Stolen bronze pin!

[A. Moss Bunker]

I dropped my greasy fishing hat at the Wachusett Reservoir in the parking area at the end of Scar Hill Rd. on May 2nd.  I had a bronze pin attached to the hat which I received for a 15" catch and release black crappie that I caught last year.  I was back there this afternoon and noticed that there is a trail / cart road running parallel to, and separated from the parking area by trees and brush where all the environmentally conscious fishermen deposit their trash; so I decided to walk along the road to see if someone picked up my hat and chucked it there.  I was ecstatic when I saw my hat on the ground amongst the litter, but really disappointed when I picked it up and saw that whoever found my hat removed my pin before discarding it.  Who would do that!? There are some pretty lowlife people out there.  Why wouldn't the person who found the hat hang it on the gate so the person who misplaced it could easily find it? 

[manitron]

I am sorry to tell you that Mayberry never really existed and that it definitely never will. Just be glad that you can remember a time when doing the right thing was expected. I know that the pin was one of a kind but it gives you incentive to beat your PB and replace it with a better one.

[Fisherman2401]

Sucks and why I leave mine at home behind glass. If you contact Richard Hartley at mass wild life he should have your pin on file. Might cost you a few bucks to order a new one but at least you could get the pin back if that's what you want. I know someone else that had a hat full of them drop in the drink and he was able to replace all of them. Or just get a bigger one!

[CatchAndReleaseColin]

Yeah. They wil almost certainly replace it for you. Indeed mine too stay home behind glass

[bogtrotter]

A sad comment on the times we live in.

[stripernut]

I am going to play a littles "Devil's Advocate" here... Did you have your name and phone number in your hat? It was left there on the trail or in the trash pile for over a week. It is a bummer to lose the pin, I lost one on a hat years ago in the mouth of the Merrimack (to dangerous to turn the boat around to go back and get it). If it in the "trash" from May 2nd-11th and someone picked off the pin, that is not stealing... Displaying it as their own would be a low life thing to do, but picking trash is not theft.
What would be the right thing to do? A "greasy" hat is lying in the "trash", it has been there for a while, maybe you have walked by it a few times, but now you see there is a bronze pin. Do you leave the pin on the hat, in the "trash"? The right thing to do would be to dispose of any trash you pick up properly and if you find something of possible value (without any way to determine who it was), maybe you bring it to the police station or maybe you keep it. Did you check with the police?
It is always a sad to loose something we care about, but I think it is clear that it was lost and not stolen. Maybe this summer you will be walking through a flea market and you will see your pin in a case and after talking with the guy selling it, you demonstrate it was yours and he had found it on the side of a trail, he then gives it to you, you never know...

I am sorry you lost your pin, I hope for a few bucks you can get another. Better yet I hope you can get a even bigger Crappy this season!

[mudchuck]

I can relate, I lost a ballcap in the inland sea a couple years ago while onboard a friends boat trolling salmon. Hat had all my master angler pins on it.
I was so not happy with myself for wearing out to begin with. But as luck would have it, I contacted the state agency that issues the pins and they told me they have a small reserve of each year's pins for just such circumstances as lost/stolen pins that need to be replaced.
A quick check of all me fish entries and they had sent me the replacements within a week.
Too bad that ballcap was a nice one and I was sorry to lose it.

[F.R.E.D.]

bummer john, now you have to catch another.

[A. Moss Bunker]

Thanks for your sentiments.  It was my first pin.  A kind of bucket list thing. I've caught other pin worthy fish but never entered them since I wasn't interested in bringing the fish in to have it weighed and filling out the affidavit  Since they have the catch and release award program its pretty simple, so if I catch a good fish I enter it.  The good news is that I beat that crappie early this Spring with a 15 3/4" dinner plate, and the night that I lost the hat I caught a 20 1/2" smallmouth - so I have two more pins on the way.  I guess I'm just disappointed that who ever picked up the hat didn't just hang it on the gate.  If it were me I would find a lot more pleasure in trying to return a lost pin than keeping it. 

[Baitbucket]

Thanks for your sentiments.  It was my first pin.  A kind of bucket list thing. I've caught other pin worthy fish but never entered them since I wasn't interested in bringing the fish in to have it weighed and filling out the affidavit  Since they have the catch and release award program its pretty simple, so if I catch a good fish I enter it.  The good news is that I beat that crappie early this Spring with a 15 3/4" dinner plate, and the night that I lost the hat I caught a 20 1/2" smallmouth - so I have two more pins on the way.  I guess I'm just disappointed that who ever picked up the hat didn't just hang it on the gate.  If it were me I would find a lot more pleasure in trying to return a lost pin than keeping it. 

Chances are, if someone hung it on the gate, the pin, if not the entire hat, may have been picked up by someone else.