Is poaching truly this prevalent?

$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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
I say that having spent 30+ years hunting waterfowl in multiple providences down to the south. Chased the migration several years from August Canadas through January flooded timber. Also spent a fair amount of time guiding. Been on several 60+ bird shoots but it never crossed our minds to continue beyond our appropriate limit. We were just happy to fill..... Certainly never been tempted to cross into felony level poaching to kill a few extra. That's not me being self-righteous, Lord knows I have my faults but On big shoots down to solo or a pair of us when we hit our limit, we were just so happy to be at limit I can't think of a single time where anyone thought " we should keep shooting"

To each their own though.
 
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.
Anyone with an ounce of character would have turned their poaching asses in. These stories will never change if people aren't concerned enough to contact LEO. And personally I don't want to hear sh!t about someone being called 'a rat.' These scumbags need to be turned in.
 
I say that having spent 30+ years hunting waterfowl in multiple providences down to the south. Chased the migration several years from August Canadas through January flooded timber. Also spent a fair amount of time guiding. Been on several 60+ bird shoots but it never crossed our minds to continue beyond our appropriate limit. We were just happy to fill..... Certainly never been tempted to cross into felony level poaching to kill a few extra. That's not me being self-righteous, Lord knows I have my faults but On big shoots down to solo or a pair of us when we hit our limit, we were just so happy to be at limit I can't think of a single time where anyone thought " we should keep shooting"

To each their own though.
You’ve had some real hunts. I grew up on eastern seaboard and often hunted all day for a single shot opportunity. Used to drive 70 miles one way to shoot a lone black duck or canada goose and was happy to do it.

FL had significant flocks of pintails and widgeon and teal back in the 90s. A real treat after where i came from. Now we have to draw permits and it is hard to do for a weekend every couple years.

As you said to each their own.
 
Anyone with an ounce of character would have turned their poaching asses in. These stories will never change if people aren't concerned enough to contact LEO. And personally I don't want to hear sh!t about someone being called 'a rat.' These scumbags need to be turned in.
How do you know if it is even true?

Most stories folks tell me like that are pure bs. Catching 100 15# fish (limit 1 per person) and just loading the boat til it almost sunk. 200-inch bucks, stuff like that.

You gotta pick your battles. Choose your effort.

Judge aint gonna see the case if all you have is a campfireside story. There needs to be proof.
 
I said it the day I started and said it the day I retired 24 years later—lots of job security being a game warden :(
When we started hunting SE MT I witnessed a lot of bad crap. But we had no cell phones, internet, etc. Had to drive 45 minutes to use a phone. Now, I wish I would have.

BTW, just busting your chops, but you need to pick up the pace a bit on 2026.
 
Anyone with an ounce of character would have turned their poaching asses in. These stories will never change if people aren't concerned enough to contact LEO. And personally I don't want to hear sh!t about someone being called 'a rat.' These scumbags need to be turned in.
1) There's zero chance anything would come from it being he's telling a story of who knows how old it isnor even if it's true.
2) I used to report all kinds of things and nothing ever happened. Watched a guy road hunting for two hours and called repeatedly, nothing. Guys walking oversized fish all night long to coolers in their truck, nothing. Etc ..
3) A couple bad experiences with GW's ruined it for me, I know it's sad but I mind my own business now.
 
1) There's zero chance anything would come from it being he's telling a story of who knows how old it isnor even if it's true.
2) I used to report all kinds of things and nothing ever happened. Watched a guy road hunting for two hours and called repeatedly, nothing. Guys walking oversized fish all night long to coolers in their truck, nothing. Etc ..
3) A couple bad experiences with GW's ruined it for me, I know it's sad but I mind my own business now.
Of course, I get that.
A second hand story is what it is, my point is that IF this stuff (nine pages worth) is happening and a guy can actually see and hear it, document it and turn these scumbags in! In a world of iphones, it shouldn't be that hard.
 
How do you know if it is even true?

Most stories folks tell me like that are pure bs. Catching 100 15# fish (limit 1 per person) and just loading the boat til it almost sunk. 200-inch bucks, stuff like that.

You gotta pick your battles. Choose your effort.

Judge aint gonna see the case if all you have is a campfireside story. There needs to be proof.
I'm sure there are some bs and some exaggerated stories, but the 223 ducks article is proof that it happens more often than you think. Just think about how many times people get away with it. You think it's not possible to even kill that many ducks, and here is the example where they got caught.

Poaching is not as prevalent as folks think. It has come down to everyone thinking every large buck or bull is poached.

It is a cop-out, excuse for those not willing to put in the work.
I think you're wrong here because most of the stories and examples aren't just big rack bulls and bucks. It's does, cows, fish, and other examples that have nothing to do with bragging.

I've found spikes and forked bucks skinned out in the woods of our wma's that have antler restrictions. I've met people working on the road who have stories with obvious illegal activity involved. Numerous second-hand stories of using a rifle in muzzy season, crossing a fence for a turkey, etc.
I killed a buck in a wma many years ago, one of the first I killed on a wma. I wasn't familiar with getting the jaw out at that time. On the way to the check station, I passed the warden heading out and waved him down to show him the buck. He turned around and followed me to the check station and showed me how to get the jaw out. When he ran the jaw tool into the deer's mouth, corn fell out. I was shocked and like "oh chit". He's going to think I'm baiting(I wasn't). The buck was in cruise mode and could have came off private a ways away, but this was before any baiting was legal in ms. He said, "you're going to have to show me where you killed this". I gave him the spot, and I don't know whatever came of it.
Of course, I get that.
A second hand story is what it is, my point is that IF this stuff (nine pages worth) is happening and a guy can actually see and hear it, document it and turn these scumbags in! In a world of iphones, it shouldn't be that hard.
I think a lot of the stories are older stories with no actionable evidence. Thats why people are willing to share them in the first place.
 
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