Poachers....

Jayhawker

A few days back, I found a pile of dead Canada Geese (5 or 6) and a couple of mallards in a ditch a couple of miles from the house. There was also a bucket of guts discarded there as well. I contacted the local game warden and he got on the case and ended up tracking the guy down because of ANOTHER pile of ducks and geese a few miles away. Seems he was a younger guy who liked to shoot but not all that excited about the work it took to put them in the freezer.

As we talked, the conversation lead to the rash of deer poaching that has been going on around here. He was telling me about 4 guys from Kansas City who drove over here (2 1/2 hour drive) in a $ 60 K truck, with $2K worth of rifle because the"needed the meat to feed their family"

We have also been finding a disturbing number of deer that have been shot from the road with no attempt to recover them. Turns out to have been a 20 something year old kid who was out doing some "thrill killing" as he described it. He also rammed a Sheriffs Deputy in his attempt to get away when they finally caught him...

Hard to figure some people...

Teach

Several years ago our area was targeted by a bunch of slob hunters from the Huntsville Alabama area. They "leased" a couple of properties, and commenced to bait, spotlight, poach, and run deer with "rabbit" dogs that would run right past rabbits to chase deer. Dog hunting for deer was, and is illegal in Tennessee. I raised enough of a stink with the possum police that they put their "Timex" decoy deer (Takes a licking and keeps on ticking!) on my place for a few days, but the hid it so well that nobody shot at it. At the end of the season, I understood why they were reluctant to move against anybody. They had an undercover agent in with the poachers and he was documenting evidence. They made 13 arrests, collected some huge fines, equipment forfeitures, etc., and the ringleader lost his Tennessee hunting priveleges for life!
Jerry

HvyMax

Wanton wasters of life truly deserve the full punishment available. These are all Gods creatures worthy of humane harvest and put to good use.

Varmintmist

Jayhawker wrote: »

He was telling me about 4 guys from Kansas City who drove over here (2 1/2 hour drive) in a $ 60 K truck, with $2K worth of rifle because the"needed the meat to feed their family"

Oh yeah. That GMC 2500 diesel with 2000.00 in lights, plus the cap, towing the 16' aluminum deck over trailer with 4 ATV's has nothing to do with the food budget.

tennmike

Used to be a poaching problem in my county. Then we got a female bunny hugger circuit court judge. She went nuclear on the poachers with forfeitures and fines. The poaching has slowed WAY down. The worst poacher was in a neighboring county that ground the deer meat up for feed for his fighting game roosters. He was a three time felon already. He's still cooling his heels in state prison, and will probably die there before his release date. Max fines, total forfeitures of gear, and maximum sentences work.

Farm Boy Deuce

They changed trespassing laws and penalties a few years ago in Ok. Up until then if caught it was a $217 ticket. There was a rash of Doctor and Lawyer types driving 2.5 hours from Tulsa to hunt birds by trespassing. They reasoned it was cheaper to maybe pay the ticket than pay for a lease.

NN

Nice they caught some of them.

Fat Billy

I want to go hunting in Africa. Hunting poachers would be more fun than the wildlife plus it's legal over there. Draw down on a Rhino and you're mine! The horn looks better on the Rhino than in a omlet in China. IMHO :up: Later,

HAWKEN

The county I worked for, in Florida, had a robo-deer and a robo-turkey. We caught a lot of poachers, even a couple that were shooting steers, and butchering them with a chain saw.........Robin

snake284

HAWKEN wrote: »

The county I worked for, in Florida, had a robo-deer and a robo-turkey. We caught a lot of poachers, even a couple that were shooting steers, and butchering them with a chain saw.........Robin

I'm not sure, but up until a few years ago, it was still a hanging offense to shoot cattle that didn't belong to you, they call it cattle rustling.

Edited: In Texas that is.

snake284

We have poachers on our lease. I had moved my little portable blind about 400 yards up toward the gate going into the lease. I was hunting it and it seemed promiising. But I stopped seeing deer around it. Then one evening I hunted it and laid some traps. The next morning I went out and sat in it and noticed that it had been screwed with. I had a piece of camo netting tied across the back entrance into the blind and it was undone. I looked farther and there were some things missing. No one on the lease had hunted it except me, so somebody had been night hunting it. i guess I'm going to have to purchase a couple of game cameras. Either that or tell the Possum Cops to start looking around for poachers. I have no respect for them. They are stealing from us that pay good money to hunt a place and then they come out there and take our game for free. They are common thiefs.

Six-Gun

Back when I pheasant hunted in Nebraska regularly, we would periodically come across deer like the one in this video I shot (below). Almost assuredly the work of night spotlighters who were quick with a saw. The deer was shot so poorly...one through the guts so far back it nearly was in its ass. The other through the vitals, but barely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgkWmWNpx0A

NN

HAWKEN wrote: »

The county I worked for, in Florida, had a robo-deer and a robo-turkey. We caught a lot of poachers, even a couple that were shooting steers, and butchering them with a chain saw.........Robin

They use that robo deer here and get a DUI at the same time.

NN

Not unusual to find half a deer in this area

---

not nec a poacher, often improper utilization of what was at the time a legal kill

DoctorWho

Yes, poachers are common thieves, a thief removes or takes what is not his, more than one thief, and you get folks that are as thick as thieves that live by theft, that makes them thieves not thiefs, a chief of thieves ?

shush

DoctorWho wrote: »

Yes, poachers are common thieves, a thief removes or takes what is not his, more than one thief, and you get folks that are as thick as thieves that live by theft, that makes them thieves not thiefs, a chief of thieves ?

Is that Elizabethan?

Teach

Poached deer tastes terrible - - - -the steam takes all the flavor out of the meat!
:vomit:
Jerry

NN

I don't even like poached eggs

Razorbacker

Some idiot shot a Golden Eagle around here. It survived and is in rehab.
I don't see much poaching any more. But trespassing has spiked. I put out a bunch more signs and getting progressively more aggressive when I catch someone. It really tics me off, a total disrespect for private property like that. And my wife is meaner than I am.

snake284

Teach wrote: »

Poached deer tastes terrible - - - -the steam takes all the flavor out of the meat!
:vomit:
Jerry

Same with Poached hog. No flavor at all, but it is more tender.

tennmike

Razorbacker wrote: »

Some idiot shot a Golden Eagle around here. It survived and is in rehab.
I don't see much poaching any more. But trespassing has spiked. I put out a bunch more signs and getting progressively more aggressive when I catch someone. It really tics me off, a total disrespect for private property like that. And my wife is meaner than I am.

Getting bad here, too. A property owner built a road into his property and some quads started riding the high voltage powerline right of way. Onto my property. Caught them in the act and warned them to keep off my property. Didn't work. The pieces of steel fence posts with nails welded on worked like a charm, however. Four flats on a quad kinda sucks.

Farm Boy Deuce

tennmike wrote: »

Getting bad here, too. A property owner built a road into his property and some quads started riding the high voltage powerline right of way. Onto my property. Caught them in the act and warned them to keep off my property. Didn't work. The pieces of steel fence posts with nails welded on worked like a charm, however. Four flats on a quad kinda sucks.

You are nicer than I would have been. I would have strung the posts on 1/8" cable about chest high.

bisley

My worst experience with a poacher was on a very good hunting lease, and the poacher was the son of the man who leased the land to us. He would sneak in and use our blinds to spray deer with an M-1 carbine. Fortunately, he was a terrible shot, and did more to chase them away than actually eliminate them. His daddy caught me catching him at this, and his response was to cover up for him and refuse to renew our lease.

The really sad thing about it, besides losing a great place to hunt, was that our friend who was managing the lease had done a really great job of building it up, and there were lots of very nice bucks, and that was getting better every year. Now, the young punk can terrorize the wildlife, at his leisure.

shootbrownelk

tennmike wrote: »

Used to be a poaching problem in my county. Then we got a female bunny hugger circuit court judge. She went nuclear on the poachers with forfeitures and fines. The poaching has slowed WAY down. The worst poacher was in a neighboring county that ground the deer meat up for feed for his fighting game roosters. He was a three time felon already. He's still cooling his heels in state prison, and will probably die there before his release date. Max fines, total forfeitures of gear, and maximum sentences work.

I agree wholeheartedly Mike, Max fines and forfeiture. Hit them in the wallet. Taking away hunting rights only works for people who actually buy a license. We had a young man here in Wyoming a few years back who was busted 3 times for poaching deer, the last time he was arrested he was out shooting deer out of season...just after he left court for a previous poaching offense.
A couple of guys from California who had a Bull Bison tag, ended up shooting a bull IN Grand Teton Park! Lost their new Dodge diesel dually, their guns and got fines both from the Feds & the State. Of course, Jail time is also fitting. JMO of course.