catch.
 
And so do the fines, so that $1000.00 fine is providing either for added wild life protection, or some mighty fine new outfits for the Rangers!! ;)
 
yeah, as was said, just pay the ticket... Ignorance is no excuse... I went through it too, but I knew I needed a license. I didn't get one cause I was too lazy to go get it. Only costs like 15$.. Anyway, i ended up paying 100$...

I know, it sucks.... at least you know for next time
 
my dads friend that fish alot told me if i go get a license now, and go to court showing i support the aw, they will cut my ticket in half.??
 
I have no idea....

You might want to try it out though, might wok out for you. .


Judges can feel for you, and maybe bend the rules every now and then.

I contested a ticket once, and even though my defense wasn't as convincing as it should have been, the judge ended up giving me the benefit of the doubt... I got out of a 500$ ticket, (in all hoesty though, I hadn't known that my license was expired). It was cool of him though.

Might as well try it out. Good luck!!
 
Licenses are required for a number of reasons. The fact is, very very few places support fishing pressure without stocking, and it's tremendously expensive to run hatcheries and maintain fishing areas. I've done the math--I can catch just 5 fish each year and cost the state MORE to raise the fish than I'm paying for that license (WY license, $25/annual resident license plus $10 conservation stamp). Now consider that I can have up to 6 trout in my possession at any given time! And that doesn't include all the other game fish that are imported from other states, paid for in eggs from Wyoming trout. With few exceptions, Game and Fish/DNR/DOW are funded almost exclusively by license fees, not tax payer dollars. Federal funds tend to make up less than 15% of annual budgets, and the job being done now is much larger, and much more expensive, than it was when these agencies were established.


Enforcing the laws is a hard job. Ask any game warden anywhere, and they will ALL say they'd be happier if they never had to issue a ticket. Most game wardens are biologists first, law enforcement second. I've met a few GW's that had an attitude, but most of them are very nice people, doing a hard job, and dealing with some one who gets that "Who me? I didn't do nothing wrong" attitude and tries to protest that they didn't know they needed a license won't impress them one bit. After the 4th or 5th 'innocent' in a day, they can get snippy, but I'm willing to bet that you gave attitude first.

And, no, the fines are most often put directly into the State accounts, rather than to the specific agency that issued the ticket.
 
i didnt give him a attitude, i was the first to say hi and we talked about fishing and i told him i just got this fishing pole, witch is true..and he was nice untill he got the the point that i need a license. I said i never knew you need a license, and he said i can go get one at my local store like walmart ect. I said oh ok i will get one then, and asked him a few things about it like do i need to take a test or what not to get one. Then he just said go stand infront of my car, and he went inside ticking on his lil comp. Then walks out and was like, well this i need you to sign here, you fine is 109 for fishing and i can careless if you know or not, starts yelin at me about lieing to him that i didnt know about a license..and i was nice cause i delt with jackass cops b4 and was like well i really didnt know but now i do i will get one, and hes like yeah whatever and just drove off.
 
That's the problem. Look at it from his viewpoint--how many times do you think he hears that excuse? From people who DO know? Should he have yelled at you? No, probably not. But the fact is, it's tough all around, and you shouldn't be shocked to find out that you need a license--not making sure before you went fishing is in fact your fault.
 
i actually got stopped by a game warden out on the lake last weekend. he came up in his boat, asked how many fish we had (we had 4 between the two of us, the limit is 5 per person) then asked us to hold up our licences, he looked at them, told us goodluck and have a nice day and went off to check everyone else. my husband thought for years that he got a licence for no reason because he'd never been checked by a game warden, but honestly its just smart to have a licence because i've already spent more than $150 on fishing stuff getting us all set up this year (my first year fishing and hubby hasn't gone in like 7 years) and i'm probably going to spend more, and it would really suck to get all my gear taken away.
 
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