I can't belive the things people do

[Darren]

I took a drive out to my bowhunting stomping grounds today, and what I found made me sick. Dead deer in the feilds with their heads cut off. I went and talked to one of the land owners to tell him about the deer, and he already knew about them, because he found one the week before. And to make matters worse they shot his daughters dog last night. These "Killers" seem to come around when everyone is asleep and sneek into the fields.This is going to make my week of hunting interesting. Anyone else have this kind of problem.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Call the Mounties. Don't they always get their man/scum?

[kaboom65438]

THAT'S SICK!   I hope they catch them.

[Darren]

I have already talked to the local Game Warden he has already been patroling the area for two weeks. I think they know where the warden is at all times. Oh and the Mounties don't like dealing with wildlife offenders.

[KenSel]

that's just horrible!!  I hope they catch the *$*#*##s!!!!  Why don't the Mounties get involved?

[Pete W]

This is one of the big down sides of the Record Book and Trophy mentality.It happens a lot.You will never find a doe like that.
I have found several bucks over the years that were caped and the body was left for the coyotes to eat.
Pete

[Stone Knife]

We have had some in my area, that would go around at night and shoot them with a rifle. I never understood why a person would do this and then be proud of there so called trophy. It makes no sense.

[Minuteman]

There's idiots and scofflaws everywhere you go.

[Archer 1]

That's the kind of scumb bag idiots that coulden't get one the right way if there life depended on it.

[painthorse]

I came up on a car-deer accident two nights ago.Nice wide 10pt destroyed a car and the deer was'nt dead.People called the law and the officer put the deer down and then cut the head off.I asked what he was going to do with it and he said" going to have it mounted, biggest deer I've ever taken".
I know its legal and not the same as poaching but it goes along with the fact the deer hunting has become  a head hunt.Biggest deer equals best hunter type of thing.It doesnt help the mounts of trophy deer can bring big money on the market.
Sad deal but its the sign of the times we live in.

Hunt safe.

Scott

[MI_Bowhunter]

I feel your pain and frustration. These are the types of actions that really give hunters a bad rep.  

Back when I first started hunting, we lost a great hunting spot because some "hunter" killed the landowners pet.  The landowner subsequently decided to disallow all hunting on his land.

I had a similar situation several years ago here in MI.  I found several deer carcasses with the heads cut off near a remote hunting area. I called our DNR Poaching hotline and was basically blown off and told that they could do nothing.

Its really hard to catch these poachers unless they are caught in the act or someone turns them in and they are found with the deer parts in their possession.  Even when they do catch the violators, I don't think the penalties are severe enough.

[Jeff Holchin]

I can't tell you how many big roadkilled deer I have seen about this time of the year in the Midwest, with their heads cut off.  Some people can't even be honest with themselves - how can they put that head on their walls and lie about their "trophy"?  Even worse are the idiots that Darren mentioned.  These scum are hurting hunting more than the anti-hunters, IMO.

[Ray Hammond]

I had a great piece of property once in metro Atlanta that had monsters crawling all over it.

A guy that lived fairly close (actually turned out to be the NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR) of the game warden that caught him! There were 6 deer shot, and the carcasses left where my partner and I pulled into the property to park. The guy knew what he was doing...it was a message to us, you know. He cut the heads and the backstraps off the deer and left the rest to rub our noses in it.

My partner walked right up behind him one day, on a gas and power line right of way, sitting in a brushpile, with a rifle(in a county that has been archery hunting only for 20 years at the time). My buddy was about 8 feet away when he realized the guy was there and spoke in a low voice so as not to startle the weapon toting creep, and the fellow promptly turned around and pointed the rifle at my partner's chest! Bob was standing there with a recurve in his hands...so he backed off slowly, the whole time smelling the guy because of him being totally sloshed on liquor while he planned on taking 400 yard shots down this sloping gasline right of way.

They caught him about a week later with a partner, and the guy had his twelve year old son with him(teaching him all about his wonderful "hunting" tradition and how to do it the right way            :confused:             ), a deer in the back of the truck, blood all over the truck bed, and rifles, but they couldn't locate the other 6 deer heads(all were bucks, by the way)though they looked at both guy's houses and visited local taxidermy shops. This kind of stuff is so rampant.

We now have a new kind of poacher here too- Spanish speaking immigrants( often illegals)walking the woods, even out of season, no license, no orange, on the ground, shooting deer for food. No worries that they are trespassing, no worries they are shooting toward houses, or golfers, or whatever...its food!!!! They are everywhere around Atlanta now.

[Tater John]

I was a youngster when I came across the only decapitated deer I've ever found. The feelings of confussion and disbelief are carried with me to this day. Definitely not a natural thing to find. I'm not sure where the sensitivity and sadness falls the greatest, for the deer or people that can be that, lacking... Rusty

[Darren]

Being a taxidermist I see all kinds of things also.Yes I can tell when a deer is hit by a car, and yes I do see those small .22 holes in the head, with an archery tag on the antlers. And when they come to pick their "TROPHY" up I always tell them what I have found, boy do you want to see sombodys face turn red. Well needless to say they are not customers anymore. There are lots of honest hunters out there and I have lots of great and honest customers. It is just a few people that give us hunters a bad name. Myself I worry about filling my freezer first. Thanks for the feedback.

Darren

[Bob Sherman]

But wait, let's fear the anti-hunters. We are far more dangerous to ourselves than the anti's could ever dream of being.

This kind of stuff is what turns the the majority (not anti's, not hunters and many are landowners who shut down hunting) against hunting.

Pete W hit the nail on the head.

Hunters destroyed hunting at the turn of the 19th century. We are on a course to destruction once again. Not for lack of animals, like previously but when access commands a high price and trophy's have huge monetary value, destruction is sure to follow.

[Bob Sherman]

I forgot to mention that I've heard this has been a very large problem in areas of Montana this season, also.

[vermonster13]

Calling them hunters is a diservice to us. Killers yes, hunters no and we need to make this clear to society also. Hunters consider them criminals and won't tolerate them either.

We just add to our own troubles when we allow them to be or even associate them with us ourselves.

[Bob Sherman]

The public considers them hunters and trying to disassociate hasn't and won't work. Taking a hard line approach will. Supporting seizure of vehicles and weapons will help.

Distancing hunting from high fence killing, trophy hunting and the like will help. Promoting programs that help feed the hungry will help. Having programs on the Outdoor Channel that have one of the Drury brothers saying it is hard to continue tracking a wounded animal with little blood, "especially when it isn't a trophy", makes us look like scum to the general public.

[Shakes.602]

It just saddens me that there really are People with no more Self-Respect, let alone No Respect for the Animals they Kill.  :(  
   Puts me in the Memory of the "Buffalo Killers" that Starved many a Tribe just to make a Dollar or 2. The Old Saying Stands Very, Very True "Money Talks, B.S. Walks."  :mad:  
     Then to hear that If and When they Catch these Criminals,  OUR  "Government" Slaps them on the Wrist, and sends them on their Merry Way.    
     Vigilante Justice, although Illegal.....    Either Way, Its Just Not Right!!  :(