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This last fall, I recieved a minor misdemeanor for a hunting related violation. It was really a freak type of thing. Basically, we were waterfowl hunting on a federal marsh. We decided in the late afternoon to take a break for lunch and head into a small town a few miles away. We come back about half an hour later game warden is sitting on the side of the road waiting for us. Three of us got tickets for leaving decoys unattended on public ground. The ticket was less than 100 bucks, but because it was on federal ground, it was considered a federal misdemeanor.
The three of us were originally going to challenge it in court, but going against the federal system is tougher & could have potentially cost us thousands of dollars more. Instead, we paid the tickets but are now stuck with a misdemeanor on the record.
It is really a strange charge, you would think a game warden would spend more time catching folks who are I don't feel like I did anything ethically or morally wrong (WE JUST WANTED A BITE TO EAT!), but it is technically illegal to leave decoys out on federal ground-even for just a few minutes.
I am planning on applying for MD/PhD in the coming years and am kind of scared how this will affect my app. Will I have to report this on the application or secondaries? It is really nothing more than a speeding ticket, but with a huge Fed misdemeanor label sticking to it. I would think this would have a much lower impact than even something like an MIP for ADCOMs, but who knows.
I think that even if I have to report it, that it will be pretty easy to explain. I am just hoping that schools won't automatically weed me out because of it, even if the rest of my application is decent. Thoughts?
The three of us were originally going to challenge it in court, but going against the federal system is tougher & could have potentially cost us thousands of dollars more. Instead, we paid the tickets but are now stuck with a misdemeanor on the record.
It is really a strange charge, you would think a game warden would spend more time catching folks who are I don't feel like I did anything ethically or morally wrong (WE JUST WANTED A BITE TO EAT!), but it is technically illegal to leave decoys out on federal ground-even for just a few minutes.
I am planning on applying for MD/PhD in the coming years and am kind of scared how this will affect my app. Will I have to report this on the application or secondaries? It is really nothing more than a speeding ticket, but with a huge Fed misdemeanor label sticking to it. I would think this would have a much lower impact than even something like an MIP for ADCOMs, but who knows.
I think that even if I have to report it, that it will be pretty easy to explain. I am just hoping that schools won't automatically weed me out because of it, even if the rest of my application is decent. Thoughts?
