EASTBROOK, Maine — A Franklin woman has been summoned on a charge of illegally shooting a moose on Saturday evening, according to officials.
Veronica Verburgt, 37, is accused of shooting a cow moose when her permit was only for taking an antlered moose, according to Sgt. Ralph Hosford of Maine Warden Service.
The shooting came to the attention of law enforcement when the Hancock County alcohol enforcement team, made up of area police officers, received a report of an underage drinking party in Osborn. Responding officers did not find the gathering, but they did hear shots fired in the woods, Hosford said Monday.
Police investigated and found a hunting party with a dead moose, Hosford said.
According to the warden sergeant, Verbugt had shot at a group of moose in neighboring Eastbrook around 6 p.m. but had shot and wounded a cow. The injured moose ran off and the hunting party tracked it, catching up with it about two hours later. Verbugt allegedly shot the moose again to finish it off, Hosford said. Officers with the underage drinking task force heard the fatal shots around 8:30 p.m. as they were trying to find the supposed drinking party.
Verbugt is accused of initially shooting the moose before nightfall on Saturday, and so was not charged with night hunting, Hosford said. The moose hunting season in wildlife management district 28, which includes Eastbrook, ended at dusk on Saturday.
Hosford said Verbugt has been cooperative with wardens investigating the case. Regardless of whether Verbugt meant to shoot the cow or a nearby bull, her permit did not allow her to shoot the cow, he said. She has been summoned on a charge of killing an antlerless moose on a bull-only permit.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
she should loose her right to have a hunting license for life
So if someone is charged with a motor vehicle violation they should lose their driver’s license for life? Do you even hunt? She frigged up, no doubt. At least she didn’t try to leave the moose to suffer once realizing her error. Your incorrect capitalization and spelling should cause you to lose your right to post on here for life.
Yeah, the moose only had to be in pain for 2 hours before hillbilly jane “finished it off” as the BDN so eloquently put it. Oh, and she didn’t have the proper permit to kill this moose.
Yeah, who cares, so she “screwed up.” She obviously has no respect for the law (or animals as we can clearly see)….and how do you know she “realized her error?” We don’t know that. So, you believe she apparently did not know what moose was allowable on her permit? If that is the case then she is more stupid than I thought and for THAT alone, she shouldn’t be out in the woods with a gun.
It takes time to track down game, which she obviously did. She finished the moose off and didn’t just leave it to suffer.
I guess I believe she realized her error just like you made the assumption that she has no respect for the law or animals.
People shoot at and miss wild game all the time. If you ever spent time moose hunting you would know it’s not rare to see 2 or more standing close together and unless your an expert marksman it’s possible to miss your target and unintentionally hit a different one. Sometimes a bigger bull is in front and you don’t know a smaller cow is behind it, so as unlikely as it is to happen I can believe it. Unfortunately after you realize the mistake you will pay a heavy price unless you just abandon it.
It’s alot easier than you think to make this sort of error on a moose hunt. I would give her the benefit of a doubt and say there was no bad faith involved. It’s a strict liablility offense anyway so her intent is irrelevant. You are obviously not a hunter.
I wonder if the moose would be as forgiving.
You just called this woman a ” hillbilly”.
“Hillbilly” is a bad word on this site.
I was censored for using the bad word” hillbilly” last week.
You are not supposed to use the bad word “hillbilly”.
I don’t know how you got away with using the bad word “hillbilly” , but you did.
Oooops, I just used the bad word ” hillbilly” myself.
6 times.
Sorry, my bad.
One thing I do know is you do NOT shoot unless you are 100% certain what the target is. If you just shoot at anything you shouldn’t have the right to hunt or carry a firearm. If you intentially kill someone with your motor vechicle then yes, you should lose your driver’s license for life. We are talking about taking somethings life!!! They should take her license away for life, or at least make her take a shooting course and her hunting class again. If you shoot at anything that walks, why even have a license.
The penalties for this sort of offense a quite severe enough (Loss of license, loss of moose, fine, possible legal fees). There’s no need to make them harsher. The facts say she made a shot on a cow moose instead of a bull, not that she was shooting anything that moves.
And could be loss of gun she shot it with.
Oh I think she was quite sure of what the target was. Juicy moose. Hit the wrong one by the sounds of it.
Why? People who are charged with OUI do not lose their drivers license for life. Sounds like it was a mistake. She should not be able to keep the moose (obviously) and be disqualified from applying for a permit for the next 10 years.
i think its 4 or 5 years any way plus fines. and a saftey course wich i dont think she took. she better have proof of that or another charge then she would be banned for 10 years.
You obviously don’t know the laws. She is too young to be “grandfathered” and so would be required to take the safety course to get her hunting license which is required to get a moose permit.
she flunked back to school never shoot till you are sure
I got a feeling it happened just like they said. She meant to shoot a bull, and a cow got in the way. For as big as they are, the way they move, they are sometimes a difficult target. So what do you do if you accidently shoot a cow, let it suffer? I think they did the right thing, getting the cow and finishing it off. There are so many moose, they are a danger on the highway, I hope common sense prevails in this case and it is tossed out of court.
Common sense is to not pull the trigger until you are 100% sure of your target. You only pull the trigger when you are 100% sure you will hit your target. If you cant meet both these requirements, you should not be hunting or allowed to even own a gun. I hope they throw the book at her!!
You are never absolutely sure of what you see. Your brain only knows what the eyes tell it. I once saw a mountain lion while I was hunting (or my eyes did) and it turned out to be my friend’s red bone hound. The hound had a face full of porcupine quills, and slunk off into the woods like a cat. Many, many people have seen aliens and UFO’s. There have been over 200 people shot for deer in Maine and I can assure you, that every one of those hunters “saw” a deer before he pulled the trigger. I have never seen or known a sportsman who would take a shot if there was any question of what the target was.
BULL ! No pun intended.
bill is a card isn’t he funny guy
200? Really?
Ouch.
So I guess in your warped world she should have left this moose to suffer and die on its own instead of taking responsibility for her mistake? It must be nice up there on perfect mountain.
She didn’t take responsibility for her mistake. She got CAUGHT. Yes, she put the moose out of its misery, which is admirable, but it’s not like she called someone up and told them what happened. We don’t know WHAT she would have done had the police not been in the area, heard the final shots, and found her.
You have absolutely no idea of what she “would have done” if the police hadn’t arrived when they did.
I believe I stated that in my post, that we don’t know what would have happened. Yep, I went back and re-read it. I did say that!
I think maybe she did have a clear shot…aimed for the bull….was 100% sure she had a clear shot…AND missed the bull, but got the cow. I hope some hungry families get to eat that moose, and that she goes to the range to practice her shooting skills.
I completely agree. Obviously many here are not hunters. There are several valid reasons why she could have made this mistake.
They would have processed the moose and ate it. Yawn
She’s not being charged with putting the moose out of its agony, she’s being charged with not being able to shoot accurately, whether intentional or not.
No, She shouldn’t have fired if she didn’t have a clear shot. That’s basic hunter safety.
On my perfect mountain, she would have never taken the shot. She did not correctly identify her targert, nor did she have the accuracy to properly take it down. With that said, she should not have a hunting license or be allowed to own a gun.
She should have identified her target BEFORE pulling the trigger!
Maybe she was in too much of a rush to bag one as the season only had an hour to go….
Personally I thought the goal was to know what you were shooting at before you shoot at it…but I guess I’m mistaken…
guilty as charged. Happens every year and people are fined. She’s no different. If a cow got in the way then you don’t shoot! Oh yeah, and they’re not a difficult target.
they dont move fast thats why cars hit them
If you don’t think that a moose can move fast then you have never seen one in person.
I know very little about moose or hunting. But even a city girl like me knows what antlers look like. That gal’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.
…
So,……….would anyone know what the fine would be if she is found guilty, or should we just wait for a upcoming episode of North Woods Law and find out then?
Interesting scenario however….
What she should have done was call the Warden Service when she realized she shot a cow. They do realize that people make mistakes but also have to follow the law. She should have handled it differently.
exactly!
Maybe she didn’t realize she hit a cow until she tracked it, and it was already too late.
Really? Then she definitely should not have taken that shot. If she missed the fact that the cow did not have antlers when her bullet hit it, then this situation is worse than I thought.
I agree she should have contacted the Game Wardens, but maybe she didn’t realize she hit the cow instead of the bull until she tracked it. Maybe the police were there before she could call them!
Maybe, maybe, maybe…………..
mmmm…… all that meat butchered up, and on the dinner table,that would be great, can I have it.
Some Bushes fault.
All part of the Republican “War on Womans” against all species.
Sounds to me someone wasn’t going to go without Moose meat one way or the other.
since when has the accused had their names released and listed in the paper.
If the story happened as she told it then the judge may well consider the mitigating circumstances if she sounds credible to him/her.
I don’t know the area she was hunting but I doubt they had cell service so they couldn’t report it.
If you don’t hunt you just don’t know enough to make an intelligent accusatory comment. If you do hunt and the sum total of your experience is that you have shot a half dozen deer and ground sluiced a couple dozen partridge then you haven’t had enough experience to accuse her of anything either.
The most straight arrow guy I ever knew hit a doe by mistake while aiming at a buck and he was a highly capable and experienced hunter.
So, they chased a wounded, suffering moose for two whole hours? What great sportsmen! Whatever happened to all these great hunters who claim they kill with one shot and the animal only suffers for a minute? I always knew that was a crock of you-know-what. Half of these hunters don’t care where their shot lands, as long as they get their trophy.