Posted: 10/1/2009 10:49:12 AM EDT
For the last 4 years I have been watching a certain group of 5 bachelor mule deer bucks grow bigger and bigger. The largest was 4x5 and easily over 200 inches. Last year was the year I decided to get the big boy, but after my hunt was ruined (that story is part of an ongoing saga HERE) I looked forward to going after him again this winter. Until last night, when a friend and fellow hunter who hunts the same area showed me this picture and told me what happened:
You guessed it - that's the bruiser. Head cut off in such a manner that the cape will not be fit for mounting. Gut shot twice with a rifle during early archery elk season. Left to rot - not an ending fit for a king. This type of waste is never acceptable, but if he had been killed by a legal hunter at least I wouldn't be so mad. My buddy found him laying less than a hundred yards from the powerline road, a favorite for those idiot road hunters. The local Game Warden is on it, but she's an idiot. This is her first year out of the academy and let me tell you what - she couldn't find her way out of a wet paper sack, much less track down a poacher. I'd love to get my hands on this moron - chances are this isn't his first time, or his last. It's like the saying goes "poachers aren't hunters, they're thieves". |
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Quoted: For the last 4 years I have been watching a certain group of 5 bachelor mule deer bucks grow bigger and bigger. The largest was 4x5 and easily over 200 inches. Last year was the year I decided to get the big boy, but after my hunt was ruined (that story is part of an ongoing saga HERE) I looked forward to going after him again this winter. Until last night, when a friend and fellow hunter who hunts the same area showed me this picture and told me what happened: http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/rizzo1318/poached_4x5_coyotesprings.jpg You guessed it - that's the bruiser. Head cut off in such a manner that the cape will not be fit for mounting. Gut shot twice with a rifle during early archery elk season. Left to rot - not an ending fit for a king. This type of waste is never acceptable, but if he had been killed by a legal hunter at least I wouldn't be so mad. My buddy found him laying less than a hundred yards from the powerline road, a favorite for those idiot road hunters. The local Game Warden is on it, but she's an idiot. This is her first year out of the academy and let me tell you what - she couldn't find her way out of a wet paper sack, much less track down a poacher. I'd love to get my hands on this moron - chances are this isn't his first time, or his last. It's like the saying goes "poachers aren't hunters, they're thieves". SHAME. From your post, I take it you do not have confidence in your GW. How about helping her out, without her realizing it. Remember they have to learn somewhere. By helping her out, you will be able to bring justice to the ones who robbed you and others of the chance at that great animal. |
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From your post, I take it you do not have confidence in your GW. How about helping her out, without her realizing it. Remember they have to learn somewhere. By helping her out, you will be able to bring justice to the ones who robbed you and others of the chance at that great animal. She replaced a guy that was transferred to another district - too bad, 'cause he was one awesome Warden. My buddy has been trying to help her out by giving her tips on who to talk to and where to go, but so far she hasn't followed up on any of it, so he's been spreading the word. Right now both of us are going to the gun stores and taxidermists and such to see if anyone's been around bragging about that big deer. It sure would be nice to find him that way. |
| And now the plot thickens: talked to a buddy of mine today about the buck, and he tells me that about 3 weeks ago, less than 2 miles from where this buck was laying, he found a dead antelope fawn that had been shot in the rear quarters, also close to a road. My guess is it's the same person / group of people. He didn't call it in to the Warden 'cause it had been dead for awhile, but now he's going to contact the Game and Fish about it. I told him he should have called it when he found it 3 weeks ago, but either way maybe this will help the Warden develop some kind of pattern. My bet is there are more dead animals out there that haven't been found yet. |
That sucks, I know the feeling. I had a nice 140" class whitetail I had been watching get poached off my property a few years ago. They did the same thing, just cut off the head and left the carcass in the ditch next to the road. At least they caught the guy, but his punishment wasn't harsh enough in my opinion. 
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Head cut off in such a manner that the cape will not be fit for mounting. Gut shot twice with a rifle during early archery elk season. Left to rot - I'd love to get my hands on this moron - chances are this isn't his first time, or his last. It's like the saying goes "poachers aren't hunters, they're thieves". What unit was this in? |
| I had a nice eight point white tail get poached right in front of me. The jack ass pulled up when I was about to drop the hammer and shot it and drove off to go ask permission from the land owner..............he isn't hunting anymore after I made a call to the local game warden |
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I had a nice eight point white tail get poached right in front of me. The jack ass pulled up when I was about to drop the hammer and shot it and drove off to go ask permission from the land owner..............he isn't hunting anymore after I made a call to the local game warden You know sometimes it might be hard to be the "tattle-tale" kind of guy it takes to report poachers, but it is necessary because it protects our hunting future. And besides, those idiots deserve to lose hunting privileges for good. |
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I had a nice eight point white tail get poached right in front of me. The jack ass pulled up when I was about to drop the hammer and shot it and drove off to go ask permission from the land owner..............he isn't hunting anymore after I made a call to the local game warden You know sometimes it might be hard to be the "tattle-tale" kind of guy it takes to report poachers, but it is necessary because it protects our hunting future. And besides, those idiots deserve to lose hunting privileges for good. I have zero problem reporting poachers. Never thought of it as playing "Hall Monitor". I have yet to see a poacher verify his backstop.. Not even touching the tresspassing, waste of hard work, giving hunters bad images, etc.. they are putting people in danger by blasting away from the road. |
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couple of things that could help you out Evidence Recovered bullets - if the officer has the ability/resources to process them, get them form the other animal too, may be the same may not but if that gets entered into the database/s and you may get a hit down the road. Casings - try to find the spot where the shot was taken from (ie sweep the sides of the roads around the area) see if you can find a case - he shot twice hopefully in a rapid state one of the cases fell outside of the vehicle or he got ot to make the shots. Tracks - (only helpfull soon after the shooting) look for tracks around the animal - photograph them with some known size reference (dollar bill etc) - hacking off the head requires some work there will be a multitude of prints at various angles around the animal. Tracks (vehicle) - while sweeping the side of the road try to notice any sets of tracks that veer off , (there will probably be several) photograph the dfferent types - than if it happens again go and get another set of photos - look for the same sets showing up Area if there have been a couple of animals killed along that section, and they seem connected then a decoy operation may be warranted ( a fake deer with a barrel of water inside could retain the projectiles for comparison. also if stationed correctly the decoy could draw the poacher into a certain area to make the "kill" shot where a camera is positioned to photograph, with an additional camera near the decoy to photograph the reaction - this leads to poaching charges as well as trespassing, and destruction of property with a nice set of pics of the shooter, vehicle and decoy for the judge. Other if the poacher cut the head so that it is not mountable he was probably just looking to get the antlers - check your local taxidermists for anyone bringing in a hacked off head and just wanting the antlers. hope you catch him/her/them |
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You know sometimes it might be hard to be the "tattle-tale" kind of guy it takes to report poachers, but it is necessary because it protects our hunting future. And besides, those idiots deserve to lose hunting privileges for good. I'd drop the dime on a poacher in a heartbeat if I ever saw one. I hate thieves in general, and poachers top the list. So many non-hunters can't or won't distinguish poaching activity from legitimate hunting. The damage they do goes beyond the game they take illegally. They must be reported and prosecuted at any and every opportunity. |
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I'd drop the dime on a poacher in a heartbeat if I ever saw one. I hate thieves in general, and poachers top the list. So many non-hunters can't or won't distinguish poaching activity from legitimate hunting. The damage they do goes beyond the game they take illegally. They must be reported and prosecuted at any and every opportunity. Very well said! |
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Grrr... that pisses me off.
Hacking off the head (can't even wall mount it yet), wasting the meat, endangering others who are hunting or just living in the area... BTW: I understand newbies not knowing their stuff. Everyone goes through that. But she also better not be dragging her feet either (possibly out of some misguided notion of not having you do her job for her or something stupid). This is what her job is all about and if she's getting good tips, she needs to follow up on them, or do whatever SOP is. |
| It don't matter if they have tags or not, this is not right. I think it is better for someone to poach a deer because things are tight and they need food for the family, than to buy a tag and just take the head. Eat what you kill, anything else is just wrong on so many levels. |
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bullshit. I hate poachers. What a waste of meat and a great trophy. I also hate when GW are lazy bastards. This year we had guys on dirtbikes WAY back, off trail in national forest while archery elk hunting. i stopped them, got their tag numbers, called the police, GW and forest service and never heard anything back from them. |
I was shot at by a poacher once. I was goose hunting (covered by a burlap sheet) in a grainfield just off I-15 and a poacher shot at my decoys with a high power rifle. He was so far away I couldn't even ID the make of the Pickup with10x bino's. He was parked in center between N&S Lanes. One round missed by 60 ft then I stood up and was in time to see the second round hit 20 feet closer. Since then I carry a couple of sabot slugs in case it happens again
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I was shot at by a poacher once. I was goose hunting (covered by a burlap sheet) in a grainfield just off I-15 and a poacher shot at my decoys with a high power rifle. He was so far away I couldn't even ID the make of the Pickup with10x bino's. He was parked in center between N&S Lanes. One round missed by 60 ft then I stood up and was in time to see the second round hit 20 feet closer . Since then I carry a couple of sabot slugs in case it happens againShooting at a decoy, what a moron. The DNR has decoys too, they just got good cameras. Who would shoot a bird with a high powered rifle anyways? Would there be anything left lol? |
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I'll always look the other way with the guy who poaches because he needs to feed his family. I've seen that a few times; hell, one of my college friend's Dads had to do that while he and his wife were out of work in a VERY depressed area of the state in an overall depressed economy. But they didn't just take the head; the whole animal is secreted away and every last scrap of meat got used. The guy's wife actually used the deer hide to repair the inner-top portion of my friend's boots.
But poaching just for a trophy? Yeah, I'm calling the DNR and getting plate numbers. Mike |
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I'll always look the other way with the guy who poaches because he needs to feed his family. I've seen that a few times; hell, one of my college friend's Dads had to do that while he and his wife were out of work in a VERY depressed area of the state in an overall depressed economy. But they didn't just take the head; the whole animal is secreted away and every last scrap of meat got used. The guy's wife actually used the deer hide to repair the inner-top portion of my friend's boots. But poaching just for a trophy? Yeah, I'm calling the DNR and getting plate numbers. Mike I hold the same view. I won't condemn a man for doing what he has to do, within reason, to feed his family. It's when examples such as the OP's come about, that I get a bit irritated. |
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I'll always look the other way with the guy who poaches because he needs to feed his family. I've seen that a few times; hell, one of my college friend's Dads had to do that while he and his wife were out of work in a VERY depressed area of the state in an overall depressed economy. But they didn't just take the head; the whole animal is secreted away and every last scrap of meat got used. The guy's wife actually used the deer hide to repair the inner-top portion of my friend's boots. But poaching just for a trophy? Yeah, I'm calling the DNR and getting plate numbers. Mike This |
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Good luck on getting some of these folks to do their job even if you hand them a case gift wrapped.
A while back I caught some jackasses poaching deer on my property. When we came up on the truck two guys who bailed out were dragging a little spike down a hill and two guys waiting in the truck had jumped out as we came up to a sliding stop. After some choice words and some not so kind instruction we had them place their hands on the bed of the truck while my dad called the sheriffs dpt and game warden. We then had one guy go to the cab of the truck and get the rifle and any other weapons but there was only the rifle. I made them stand there for the 30 min. it took for the Sheriffs deputy to get there a few minutes before the game warden. So they had these four hispanic individuals for driving under the influence and open container. Shooting from a vehicle. Poaching out of season without a license or tags. Poaching on private property. Armed trespass and on and on. Should have been a clear cut case right. Well the warden deferred to the sheriffs deputy and the sheriff claimed they were short handed with it being a busy holiday weekend out at the local lake and they didn’t have the manpower to haul them the hour and a half drive to take them in.  
They didn’t like my offer to cuff them to my headache rack and do their job for them. So they confiscated the rifle and the alcohol, let one guy call his wife to come get the truck, wrote them all a citation with a notice to appear and let them go. WTF! Really! At least I got the sheriff to confirm that force could be used to stop the rustling of cattle in front of these guys. So I did all I could do and looked at them and told them if I ever saw them back on my property I would assume they were rustling cattle and I would shoot them on site. 
Yeah, my tax dollars hard at work. |