How does one become a poacher?

[Sunkmanitou]

I'll tell you......every day these local deer destroy another tree, bush, garden, fence, etc.......the closer I get. We literally had one peeing on our covered back patio last week just outside our sliding glass doors. My daughter said "Make sure you don't leave the door open, or they're be inside soon too".

I asked CPW several years ago if I could hunt these deer. They said "Oh ya, you can hunt them all you want........you just can't legally discharge a weapon in the city limits". SMH

Does that include bows too, or just firearms?

 

[5MilesBack]

I get it and experience it everyday in my yard. But I also fence in what I don’t want the deer to get to. Have you tried that?

Yes, we have a cedar framed chain link fence around the whole back yard. When we moved in 18 years ago I built an extension on top of that with black netting. That lasted until a couple years ago when we had a late May snow storm where branches fell onto that literally around the entire almost 400 feet of netting. It was easier to just take the mess down, and I haven't committed to putting a new one up yet. And the neighbors hate it. It's perfectly see-through, but it is 4 feet of black netting above the regular fence. Birds also fly into it and get stuck all the time.

But that's just the back yard. The front is unfenced but I have put fencing around individual trees and the bucks during the rut still push it in and bend the T-posts and still end up rubbing the bark off the trees. They generally leave the larger trees alone, so I took the fencing down last year on a couple of those and one night they stripped every square inch of the bark off those trees from the ground to as high as they could reach. They killed the first four I put in when they were smaller and now after waiting the last 10 years for these to get big enough.......these may now die too.

Oh, and it is illegal to discharge any weapon (rifle, bow, BB gun) within the city limits here.

 

[Shō[t]gun]

Oh, and it is illegal to discharge any weapon (rifle, bow, BB gun) within the city limits here.

Lame, an old pan or baking tray hanging from a tree makes a “PANG!!” when hit by a pellet gun that makes them jump out of their fur. The closer they are to it the less likely they’ll come back again.

 

[5MilesBack]

Lame, an old pan or baking tray hanging from a tree makes a “PANG!!” when hit by a pellet gun that makes them jump out of their fur. The closer they are to it the less likely they’ll come back again.

Oh trust me, I've done much worse to them than that, and they just keep coming. They're persistent and have absolutely zero fear of people. I'd like to bring in a mountain lion or two......or even some wolves. Those seem to be popular these days.

 

[mtwarden]

I knew an old rancher in the Jordan area (Freeman country if you remember) that's wife was trying to raise a small vegetable garden, without a lot of success due to deer coming in and eating everything. He tried all kinds of stuff w/ no luck. One afternoon when I was driving by he showed me what did work. He shot a coyote, did a very rough tan on the hide and made a very (very) rough form for it. He had a very sad looking coyote looking over the garden But he didn't have any deer coming into the garden.

We used to give blood meal out in 50 lb bags for folks needing a deterrent. My guess with diseases these days, probably not an option anymore.

 

[william schmaltz]

Ya, but you said it was the day he flew OUT. Is there a rule about the day of flying out after hunting?

No. I can see the confusion.

We’ve always referred to heading into the field as “flying out.” “What day do you fly out?” and “We fly out this afternoon” are common pre-hunt phrases. Obviously a person would fly out of the field too, so I get it.

 

[JjamesIII]

I used to think it was just degenerates that poached, but I’m starting to wonder when normal upstanding guys who are pissed about how hunting is being affected by anti-hunting legislation, over crowding, wolf introductions, point creep, CPW ignoring their feedback, etc. in states like Colorado are going to start poaching. Little chance of being caught, and quickly diminishing opportunities are probably making some question whether it’s worth playing by the rules at all

 

[JjamesIII]

the reality probably sinks in that the game isn’t set up for equal opportunities to all, so I’m sure some people have made their own moral justification to take action. Sheep tags come to mind.
Or the whole thing with grizzlies and wolves. I can see guys breaking laws regarding those two species and “delisting” them on their own accord.
But in reality, it’s usually greedy slobs that come out at night. Same type of losers that will mess with your truck at a trail head. It’s a shame. I wonder if they even have the mental capacity to feel shame reflecting on what they do?