Brandon Butler's Cabin Burned Down by Poachers

I used to turkey hunt in a certain county in Ky and everyone including law enforcement advised me to stay clear of a certain area as it was basically off limits to all but certain locals ! I didn't tell them that prior to this knowledge I had stumbled onto some armed fellows in the woods while turkey hunting. After some fast talking and them finding out I was just a dumb bumkin from Canada chasing turkeys they said well be on your way and don't be seen in here again ! I took their advise !
 
Whisky said:
I agree its not worth talking about.

What boggles me is how someone can prop these "legitimately dangerous people " up on a pedestal as if they are deserving of our respect, and frankly, earn the right to keep doing what they're doing. They should be stopped. Hopefully this story draws the attention from the right individuals, and something is actually done about it.
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I love fuzzy utopia blankets too.
 
My comments are to make people aware of how things are, whether you think it should be different or not. To think about who you are and how others will interact with you. How you might act and what the reciprocal kinetic response might be. I’m not putting them on a pedestal. I’m just giving an ethnographic observation from first hand experience. People who grow up in abject poverty don’t care about your Conservation Communications degree. Don’t be angry because you think it should be a different way. That all the people would have to do is just rise up out of the meth muck that surrounds them. It would be wonderful if there were sweeping reforms in LEO, hundreds of good paying jobs brought into the region and drug abuse eradicated. But that shit ain’t happening. Be safe and be smart.
 
While I don't have any experience hunting in Missouri, I have experience with poachers in "rough areas". From personal experience this is what happens after LEO handles the situation:
1. Individuals are (hopefully) apprehended
2. Individuals are (hopefully) charged
3. Individuals (hopefully) show up for trial
4. Individuals are sentenced with virtually zero consequences for their actions.
In the most recent case that I was involved in the poachers were felons in possession of firearms, hunting without licenses, trespassing, killed and abandoned game animals(wanton waste). Their penalty- an additional few months of probation. No fines, no loss of hunting/fishing privileges, no jail time.

It's not right, but it happens especially with locals in local courts, with local judges who have little interest in making sure that justice is actually served.

In comparison, a friend of mine made an honest mistake (still his fault, no denying that he should have been more careful and made certain of his target) and shot a small half racked buck with about 5" of antler on one side of his head during an antlerless season. In Michigan (where I live) an "antlerless" deer used to be one with less than 3" of antler. So a tiny spike would qualify as an antlerless deer. Anyway, said friend ended up losing his rifle and paying 800.00 in fines plus court fees, plus losing hunting and fishing privileges for a few years.
It was a mistake, he wasn't trespassing, or committing any other crimes, nor did he have a history of criminal activity. However, the incident happened in a reasonably affluent area where game law violations (and other law violations) are taken seriously.
No retaliation from my friend obviously,
And I'm unaware of any retaliation from the first case I mentioned.

It just goes to show how things are handled differently in different areas. It's embarrassing, and it shouldn't be this way, but unfortunately it is.
 
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Some of ya’ll need to step out of your gated community’s and take a drive through the back roads of Appalachia. You’ll wonder if you are still in America. That culture is so entrenched in their ways it would take generations to “fix” it. Right or wrong, some things are just the way they are.

Also, I can just about guarantee you have a lot more to lose than those people. So think about that before going all John Wayne on them.
 
I don't think anyone here is putting methheads on a pedestal. That lifestyle stinks for everyone involved.

I really hope I'm wrong and some good comes of this. I'll be the first to admit it if so.

I think what some of us are trying to say, though, is that the problem is much bigger than one guys cabin burning, bad as that is. It's like expecting the Taliban to shape up after prosecuting a couple poppy farmers.
 
I grew up a few counties over in Washington county, in the scholarly town of Potosi. I doubt these guys are meth heads. They’re probably your good old boy rednecks who were taught that when someone does something to you that you don’t like, you fight them. Right, wrong, facts, and the law don’t compute. These places in Missouri are full of jackasses with weak value systems and low education levels. Some people like to give credibility to their “culture”. They’re just shitty humans.
I go back a few times each year to visit family, hunt, and fish. It doesn’t matter if you’re local or out of town, if you’re not like them, they got a problem with it. I think a lot of it comes from ignorance, fear, and insecurity. There’s more I could comment on in this thread but it’s probably pointless. I hope these assholes choke on their biscuits and mustard.
 
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1. Poachers deserved to be caught. Arsonists deserve jail time.

2. If you live someplace that operates outside the rule of law, you need to be smart about what you do and understand the consequences you may endure when you do the right thing. In his own words, he was very naive in his expectations. In the right, but not wise in his actions.
 
January 4, my cabin burned to the ground,” said Butler, the former executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri.
You would think as a former fed conservation officer he would have a inkling of what this type of people could do? Locals he didn't know ?
Where is his insurance to cover this type of thing.
It is sad and hope he gets to rebuild
 
he wasn't a former fed conservation officer- read it again, he was a director of private conservation organization
 
OK big money jobs, where was his insurance.
We had a multi million dollar home slide off of its hill side and the owner whined and cried begging for money to rebuild,. if it was anyone of us they would ask the same thing where was your insurance ?
As I said it is sad and the person or persons should be held accountable.
 
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Opah said:
OK big money jobs, where was his insurance.
We had a multi million dollar home slide off of its hill side and the owner whined and cried begging for money to rebuild,. if it was anyone of us they would ask the same thing where was your insurance ?
As I said it is sad and the person or persons should be held accountable.
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He had insurance. Read the article. Listen to the podcast. Find another way to criticize the guy.
 
Dude did you read the article and listen to the podcast? Evidently not, it was started by his buddy to show support for the guy- the money is not going to Butler, it's going to Missouri Operation Game Thief
 
mtwarden said:
definitely very low IQ you can bet on that; I'd say 85+% chance of missing teeth and will go 50:50 on a mullet
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Come on now!! As a person with a mullet, missing teeth(ok, just one) and a slightly ABOVE low IQ, I take offense to your assumptive characterization of the perps physical appearance!

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