This will make you like the game wardens even more.....

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bswiv

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This is from the Florida FWC Weekly Law Enforcement Action Report. Reading this kind of stuff makes you darn glad the Game Wardens are out there!

OKALOOSA COUNTY

Officer Van Barrow observed a vehicle displaying a light in a manner capable of disclosing deer. Prior to observing the vehicle, Officer Barrow heard several shots in the direction the vehicle was traveling. The vehicle was stopped and an inspection revealed a loaded Browning rifle. A computer check revealed one of the subjects had active warrants in Okaloosa and Walton Counties for violation of probation originating from a bank robbery and grand theft. Lieutenant Mark Hollinhead and Officer Danny Arnette responded to assist. An interview with the subjects determined they shot at a deer prior to being stopped and also shot a deer a few nights before. One of the subjects agreed to provide the officers the meat from the deer which was stored in a freezer at a residence. While retrieving the deer meat from the residence, Officer Arnette observed an active clandestine methamphetamine lab. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department responded and properly secured the methamphetamine lab. The three subjects were charged and booked into the Okaloosa County Jail for taking deer at night with a gun and light, hunting from a public road, and trafficking in amphetamines. The subject with the active warrants also has charges pending for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
 
Here in Mn a few years back a Warden entered a ice fishing house (shanty) to do a compliance check and found a working meth lab in operation.
Because the Warden had just walked in like they always did forever, the druggist got off because of an illegal search. Today a Warden has to get permition or have a warrant to enter any kind of shelter.
Not really a cite but has reference, (Short Story Starts at page 198)

And, what a Southerner thinks when venturing North,
Officer Manning took calls about road-kill deer, state snowmobile passes, and one question from a man who was curious about all the “outhouses” he saw on lakes during his drive up to the North Shore.
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And just 2 days before our firearms deer opener a co-worker was arriving home to his rural hobby farm just at dusk and saw animals in the field next to his pasture. He backed up and was just in the process of casting his lights into the field when he was blocked by the local warden that proceeded to cite him with the new shinning law, and he had no gun in the vehicle.
Shining lights generally
Without implements to take wild animals, from two hours after sunset until sunrise, no person may cast the rays of a spotlight, headlight or other artificial light on a highway or into a field, woodland or forest to spot or locate a wild animal.
A person may not cast rays of a spotlight, headlight or other artificial light on land that is marked with signs prohibiting the shining of lights.
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Yes they do a great deal of good, but some are way to over eager to issue citations.
 
From reading news reports over the years, Okaloosa County has more than its fair share of poachers. Seems like a regular activity there.
 
Lieutenant Mark Hollinhead and Officer Danny Arnette responded to assist.
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I know both of those guys, and used to work with Arnette! :)

From reading news reports over the years, Okaloosa County has more than its fair share of poachers. Seems like a regular activity there.
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You have no idea....

It is very difficult to explain why there is such a problem, without actually showing some one the contributing factors.
Much of the problem is the attitude and mindset of the locals. Many of the small towns in the area have the same families living in them, that were there in the early 1900s. They feel that everything belongs to them, since their families were there before the military and retirees.

This, of course, is made worse by geographic isolation. Eglin AFB, NAS Whiting Field, Duke Field, the Ranger Training detachment, conservation areas, and the surrounding bodies of water create quite a few geographically isolated communities. Since this also limits several of the small towns from growing (they are literally boxed-in by military bases), there is no opportunity for "new blood" to come in, and help influence a change in attitude and behavior.

99% of the time... they don't get caught. So, what is there to worry about?

When I lived there, I saw at least 10 poached deer for every deer taken legally. ...And most of the poached deer weren't even taken for meat. The bastards would cut the heads off, and leave the body to rot.
 
back home i W.V. there was lots of poaching but generally the animal was for food. i remember once or twice where i made the comment to a coworker that we finished the last of a seasons meat and i had a front and hind quarter and a back strap dropped off at the house a day or so later.
i disagree with poaching. i wont deliberately drive around with a light to shoot at some thing. when times were tough we had the opportunity to take 1 deer a month (if we wanted to) because we grew apples and sold them. the dnr gave us permission to thin out the destructive or varmint type animals as long as it was reported. they would come by every once in a while a check around just to see how things were going and how much meat we had. only shot one the rest got the picture and came around at night.
 
textbook criminals

when it comes to a criminal's mind they are thinking that "hey i cant and wont get caught" on top of the moronic mindset that everything they do is ok. Selfish ambition.

Someone who is knowingly shooting out of a car while spotlighting, and i dont doubt knowing full well it's illegal, is obviously more capable to commit other crimes, most likely more heinous.

Evil people do evil things. Poor sense of morality. Lack of respect for laws. Unbelievable disrespect to the freedom that is being fought for in such a wonderful country.

I just hope they do not get out of prison any time soon.
 
"Someone who is knowingly shooting out of a car while spotlighting, and i dont doubt knowing full well it's illegal, is obviously more capable to commit other crimes, most likely more heinous."

Too broad of a brush. If they and their family can't afford store bought meat or to pay the hunting lease fees that I do, I ain't turning them in.

Now if they are just jerking the back straps out and leaving the rest... their tires may get shot out and the wardens called.
 
In watching Wild Justice, I was surprised to see such a high correlation between poaching and illegal drugs...and also felons....just like in the OP.

I never thought of poaching as being part of a suite of illegal activities that are often undertaken together..
 
DNS - I think it is part of the mindset that laws don't apply to them. Heck, if you are already cooking meth, adding a poaching violation really isn't going to add much to the sentence....
 
Good show! Congrats to these officers on a job well done. Somehow, I think that the game violation charge will be the least of the BG's worries when this goes to court. :rolleyes:
 
What bothers me about the show Wild Justice is the amount of money Komifornia wastes trying to catch hog poachers. Here you have a non-native, invasive, destructive species that the state should be happy to get rid of. Yet, they are trying to manage it like a valuable game species.
 
DNS - I think it is part of the mindset that laws don't apply to them. Heck, if you are already cooking meth, adding a poaching violation really isn't going to add much to the sentence....
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You certainly may be right. I was just suriprised by the high correlation between the two...that poachers will have, will be using, or otherwise will be involved iwth illegal drugs.

Where I am in north Texas, we have one warden that covers our county and then some. I don't think I would envy his job and lack of immediate support. The sheriff's department is stretched awfully thin but they seem like a huge group compared to the single warden, whom I have never seen in the 5 years that I have owned my property.
 
i dont think it is meth that is most commonly associated poaching and the likes
iwould lean more on the side of marijuana meth is genraly difficult to make on public land with out getting noticed there are some ways to do it like in a cooler ect. but pot is much easier to to get away with and needs much less attention. a few cammo buckets up in the trees here and there can thrive for a long long time unnoticed and the only thing you have to do to check them is to go fishing. its also easier to get away with simply by "gee officer what iss all that its not mine im just here to hunt turkey or squirrel" or to hit the lake.
a freind and i tiped in a patch we found on public land a three weeks later there was a bust in the paper for 500,000 worth found in a trailer some kids property that he dug a cave in to the hill side, and on public land in the same area we called in.
might be our tip might not all i know for sure is its not worth getting shot over
 
"Someone who is knowingly shooting out of a car while spotlighting, and i dont doubt knowing full well it's illegal, is obviously more capable to commit other crimes, most likely more heinous."
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I think that the real danger of spotlighting (discounting the ethical problems) is that you don't really have a good idea of what might be behind your target.

How hungry/poor the shooter might be or how noble his intentions are pales in comparison to basic safety.
 
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