Is poaching truly this prevalent?

[HairyScandinavian]

I think you need your own sub forum where you just tell us weekly stories about your career as a GW!

I did my senior project in 2007 with a local legend game warden here in WA State. In one day with him, I had the most incredible experience. I think about it weekly almost 20 years later. I cant imagine an entire career....

YouTube channel where he tells his stories, sort of like a Donut Operator style. I'd watch them.

 

[bluetick78]

That's an interesting take. Rokslide is honestly the first place I've ever heard the term "poaching" applied to more than shooting an animal on land you weren't supposed to be hunting.
Q made a good post about this a few pages back from a legal perspective, but it's hard to say that speeding 1mph over and drunk driving are the same thing. It's hard to say that shooting a turkey with a bow the one year it happens to be rifle-only (another previous example) is the same as shooting a bull in a closed area without a tag.
I don't really buy the "holier than thou" responses in this thread. Remember, we have established over 10 pages that game violations are actually pretty common, and we were all stupid teenagers once. All we can do is try to be better and push our friends and neighbors to be better and call in the real egregious stuff.

I agree that there are different levels of severity in any type of crime, that's why there's differing min/max penalties for committing them. Do I feel like shooting a bird 3 minutes early (or late) on a WMA is the same as poaching an elk in a closed area with no tag are the same crime. Hell no. But they are both crimes. The point I was intending to get across is that it's human nature to test limits. Used in a positive manner, testing limits has lead to incredible innovation. Used negatively, it results in problems for everyone trying to partake of that particular resource.
I asked a warden one time how he would define poaching. His response was simple, "Any illegal act that would result in having your game confiscated". Those acts might vary from state to state, but it's a simple way to define poaching.

 

[gbflyer]

Like using a .224 in a 6mm state?

 

[ganguscows]

Like using a .224 in a 6mm state?

 

[The Ri Guy]

I think there are A LOT more "poachers" (now broadly used for anyone that breaks the law hunting in my circles) than people realize. Especially as tags get harder to come by, access shrinks, and everything gets more restricted overall.

Every year in Washington for as long as I can remember I have watched people shoot does on the last night of season.

In rural communities there seems to be a prevailing sentiment that "these are our lands, our animals, we can do what we want with them". Not sure how you ever stop that natural but self-entitled opinion from finding its way into peoples heads.

As long as wild animals roam the hills there will be poachers.

 

[Broomd]

If everyone calls on everyone else, then it is a pointing screaming match.

I called once on a guy that i warned during a fish closure. They took his boat. Im not doing that to someone again unless it is really worthy of them taking someone’s stuff.

So he lost his boat for illegally fishing after being personally warned....is that correct? Or am I missing something. Stupid should hurt.
Mistakes are one thing, they happen. Deliberately breaking the law with poaching is another.

 

[IDbrushswimmer]

Pretty common I’d think. Found this last weekend. Definitely not from last fall… called IDFG in case they were dumb enough to leave anything identifiable with their garbage. Haven’t heard a word back.

 

[bz_711]

Around here in the midwest it's far too common. Have found multiple poached deer on our farm over the year. Two years ago a buck with a perfect rifle shot in vital just left to rot, didn't even take antler like usual...40yds off county road in the snow (a few weeks after season ended).
I called game warden and he said not much he can do about it unless he get several reports all in the same area in the next couple days. Didn't even drive out to check it out or anything. We even had the date/time and truck lights from my neighbors ring camera (2am)...but couldn't make out the lic plates or truck in the middle of night and snowing. So around here unless you are caught in the act there's very little risk unfortunately.

 

[mt terry d]

"it's hard to say that speeding 1mph over and drunk driving are the same thing"

Name the victim in either of these crimes please.

 

[WoodlandCritter]

"it's hard to say that speeding 1mph over and drunk driving are the same thing"

Name the victim in either of these crimes please.

The 'ol drunk driving is victimless crime argument huh? I agree. That's why its bullshit that I go to the shopping mall and shoot .300blackout subs over people's heads and get arrested all the time. Its plenty quiet, not a noise nuisance. And I haven't hit anyone yet. Totally victimless.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

"it's hard to say that speeding 1mph over and drunk driving are the same thing"

Name the victim in either of these crimes please.

You might want to read what I originally wrote. Because I didn’t say that these were the same thing. They were specifically examples of crimes involving the same activity (driving), one of which is clearly malum prohibitum and the other is, at least arguably, closer to malum in se.

And is “drunk driving doesn’t have victims” the argument you really want to make? It clearly fits into the “reckless disregard of other people’s safety” category of criminal offenses.

 

[Bannedinshortorder!]

People hung up on bragging board photos will do anything for their 5 seconds of fame IMHO.

They are addicted to the likes.

 

[ArrowForester]

"it's hard to say that speeding 1mph over and drunk driving are the same thing"

Name the victim in either of these crimes please.

I'm sure you could contact MADD and get a very long list of drunk driving victims. Not only does it fit the '“reckless disregard of other people’s safety” category of criminal offenses.' but it quite frequently results in the victimization of innocent people.

Poaching results in the victimization of everyone that values natural resources and respects the laws designed to protect those resources. If one disagrees with certain laws then one can take measures to have the laws justifiably changed. If one ignores the laws and imposes their own "management" methods for the protected resources then one is a poacher.

 

[fatlander]

I'm sure you could contact MADD and get a very long list of drunk driving victims. Not only does it fit the '“reckless disregard of other people’s safety” category of criminal offenses.' but it quite frequently results in the victimization of innocent people.

Poaching results in the victimization of everyone that values natural resources and respects the laws designed to protect those resources. If one disagrees with certain laws then one can take measures to have the laws justifiably changed. If one ignores the laws and imposes their own "management" methods for the protected resources then one is a poacher.

I’m 100% with you on the drunk driving.

I do think some very influential folks of the past would take issue with “it’s the law so faithfully follow or try to change it.”

"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"When Injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." — Thomas Jefferson

"If a law is unjust a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." — Thomas Jefferson

"Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?" — Henry David Thoreau

"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so." — Mahatma Gandhi"

Injustice makes the rules, and courage breaks them." — Ursula K. Le Guin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NMJM]

"it's hard to say that speeding 1mph over and drunk driving are the same thing"

Name the victim in either of these crimes please.

Name a victim of DWI? The list is long
In the United States, approximately 11,904 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2024, averaging one death every 44 minutes. In 2023, an estimated 360,441 people were injured in such crashes, and according to MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)