Poachers Nabbed - Is it really worth it?!?!?

I

Iowa Cornfed

New member
So I'm reading the Omaha Sunday paper, an run across an article that tells of two Nebraska men caught with two rifle shot deer on the Iowa side of the river just 14 miles North of my place. One was a 150 class buck, the other smaller.

Iowa law says the fine for a poached deer that gross scores over 150 inches is $20,000 dollars, and under 150 inches $10,000. Not to mention the DNR confiscated a Browning 9mm, a Weatherby Vangard .300 mag, a Weatherby Mark V 7MM, a Kawasaki 650 ATV, and other items. WHAT ON EARTH WERE THESE IDOITS THINKING?!?!?!?!?

It wasn't in the paper, but I heard today that a bow hunter was in a tree and saw it all, had a cell phone and called it in.
........
And just when you didn't think it could get any better than that: I'm in the gun shop this afternoon that my brother-in-law works at, and there's a tow truck driver in there from our neighbouring town 7 miles to our West. He was saying the DNR busted a couple of guys at Willow Lake (A wildlife area that's about 15 miles West of here..., a place where the DNR holds hunter education classes!!!) who had 15 deer they'd killed. The tow truck driver towed their rigs, and told me the tags on the trucks were from North Carolina and that they were loggers from there.

I'm like, that must have been cheap, bet they lost there rigs too, etc.

He said no, they got their rigs back..., once they posted bond @ $60,000!!!!

These dweebs must have more money than brains!
 
Poachers make me sick :barf:

Whats the point of over killing deer your just distorying future deer populations :(

I hunt to have a good time, the last thing on my mind is killing the deer to be honest. :o Thats probrobly why I still havnt killed one all season too :o

Dimitri
 
Wow

You actually have game wardens in other states? They actually make arrests and fine hunters?

In California, game wardens are a little less common then the spotted owl.

We have a tip line to call in possible game violations. You think that they would connect you to a nearby warden to make a report and hopefully have some idiot busted. The call is answered by some phone jockey. Then you get to play one hundred questions which include what sign were you born under. Then you are told that the information will be forwarded to an offical. At that point you could go change the oil in your truck and rotate its tires waiting for someone to show up. With any luck they show up before the season is over, that is if you call on opening weekend.

If you have a game department that actually responds and enforces game laws consider yourself lucky.
 
LOL!!!!!!!!!! That's too funny! (Well, would be if it wasn't true)

Thing is, I commented to the tow truck driver something like "What in the world would have made 'em decide to come to Iowa to do their dirty deed"

His reply was "Probably knew Harrison County wouldn't prosecute anyway..."

We'll see. I sure hope they throw the book at 'em.
 
Long Island

I live on Long Island and you can literaly obtain an unlimited amount of tags. All you need to do is bring the deer to a check station, they wiegh it, age it, and hand you a new tag. Guys here are still taking deer without tagging them, or hunting without a tag. WHY? These guys give honest hunters a bad name.
Ken
 
It wouldnt take much...And I wish that news channels all over would run stories about the guys who do get caught. May stop some of it...wishful thinking.
 
There was a study done in NM [?] that showed that half the deer taken were taken by poachers .That's very significant.
 
I'd sent that info to a few folks on my e-mail list and got a call from a friend of mine who's really into wildlife management. His first comment was something along the lines of "Most people who'll read that in the paper won't really consider the impact that removing 15 bucks from a local herd will have for years to come"

The local paper had some more on the story yesterday, I guess there were 7 hunters involved. The DNR had gotten curious about this group from the Tar Heal state, 'cuz this is the second or third year that they've come up here deer hunting..., after obtaining bow permits..., bow permits TO HUNT DOE!!!!!!! (I mean - I'm just saying!!!)

The paper said fines ranged from 15K for one guy, 10K for another, 8K for some others, and then down to 5K for the rest. And it turns out a local land owner had also sold them 2 landowner permits, so he's in deep do-do too.

A total of 70 violations, and the paper said more charges would be filed.

They got 'em for wanton wast, spotlighting, loaded rifles in vehicles, shooting a rifle from a roadway, etc., etc., etc...

There were 7 law enforcment agencies involved - Iowa DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Refuge officers, Local Police Dept, County Sheriff's Dept, Iowa Division of Narcotica Enforcement, and the Iowa State Patrol. (And I heard yesterday the FBI was also there)

I just hope they make an example out of these low-life scum.
 
Isn't there a delete prompt for ya?

We've got a standing joke around here that they'll let the dope pushers go after only a few months and thousand bucks, but a poacher... he'd best sell his car and house to pay the fines, and get a new girlfriend cause the wife'll have left him long before he sees light of day again!
 
Huh. After looking about the edit commands - nope no delete...

Oh well, don't feel to bad - I've noticed you aren't the only one this is happening too lately. Probably another bug.
 
Yeah I think the TFL server crashed the other night. I couldn't get around in TFL all night, but had no probs on other sites. So, next day when I posted a reply in this forum (Hunting) it told me I was trying to post to a forum that wasn't legit. Then when I hit post again, 3 of 'em showed up. Couldn't delete, and when I erased the posts it told me the post was too short, so I had to put something in there. I'll look around and see if there's more I can do, but I suspect an admin will need to remove them.
 
Isn't there a delete prompt for ya?

We've got a standing joke around here that they'll let the dope pushers go after only a few months and thousand bucks, but a poacher... he'd best sell his car and house to pay the fines, and get a new girlfriend cause the wife'll have left him long before he sees light of day again!
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth
 
:mad: What really burns my butt (besides a fire about 3 ft high) is that we have way too many deer around here that need shot just to get the herds under control. It wouldn't bother me any if these dorks would come and ask to hunt for the meat or just to shoot a few does, anyone anound here would tell them to shoot all they wanted and more! :rolleyes: But Nooo! the idiots want to poach trophy bucks so they can go home and brag about their days as the great white hunter to all their even dumber friends!:barf: I agree whole-heartedly with the forfiture laws, "Get caught poaching, Walk home broke and naked!!":D ;) Ask to hunt leagally and I'll help you haul it home!:D
 
I also agree with stiff penalties for poachers. No body brought this up but sometimes poachers are hunting for antlers to sell. A while back there was this really nice buck that you could see in the Smokey Mt. National Park with some regularity. Folks used to gather near dark just to watch for this giant buck. Anyway, some idiots shot the buck and were caught.... the fine was something like $50,000 along with confiscation of guns and vehicles. The guys lost their jobs and may have served some jail time over this. It ruined their lives.

Was it worth it? Certainly not for the perps, but from my perspective, I think the punishment was so severe that others would think more than twice about attempting such a stunt.

I think the game laws should be enforced. I also think that sometimes game protectors (wardens) go a bit overboard on little things like... do you have shells in your gun on your way out of the woods which might be after legal shooting hours.
 
22-rimfire, there's pretty big money in oaching.

The gall bladders from black bears bring large sums; last I heard, some $600. Same for elk antlers in velvet. Old Chinese men pay top prices for these "aphrodisiacs". In the west on some Indian reservations, elk are killed just for the antlers...

It's worldwide. A rich Yemeni will pay up to $50,000 for rhino horn to use as a handle for his obligatory dagger. One solution is to trap rhinos and saw off their horns and then release them; they're no longer of interest to poachers.

Art
 
Recent Sting

Our fish and game department recently set up a check point at one of our borders. They pulled over about sixty hunters. Sixteen of them had loaded rifle in their cars. The rounds were in the chamber. They not only lost their weapon, the information was turned over to the local sheriff.

Forget the leagality of this, think of the safety issue. If the hunter has small children at home and he forgets he has a loaded gun, well you can imagine what might happen.

What upsets me most is the black eye these idiots can give the reat of us hunters. Here in California we need as little negative press as possible.
 
Iowa law says the fine for a poached deer that gross scores over 150 inches is $20,000 dollars, and under 150 inches $10,000. Not to mention the DNR confiscated a Browning 9mm, a Weatherby Vangard .300 mag, a Weatherby Mark V 7MM, a Kawasaki 650 ATV, and other items.

...He was saying the DNR busted a couple of guys at Willow Lake who had 15 deer they'd killed... I'm like, that must have been cheap, bet they lost there rigs too, etc. He said no, they got their rigs back..., once they posted bond @ $60,000!!!!
...The paper said fines ranged from 15K for one guy, 10K for another, 8K for some others, and then down to 5K for the rest...
There were 7 law enforcment agencies involved - Iowa DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Refuge officers, Local Police Dept, County Sheriff's Dept, Iowa Division of Narcotica Enforcement, and the Iowa State Patrol. (And I heard yesterday the FBI was also there)
Click to expand...

Ya know, I'm all for punishing poachers, but do these measures really fit the crime? SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS BOND for killing deer.... whereas the scumbag who burglarized my house & stole my wedding band got out on $500 bond. SEVEN law agencies involved in a wildlife sting operation, huh? 'Round here, they have actually told people living near an anhydrous ammonia plant to stop calling about all the meth heads coming to steal ingredients, never showed up when the president of our company board called to tell them he was holding meth heads at gunpoint, and flat told one of our plant managers that they wouldn't even try to catch 'em, since it might be dangerous.

Uhhh.... yeah. Nothing wrong here at all.
 
you want to know what the bets remendy for a poacher is a bullet poachers have screwed up a many of my hunts and even though I did it when I was younger I now dont with my studies being what they are I changed my ways it is no good to poach and I was lucky with not being caught but sometimes now I wish I would have been busted I now proscute all poachers you pay lots of money in the GREAT STATE of TEXAS to hunt on prime time leases and you dont want them ruined by those mangey poachers they need to pay too if I have to so should they:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
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