Is poaching truly this prevalent?

[backcountry_hunter]

Very prevalent, now more than ever. It’s not a bunch of poor rednecks with a case of beer getting a deer for winter anymore though…

Who the heck poaches ducks to a felony level anyway? That’s a special kind of stupid: https://www.themeateater.com/conser...men-charged-after-allegedly-killing-223-ducks

 

[Chris in TN]

Very prevalent, now more than ever. It’s not a bunch of poor rednecks with a case of beer getting a deer for winter anymore though…

Who the heck poaches ducks to a felony level anyway? That’s a special kind of stupid: https://www.themeateater.com/conser...men-charged-after-allegedly-killing-223-ducks

I just want to say that I used to hunt ducks and $25/bird is probably a bargain. lol.

 

[Rich M]

$5,600 to go shoot 100+ ducks each. How much does it cost to go to Argentina? Those guys got a good deal.

We had someone do that down here - that's what he told the judge, the birds were there and it is cheaper than traveling out of the country.

 

[KurtR]

And all the southern people are crying about flooded corn these boys are stopping the migration them selves bet the dog had fun

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

In Iowa it was bad in the past during gun 1 and 2 seasons. Party hunting is a legal tradition during these seasons and landowner and family member tags used to get abused. They've made some law changes to help ferret this out, including a $1,600 fine for even having someone else's tag on your person. In addition, to be eligible for a landowner tag, you have to submit an attestation for approval with land ownership requirements. These can help control people buying licenses and filling them for others and non-land owners buying illegal tags. However, these don't deter the scum bags that don't buy tags in the first place.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

keep in mind the $5600 is likely only restitution back to the state for the resource lost. I.e. they placed the value of the 200+ ducks at 5600 but the couple likely still has their fines for convictions looming and court costs and lawyer fees assuming they're fighting the felony side of it. I would bet by the end of this they won't feel like they got a bargain

More broadly speaking though my original point was, I can mentally comprehend why big game hunters poach. You put a grip n grin on the gram and everyone will assume you had a tag. I've been asked for proof of tag far less times at taxidermists than I would have thought so putting something on the wall is feasible. Especially fi seeking endorsements from companies for equipment or trips it all disgustingly makes sense (in a sense).

Killing 60+ ducks in a mornign between 2 guys doesn't other than a personal vendetta against watefowl. You xan't exactly throw up a kill pic of 60+ ducks with 2 people without others taking notice, and eventually game and fish. You can't broadcast it amongst friends as eventually it'll leak (we're fairly decent at policing our own). You cna't market youreself with that kind of kill to companies, as far as I can tell theres literally no benefit other than "just the thrill" or am I missing something?

 

[Rich M]

keep in mind the $5600 is likely only restitution back to the state for the resource lost. I.e. they placed the value of the 200+ ducks at 5600 but the couple likely still has their fines for convictions looming and court costs and lawyer fees assuming they're fighting the felony side of it. I would bet by the end of this they won't feel like they got a bargain

More broadly speaking though my original point was, I can mentally comprehend why big game hunters poach. You put a grip n grin on the gram and everyone will assume you had a tag. I've been asked for proof of tag far less times at taxidermists than I would have thought so putting something on the wall is feasible. Especially fi seeking endorsements from companies for equipment or trips it all disgustingly makes sense (in a sense).

Killing 60+ ducks in a mornign between 2 guys doesn't other than a personal vendetta against watefowl. You xan't exactly throw up a kill pic of 60+ ducks with 2 people without others taking notice, and eventually game and fish. You can't broadcast it amongst friends as eventually it'll leak (we're fairly decent at policing our own). You cna't market youreself with that kind of kill to companies, as far as I can tell theres literally no benefit other than "just the thrill" or am I missing something?

You're not a duck hunter. Not many days where you can shoot a limit, never mind getting covered in birds and shooting 60. I've been duck hunting for a long time, 45+ years and don't know if I've ever been on a hunt where I could shoot 60 birds.

Some of our best has been 4 guys doing grip & grin with 4 limits of 6 and being real happy about it.

In my case - have always needed to put license and or tag no. on anything left at taxi.

 

[OneGunTex]

Wow 9 pages I'm late to the party.
But short answer is yes, there are many places where culturally fish & game regulations are treated like suggestions.
I also agree with the folks saying that a lot of this comes from a time when there weren't the same limits on hunting as there are today. And so people that have always driven deer with dogs, or always shot as many ducks as flew into the decoys, continue to do so. And that's how their kids and grandkids grew up doing it, in parts of the country that haven't fully made it into the 21st century.

 

[OneGunTex]

Very prevalent, now more than ever. It’s not a bunch of poor rednecks with a case of beer getting a deer for winter anymore though…

Who the heck poaches ducks to a felony level anyway? That’s a special kind of stupid: https://www.themeateater.com/conser...men-charged-after-allegedly-killing-223-ducks

I mean, I probably have met some guys who could wind up in that article.
223 is a lot, but have definitely heard stories where "they just kept coming so we just kept shooting!"
Same goes for doves, and legal shooting hours. I think nearly every morning/evening I go out, I'll hear a group not be able to hold their horses and open up a few minutes early. Or keep shooting after the clock runs out. I don't know what it is about human nature, but when that thrill comes on it can be hard for some people to stop.

And most people I know wouldn't call it "poaching" - that term is reserved for people who shoot big animals off other people's property.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

I mean, I probably have met some guys who could wind up in that article.
223 is a lot, but have definitely heard stories where "they just kept coming so we just kept shooting!"

Hardest day I ever had in the marsh, we caught a migration when the Pintail limit was 1 bird a few years ago. Wife, youngest son, and myself limited out in Pintail obviously in the first split second when the shooting time alarm went off. After that we had a flock of 20-50 birds or so descend from the sky and hit the decoys probably about every 60 seconds, tops, for the next few hours. For the first hour or so I eyed everything coming in, sometimes there'd be a few Widgeon mixed in but by the time I saw them and tried to coach the wife and little big kid to shoot the correct ducks they were passing by and too late. We got so desensitized we had a couple solo redheads just fly by and we all just looked at them and watched them go lol. After about an hour I got tired of it and we just kicked back and watched birds and got cell phone videos and such until we got bored. Dog was super pissed.

Same general area there's a group campsite where a lot of duck hunters and bay hunters setup camp and a group of probably 15 of us were hanging out around somebody's campfire and a young dude started telling a story if him and a buddy shooting a couple hundred Wood ducks. He said they just kept shooting and just kept coming like you mentioned. They finally ran out of shells and started hauling them back one limit at a time. Everybody was just kinda standing there in disbelief... He said after probably a dozen trips or so the GW checked them with their limit and asked about where they were hunting and they only had a limit with them so cleared them and they went back to their truck and left without retrieving the rest of the dead birds. Everybody just turned and walked away and left him standing there by somebody else's campfire all by himself, it was super awkward.