Nevermind lol I see the legacy get entered into both drawings..... thats a stretch in and of itself that a drawing constitutes a tournament and you would have to combine both drawings to reach the 10k threshold lol. Did Ben tap this game wardens wife or little sister or something or are we dealing with a warden who wants to win the warden of the month award

Not a good look for many involved.

If you are a professsional fisherman residing in Texas who also has corporate/partnership responsibilities; having a valid fishing license is a fundamental. It looks worse that the initial alleged triggering event occured in February. If it occured in January or September; excuses such as “I forgot” or “I thought it went through on the website” would be more reasonable….but February suspends reasonable belief.

TPWD had an opportunity to nip this in the bud when they arrived to pick up the fish. Protocol would/should be to check for a current license….if there isn’t one, the fish immediately goes back in the water from where the fish originated….and citation or “strong talking to”

Then….instead of Gomering around for months and months; covertly contact the alleged offender and quietly explain that they can’t get a sticker, participation trophy, replica, invite to special Cracker Barrel buffet, prize drawings…..etc.

The GW and booking officer only did what they were instructed to do by the Wizards of Oz in Athens…so they were just doing their jobs.

All around Nonsense.

This

Didn't think about the Stracner incident, Milkman may not be able to fish the Elite series next year?

I find it amazing that someone who fishes more than 99% of the people will forget his license. I have no pity for people like this, take responsibility or deal with consequences and move on. Just unreal.

Could TPWD be handling the drone situation also?

No one is excusing him. They just don’t understand the additional charge and heavy hand approach well after the offense seemed to be resolved. It seems intentional and with prejudice. Especially when mistakes were made on both sides.
If I had to guess, another angler that doesn’t like Milliken found about this and complained to the right people. If not another Angler, then someone in fishing industry. Something caused them to escalate it after the fact.

I 100% agree. Some of the woke stuff coming out of that department lately makes me sick, I've got a recent incident on a youth draw hunt and an anti-hunter on staff with the state park that would make your head explode.

There isn’t any indication that he isn’t going to take responsibility or deal with the consequences. It’s never smart to post anything while you have a on going legal matter. He has a post on Instagram that acknowledges he has a legal issue he is working through and he sees it as a complete misunderstanding. He will work through it and continue to work 7 days a week creating content. He plans at the appropriate time to make videos telling his side of the story.

The primary issue would be intent. Did he know at the time he entered the fish in the SAL program or anytime after that his fish wasn’t legally caught because he didn’t have a valid Texas fishing license at the time? He would also have a responsibility to with draw the fish. In America it’s not his responsibility to prove his innocence. It’s the States responsibility to prove his guilt. It might be hard for him to prove he didn’t know he did not have a valid license at the time of entry or any point until it was brought up.

If the state has some proof such as a posting where he talked about not remembering to get his license that would be proof he knew.

The intent of the law is to punish those who cheat in fishing tournaments with prizes > $10,000 to be charged with a felony. Things like caging fish, putting weights in fish, etc. A judge is likely to see not having a valid license differently. He hasn’t won anything. Is it a honest mistake or more?

Watch what you wish for. This is a slippery slope for all that enter tournaments with $10,000 or greater prize. The tournament director could check licenses at the end of any tournament and anyone who didn’t have a current one could be charged the same as Ben. Even a person in last place. You could have a guy that’s as honest as they come, forget to check his license and next thing he is a felon.

Short of the state having proof he knew his license was expired when he enter the fish or before he knew from others, I see this getting a plea to a charge of fishing without a license and paying the fine that carries.

I know, yea they definitely going overboard on him

I haven’t heard anything about this, what happened?

I read one post that stated he put the license number of his expired fishing license on the form. Does anyone know if this is true? If so then that shows that there was no intent and he should not be charged unless it is a strict liability law (one where intent does not matter). If it is a strict liability law then the law needs to be re-written.

With the information we have at this point there is no way I would ever enter a fish or donate a fish to the Sharelunker program. If a simple mistake that you do not realize you made can result in criminal charges there is no reason for any angler to take that chance.

I hope that Milliken catches a state record and instead of donating it to TPWD for genetic testing and breeding he gives it to the local Bass Pro Shops to put it in their tank. I say this and i am very pro law enforcement and I am not a Milliken fanboy.

No excuse for not having a fishing license if fishing is what you do for your living, but Mr Green jeans have had several instances where they blew stuff up before …chill out fish police….LOL

I agree about the Sharelunker Program. No way will I risk a potential Felony charge. I deleted the app.