Is poaching truly this prevalent?

[roosiebull]

I don’t think it’s a new thing, I think it’s leftover culture from the past. What I don’t understand at all, is how can someone be proud of a big critter that they killed if they had to cheat to get it? It seriously makes no sense to me. They seem extremely proud of their big bucks or bulls that they had to cheat to kill.

It takes zero talent to kill big critters if you don’t care about the rules, killing them within the rule structure is the hard part. There are a lot of gross degenerates that try to convince people that they are good hunters, but they never will be, they will always have to cheat to have success…. That seems like it would eventually wear on you, knowing you are inadequate, knowing you can’t do it on a level playing field

 

[mt terry d]

Our Provost Marshall and I investigated a large number of poached trophy buck deer on an Army installation I patrolled.
We finally captured one of the group and he rolled over on the others of the party, fortunately.
Those fellas were an interstate poaching group working for a taxidermist.
The poachers were cutting the heads off the deer and leaving the rest.
They were equipped with night scopes, centerfire rifles, and good communications.
The court gave them prison time, including the taxidermist. They also faced federal weapon charges upon release.
When we were holding the one we caught, he was sitting in our interview room at HQ. He retained his cocky attitude and thought he was going to receive a citation and leave. I had the pleasure of informing him he was being transported to jail and that wiped the cocky smile off his face.

They use a helicopter?

 

[wmr89]

I'd like to think poaching is getting less prevalent, but that probably is just naive wishful thinking. When I hear about these kind of stories, it is usually from an older generation of hunter that grew up in a time where wildlife violations were treated like speeding violations. In some places, party hunting was legal until fairly recently. As long as there was a tag for each animal, no one cared. In hindsight, I'm not even 100% sure some if the violations I have heard about were illegal at the time.

Still, it has shocked me to casually hear about wildlife violations from people who are generally law abiding/rule following people. But I think, culturally, it was much different in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Some of that attitude has definitely carried over to the next generation of hunter.

 

[Steve300xcw]

This comparison is ignorant! The outcome of driving intoxicated can kill innocent people.

The getting away with it is one thing, but to tie it with drinking and driving just doesn’t sit right with me.

Kinda lookin for stuff to be offended about arent ya?

 

[Hoosker Doo]

This comparison is ignorant! The outcome of driving intoxicated can kill innocent people.

The getting away with it is one thing, but to tie it with drinking and driving just doesn’t sit right with me.

I thought it was a fair analogy. Yes, the consequences are devastating, but I would bet a considerable amount of money that more people I see throughout the day drive impaired than poach wildlife. I do work at a high school though, so hopefully that's not true for the rest of you...

 

[mt terry d]

The sad reality is until we have more game wardens in the field and poaching convictions start to come with some teeth people will always continue to cheat

I worked with a guy who would go duck hunting with his father-in-law
He'd brag about all the ducks he shot on the weekends.
"Father-in-law has the license/stamp and just likes to go and BS and
drink coffee. He lets me shoot his"


Father-in-law at the time was a MT game warden.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

The short answer to your question is yes. Poaching is wildly prevalent. All species, all states.

 

[flyfisher117]

It’s definitely more prevalent than people realize or want to admit.

I have ran into people doing shady shit and some of them I have questioned if they truly know what they are doing or if it’s just how dad/grandpa showed them so they think it’s normal.

I have also ran into people that no doubt know what they are doing and why they are shitbags.

 

[S.Clancy]

All you guys complaining about all the poaching, do you ever turn people in? I've called TIP-MONT several times over the yrs

 

[The Harbor Master]

All you guys complaining about all the poaching, do you ever turn people in? I've called TIP-MONT several times over the yrs

Short answer, yes. Long answer, when you meet someone in passing and only have a casual comment/conversation and maybe a first name if you're lucky, there's nothing to report.

If I have solid information I will report it, and have.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

This thread is depressing...

 

[The Harbor Master]

Me thinks you need a better class of friends

I hear ya, but these are no friends of mine. Like I said, aquaintences, customers, people I don't interact with often or by choice.

I'm a pretty approachable guy, I ask questions and genuinely show interest in people's stories. I think that makes the poaching types feel confident and ready to brag about their exploits, and I guess they think they're going to wow me or I'll be impressed. I'm not afraid to call it out though, and usually that catches them off guard.

 

[JREG19]

Animals do weird things to guys. I think poaching is probably less prevalent than it was as a percentage of "hunters." With so many guys in the woods, you're more likely to have some one see something and I'm sure that's a turn off. Also, with more guys in the woods, a smaller percentage of the people can make that decision and poach more animals than back in the day.

I had a coworker whos wife drew a cow tag here in Idaho in a unit I hunt. He kept telling me stupid stories about shooting into herds and not even checking for blood. Finally he comes to work and he's showing everybody a picture of a bull "he let his 7 year old shoot." I know the regs well enough that things werent adding up. I called IDFG annonomisly and the CO told me there's nothing he can do if he just lies to him. I show back up at the shop at the end of the day and there's 3 fish and game guys there to press him. I'm sure he just lied to him, but he was so scared he gave up hunting for as long as I worked with him, maybe longer idk.

Call fish and game

 

[Weldor]

The hard part about turning someone in, is you usually have to witness said act. I know in our state hearsay is not going to cut it.

 

[GetWestern]

If there is a lot of poaching being done by the average guy, it makes me wonder the ratio of the famous influencers doing it. Their incentive to poach and bend the rules are a lot greater for them especially if money is involved.

 

[The Harbor Master]

The hard part about turning someone in, is you usually have to witness said act. I know in our state hearsay is not going to cut it.

Yeah, "some guy told me" doesn't take an investigation very far... the time or two I've called I knew there wasn't much to go on, but hoped at least it put the guy on IDFG radar to maybe keep an eye on social media, other reports, etc.

 

[Pulleye16]

I don't condone poaching...but the amount of rules they have on the sport are getting ridiculous. Honestly, I bet most on here have "poached" and not known it...

Take MN turkey hunting. All up until a few years ago, it was legal to shoot a turkey with archery if you had a gun tag (it's usually legal to "down-grade" weaponary). But ONE year, they took that away! Never telling anyone. After complaining, I was able to get it switched back.

There's about 100 different set of laws in any given state just simply dealing with what type of land you are on. Why does the law change if I'm hunting the same state and county, but it differs if I'm on public, private, State forestry, federal land, county land BLM, private but walk-in public, etc.???

Then the state has early, late, normal, special, youth, women, and old-timer hunts that all differ.

Also, you have the fact that out-of-state hunts cost two arms and a leg. even some in-state hunts cost and arm and a leg. Hunting use to be for food and still is to some. Some people will "do what it takes" to get their food or $2k elk! Not saying it's right, but a lot of people will push the envelope when forking out that kind of cash.

Oh...and the entire state of MO poaches! All of them! They trespass 24/7. Shoot huge deer anytime of the year, day or night. Don't tag their kills. Shoot way over their allowed animals.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

The hard part about turning someone in, is you usually have to witness said act. I know in our state hearsay is not going to cut it.

So not poaching but I've called in a few DUI's and used to tell them I wanted to report anonymously. Ended up actually talking to someone on one of the calls that told me that if I state on the call that I'm willing to testify (and actually be willing to testify) that they'll chase it much more aggressively, something about an officer needing to witness a lane drift or weaving or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case with F&G and poaching violations as well, probably gives them a boost knowing they'll have a witness/witness statement to build the case.

 

[Shepherd]

I don't condone poaching...but the amount of rules they have on the sport are getting ridiculous. Honestly, I bet most on here have "poached" and not known it...

Take MN turkey hunting. All up until a few years ago, it was legal to shoot a turkey with archery if you had a gun tag (it's usually legal to "down-grade" weaponary). But ONE year, they took that away! Never telling anyone. After complaining, I was able to get it switched back.

There's about 100 different set of laws in any given state just simply dealing with what type of land you are on. Why does the law change if I'm hunting the same state and county, but it differs if I'm on public, private, State forestry, federal land, county land BLM, private but walk-in public, etc.???

Then the state has early, late, normal, special, youth, women, and old-timer hunts that all differ.

Also, you have the fact that out-of-state hunts cost two arms and a leg. even some in-state hunts cost and arm and a leg. Hunting use to be for food and still is to some. Some people will "do what it takes" to get their food or $2k elk! Not saying it's right, but a lot of people will push the envelope when forking out that kind of cash.

Oh...and the entire state of MO poaches! All of them! They trespass 24/7. Shoot huge deer anytime of the year, day or night. Don't tag their kills. Shoot way over their allowed animals.

You make some good points. While its always the hunters responsibility to legally follow game laws, it can be difficult and confusing at times to follow every law to a T - especially if you hunt in numerous states. The Fish and Game hotlines can be helpful if you get confused but mistakes still happen.

Another topic is what is poaching versus honestly just making a small mistake or oversight? Is anyone who breaks a hunting law a poacher? Or is a poacher someone who knows that he/she is doing is illegal and does it anyway? It can be a fine line. There are so many rules that it can be easy to overlook some small things - like not completely zipping up your gun case for example. This is a violation in some states.

 

[Brock A]

All you guys complaining about all the poaching, do you ever turn people in? I've called TIP-MONT several times over the yrs

I have turned several people in for trespassing (never caught anyone outright poaching) over the years in Eastern Washington. The last encounter I had in December, the dude and his buddy threatened me when I took a picture of his license plate. I reported him to the sheriff for that one.