poached deer

[BigStriper]

If your sure, by All means turn them in.

Kurt

[Zwickey-Fever]

This is a 2.5 year old buck that was poached here on my property this past year. I heard the shot, responded to the area where I heard the shot to only see two people running and hoping in a truck. I searched for blood or anything in relation to a hit deer. I found a fresh spent 12 gauge shell. Nothing until two weeks ago. I found him in a thicket 30 yards from where I was looking before.

[BAK]

Hmmm, maybe there was good reason why poaching was once a capital offense.

[BILL LEU]

Several years ago we were hunting in Kansas and one morning I got out of my stand and slowly walked to my buddies position in the hopes of pushing deer towards him as talked about before that mornings hunt, I stumbled across lets say a large bodied deer missing its neck/ head portion of its anatomy I'm no wildlife biologist but I'd definately say this deer was poached, nothing else was removed from the deer, who ever it was made quick work of. We reported it to the Warden that morning he had no interest in it at all because we had no pic, video, lic. plate number, basically he wanted all the evidence handed to him. The thing of it is they patrol the area constantly and in order to hunt this particular area you have to sign in and mark on a map as to where your hunting, they know who's hunting there at all times wouldn't you at least start there, I truly believe this deer was poached probably after hours I get that but at least act is if you give a s#$%. Unfortunately if you don't gift wrap the crime in a box and hand it to them more times than not there not going to bother with it. It's sad I know, and in this case we had been seeing a really nice twelve that some how just vanished.

[BAK]

Kiss, I do understand how you feel, but after 30 years in law enforcement one of the hardest balancing acts to pull off is determining how much time to spend on a case that experience has taught you you aren't likely to solve at the expense of something you can achieve?  

Then trying to placate every complainant who feels you should dedicate the next two weeks to solving their case, when you are so short staffed you can barely keep up with ongoing calls for service.

It's a vicious circle.

[Tom]

I just flat out hate thieves-whether someone's things or our game animals.

[mgf]

Originally posted by Arrowcraft:
 a very special buck that deserved better than to be shot out of season buy a dirt bag maggot !!!!
   

The insult and injury is to law abiding tax payers.

[mgf]

I'm in northwest Indiana farm country. Most of the poaching around here that I have personal knowledge of is done by landowners.

Most of the poaching I hear about is for meat rather than antlers but there's some of both.

They figure that it's their land so the deer on it also belongs to them.

The DNR does catch some spot lighting or, otherwise poaching from the road or trespassing (still using the roads).

By contrast, somebody shooting deer illegally in their own woodlot behind their own house has very little chance of getting caught...and I don't think anybody is really trying to catch them.

[Bowwild]

I turned in a poacher in the early 1980's where I was hunting. He was cited for shooting a doe out of season. I lost this private hunting spot because the landowner supported illegal doe shooting.

I had plenty of other spots.

Regarding that deer in KS.  I wonder how close it was to a road?   If close to a road it could have been struck by a vehicle and the driver or witness went to the deer and removed the head.

This happens all the time on highways. So much that before I retired an anti-hunter called me to complain that she sees all these deer that hunters dropped off along highways without their heads...trophy hunters she thought.  I explained they were road-kills and passersby removed the heads for the antlers. While not legal everywhere, that is common.

[mgf]

I had plenty of places to hunt in the 80's too. Now I have very little access to private land and  no access to private land for deer hunting. There is one small farm that I might get to hunt next year in the early part of the season.

I'm pretty sure that turning in a landowner sanctioned poaching job around here would put a complete end to all private land access forever.

[kennym]

I  despise poachers,but still your word against theirs, due to the fact that time stamp could be wrong on camera. They can be set , so can be changed.

No offense to OP, but will be hard to prove in court of law.

[beemann]

Arrow craft Call the game warden and get the process started.  Sometimes these guys fess up once the pressure is brought on.  I have a local kid where I hunt that fancies himself a big buck expert.  Anything goes with this guy.  My dream is to have a setup like you where I have pics of one of the bucks he shows up with after season.  Also I can't remember where I read about it but there is a high profile case out west where a guy killed a monster mule deer and tagged it with a whitetail tag.  He later showed it at a big show somewhere in Utah.  Word got around and it was a well known buck in another state that numerous people had pictures of after the season closed.  The case is currently pending the authorities took it very serious.     Send the game warden your picture.  check all your cameras for as much evidence as you can get.  I would suggest walking the game warden in front of your game cam to get a documented time stamp.  The more pics you have of the buck alive after season the better..  good luck

[Bvas]

It's not gonna hurt anything to go to the game warden. At least if he is investigated, he might think twice about doing it again. Also, They could  get a search warrant and check the time stamps on his pics to validate your story. Even if there is not a stamp on the pic, most digital cams will record time on the memory card.

[BlacktailBowhunter]

So where's the picture of the dead buck and the pics from the 31st would be cool to see?

You know the poacher personally or know someone that got the photo from the poacher?

You've got the solutions to your frustrations at your disposal, so what's the purpose of the post?

[Arrowcraft]

BlacktailBowhunter
       I have been trying to no avail to post pics for over a year and a half on photobucket etc. I have discussed this with many people who live and hunt around here.The general consensus around here is that this jacked up steroid using muscle head is unstable and happens to live very close by is not worth the consequences worrying about my home and family> I am 66 years old this **** bag is 36 . Upset you bet I am I guess to answer your remark about my post is a way for me to vent and get a sense of how every one in the real trad community feels about such issues ! I do not know the poacher personally nor do I ever wish to.

[Arrowcraft]

BlacktailBowhunter
       I have been trying to no avail to post pics for over a year and a half on photobucket etc. I have discussed this with many people who live and hunt around here.The general consensus around here is that this jacked up steroid using muscle head is unstable and happens to live very close by is not worth the consequences worrying about my home and family> I am 66 years old this **** bag is 36 . Upset you bet I am I guess to answer your remark about my post is a way for me to vent and get a sense of how every one in the real trad community feels about such issues ! I do not know the poacher personally nor do I ever wish to.

[George Vernon]

I think all state DNR's have anonymous hot tip lines.  Try that if you want to keep out of the public eye.

When I lived in Indiana I saw a bunch of salt blocks while scouting out in the woods behind my house right along the property line.  Indiana is very strict in it's enforcement of 'no bait' rules.  I wanted to hunt close to the 'baited' area and was concerned I could be cited even though the salt blocks were not mine, nor were they on my property.  So I called the Game Warden to ask if I could be held liable for stuff happening on neighboring property.

He told me I was in the clear, but asked if he could come out and take a look for himself.  He brought another warden and a Sheriff's deputy.  I showed them the spot.  They crossed the line fence and found a dozen tree stands and 20 or so salt blocks spread over about 5 acres of woods.

They asked me if I would give them permission to park on my property so they could set up surveillance around the blocks.  They explained they would have a much stronger case if they could tie hunting activity to the area around the blocks.

The next day was opening day for the gun season.  Three trucks with 6 law enforcement personnel arrived at 2:00am in ghillie suits carrying firearms and search lights.

Later learned they arrested five people for hunting over bait, taking an animal before legal hours, moving a carcass without tagging and a host of other charges.  Suspended jail sentences and large fines resulted.  And my name was never made public.

Although my motivation was to look out for my own skin, I was pleased with the outcome.  The Game Wardens really impressed me with their professionalism and work ethic.  They thanked me and said they wished more property owners would contact them when they encountered suspicious activity.

[fnshtr]

Thanks for the post. This is something that riles all true sportsmen up. I think we owe it to ourselves and to all law abiding hunters to report poachers. I've done it and there can be personal consequences... but it is the right thing to do.

Good luck Arrowcraft!

[Mint]

I hate to hear stories like this.

On Long Island a lot of big deer get poached and it puts a cloud on the honest hunter that gets a great buck.

Heard from a friend of mine that a 200 class deer that was shot was poached. Picture was the deer in the back of a pick-up truck, without a tag and the hunter wasn't smiling. Game Wardens tracked down the individual and wanted to know exactly where he shot the buck to confirm it wasn't on land closed to hunting. The hunter refused so they confiscated the buck. I heard it was shot on a Hospital's property.

 I hope it's not true but poaching of big bucks is common on LI.

[Bvas]

Thieves thrive on fear. Which if he did poach the deer, then he is exactly that.  If a neighbor saw him stealing something from your house, wouldn't you want them to report it?  I understand that we must make choices to protect our own well being. But at the same time, living in fear is no way to live.