Actually, the penalty these three received was not "light" for CT. They forfeited their bonds meaning they were found guilty and will now have permanent criminal records (not that that means much nowadays). They will face administrative sanctions by DEEP and they forfeited ALL gear seized (including tree stands and bows, etc.) seized by the EnCon guys. In the general scheme of CT's criminal justice system, it wasn't just a light slap on the wrist. I know that it's frustrating for those of us who go out of our way to obey every regulation to see guys like this avoid going to jail for a few days. It has to be even more frustrating for theEnCon guys who workso hard on these cases.

The fact that CT courts in general have little, if any, interest in fish and game violations is really nothing new. It's been that way for at least 25 years. A lot depends a lot upon in which particular court the offender appears and upon which particular prosecutor handles the case. Some would have given these guys back everything without a second thought. Everyone involved in the criminal justice system is being pressured to move cases quickly and to keep people out of jail (as it costs $$$ to incarcerate people). Sad, but true.