Is poaching truly this prevalent?

[JeffRaines]

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

When I first started hunting, I had a coworker offer me to come over to their house and shoot a deer. He claimed they came up all the time, and if I waited until the night fell they were easy pickings and I’d get my first deer in one night. This was exactly my response. Dude, if I shoot something illegally how can I proudly display it?

I had other people I worked with that I heard(second hand) would harvest bull elk in a spike only unit and remove points to make them spikes.

Yet another guy I worked with at a different place bragged about how they’d drive around in a pickup truck after midnight and shoot elk and deer with bows off of farmers properties. Dude even said they’d wear eyepatches over one eye to keep it dark adapted. You’re this interested in doing the shit illegally, why not put that effort toward doing it legally?

At more than one place I’ve heard of people keeping an affidavit on them so they could hunt their wife/kids tags. I checked on this afterwards and of course it’s illegal.

Listen, I’m not perfect or anything… and if someone were poaching because they didn’t have food or money to buy food… I still don’t necessarily agree with it but it’s a lot easier to look past. None of these guys were that, all were gainfully employed and paid fairly for the work they do.

 

[Bachto]

How many DUI arrests involved no accident?
How many of those killed or injured were the impaired driver with no others involved?

Regardless of whether one has alcohol in his system while causing injury or property damage to others they are responsible
Just having alcohol in one’s system
and not harming anyone else and being punished is pre-crime.

There were 44,447 gun related deaths in America, 2024

Oh, you have a gun in your possession? Gee, you might kill someone. We need a law. MAGO ( Mothers Against Gun Owners) can lead the charge.

No victim= No crime

You can just say you have a DUI without typing this whole thing out.

 

[Deadspace]

You can just say you have a DUI without typing this whole thing out.

I’d say multiple

 

[WoodlandCritter]

You can just say you have a DUI without typing this whole thing out.

Its not just a DUI, it was a valant act of civil disobedience against an unjust infringement on the civil rights of all Americans. (The right to t-bone a family of 4)

 

[mt terry d]

Nice try not really
70 years old. None. Ever.

I'm fine if you'd like to make it a hanging offense if you cause an accident
while DUI. Or drawn & quartered in the public square.
I don't care one way or the other. But if someone isn't harming
someone else or their property it's not violating any natural law or anyone
else's rights, just an arbitrary regulation.

Penalizing for pre-crime is pre-crime, you can't pick and choose.
Well you can if you want to be intellectually dishonest.

 

[Smithb9841]

Nice try not really
70 years old. None. Ever.

I'm fine if you'd like to make it a hanging offense if you cause an accident
while DUI. Or drawn & quartered in the public square.
I don't care one way or the other. But if someone isn't harming
someone else or their property it's not violating any natural law or anyone
else's rights, just an arbitrary regulation.

Penalizing for pre-crime is pre-crime, you can't pick and choose.
Well you can if you want to be intellectually dishonest.

So if you drive a 110mph in the wrong lane it’s ok as long as you don’t hit someone?

 

[WoodlandCritter]

So if you drive a 110mph in the wrong lane it’s ok as long as you don’t hit someone?

A-ok. Just like the "I'm-not-hitting-you" bit is fine because you're not violating the rights of a sovereign citizen

 

[supersonic_g&t]

Nice try not really
70 years old. None. Ever.

I'm fine if you'd like to make it a hanging offense if you cause an accident
while DUI. Or drawn & quartered in the public square.
I don't care one way or the other. But if someone isn't harming
someone else or their property it's not violating any natural law or anyone
else's rights, just an arbitrary regulation.

Penalizing for pre-crime is pre-crime, you can't pick and choose.
Well you can if you want to be intellectually dishonest.

So someone decides to play Russian roulette, but they're pointing the gun at you instead of themself. They put a round in, spin the cylinder, aim at you, and pull the trigger.

Is it correct to say that you wouldn't have a problem with someone pulling the trigger on you as long as they were treated harshly if they did take you out?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Is this thread about poaching or driving?

 

[HunterGatherer]

Poaching is almost certainly just as common as drinking and driving. “ I didn’t hurt anyone so it’s no big deal” is probably the same excuse for both offenses. When they collar animals, often more than 50% of them are verifiably poached. So poaching is probably more common than legally taken game animals. Don’t believe me ? Do a little googling yourself.

If enforcement was better (funded), 1/2 the people or more that you know would have lost their hunting licenses already. Let that sink in for a minute.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Poaching is almost certainly just as common as drinking and driving. “ I didn’t hurt anyone so it’s no big deal” is probably the same excuse for both offenses. When they collar animals, often more than 50% of them are verifiably poached. So poaching is probably more common than legally taken game animals. Don’t believe me ? Do a little googling yourself.

If enforcement was better (funded), 1/2 the people or more that you know would have lost their hunting licenses already. Let that sink in for a minute.

I don’t think 1/2 the people are poaching. It’s far more likely, as with most criminal violations, that a relatively small percentage commits most crimes.

 

[HunterGatherer]

I don’t think 1/2 the people are poaching. It’s far more likely, as with most criminal violations, that a relatively small percentage commits most crimes.

It’s probably true that there’s a smaller percentage of people committing the egregious violations but there’s a fairly high percentage that bend the rules just a little bit here and there, either knowingly or unknowingly.

Maybe the combined number isn’t 50% but I’ll bet it’s much more prevalent than most people think or are willing to admit.

 

[One300wsm]

Poaching is almost certainly just as common as drinking and driving. “ I didn’t hurt anyone so it’s no big deal” is probably the same excuse for both offenses. When they collar animals, often more than 50% of them are verifiably poached. So poaching is probably more common than legally taken game animals. Don’t believe me ? Do a little googling yourself.

If enforcement was better (funded), 1/2 the people or more that you know would have lost their hunting licenses already. Let that sink in for a minute.

I’m going to call on the collar statistics.
If poachers are that lucky or that good to shoot 50% of the collared animals they are missing their calling.

 

[One300wsm]

Poaching is almost certainly just as common as drinking and driving. “ I didn’t hurt anyone so it’s no big deal” is probably the same excuse for both offenses. When they collar animals, often more than 50% of them are verifiably poached. So poaching is probably more common than legally taken game animals. Don’t believe me ? Do a little googling yourself.

If enforcement was better (funded), 1/2 the people or more that you know would have lost their hunting licenses already. Let that sink in for a minute.

That’s when people poach when they are drinking and driving. Your statistics should show 50% of the poachers drink while driving. That would be more reasonable why they are shooting the animals with the collar.

 

[HunterGatherer]

I’m going to call on the collar statistics.
If poachers are that lucky or that good to shoot 50% of the collared animals they are missing their calling.

This is why I said “ don’t believe me ? Do a little googling yourself “. Because I’m not interested in taking the time to link all the studies for people who don’t care to do their own digging. Here’s a quick example…




The percentage of poached animals in studies varies drastically based on the specific area but many areas do indeed show that a higher number of animals are taken illegally than legally

 

[One300wsm]

This is why I said “ don’t believe me ? Do a little googling yourself “. Because I’m not interested in taking the time to link all the studies for people who don’t care to do their own digging. Here’s a quick example…


View attachment 1066938

The percentage of poached animals in studies varies drastically based on the specific area but many areas do indeed show that a higher number of animals are taken illegally than legally

This study is over 20+ years old, when deer populations were higher than today and a lot more hunters. Hunters actually were hunting for food not for fun. What areas did they do the study? Poverty areas? Kentucky is a poverty state, unless they did the study in Lexington or Louisville.
Good chance some poor father shot it for food. Guess we should outlaw vehicles since they killed more than hunters and poachers combined statistically, damn drunk drivers.
These statistics are pretty much like I said !!!
Statistics,
Year 2000

• Estimated Population: Roughly 30 to 38 million deer across the United States.
• Harvest Trends: Nationwide, hunters harvested a large volume of does, as state wildlife agencies pushed to curb exploding herds, bringing populations down from peak numbers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Year 2026

• Estimated Population: The population sits at approximately 30 to 32 million whitetails nationwide.
• State-Specific Numbers: The highest concentrations remain in Texas (approx. 5.2 million) and Michigan (approx. 2 million). Virginia's local whitetail population hovers around 1 million.

Looks like poaching has taken its toll on the whitetail populations .

 

[mt terry d]

So someone decides to play Russian roulette, but they're pointing the gun at you instead of themself. They put a round in, spin the cylinder, aim at you, and pull the trigger.

Is it correct to say that you wouldn't have a problem with someone pulling the trigger on you as long as they were treated harshly if they did take you out?

No, not correct.
I wouldn't allow someone to play russian roulette with me.

But that's just me.
You do you. Call 911.

 

[WoodlandCritter]

No, not correct.
I wouldn't allow someone to play russian roulette with me.

But that's just me.
You do you. Call 911.

As long as your ok with going to jail when you stop them. Them pointing a gun at you and pulling the trigger on an empty chamber is a victimless crime. If you lay hands on them for it, that's assault. They're not harming you or your property.

 

[HunterGatherer]

This study is over 20+ years old, when deer populations were higher than today and a lot more hunters. Hunters actually were hunting for food not for fun. What areas did they do the study? Poverty areas? Kentucky is a poverty state, unless they did the study in Lexington or Louisville.
Good chance some poor father shot it for food. Guess we should outlaw vehicles since they killed more than hunters and poachers combined statistically, damn drunk drivers.
These statistics are pretty much like I said !!!
Statistics,
Year 2000

• Estimated Population: Roughly 30 to 38 million deer across the United States.
• Harvest Trends: Nationwide, hunters harvested a large volume of does, as state wildlife agencies pushed to curb exploding herds, bringing populations down from peak numbers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Year 2026

• Estimated Population: The population sits at approximately 30 to 32 million whitetails nationwide.
• State-Specific Numbers: The highest concentrations remain in Texas (approx. 5.2 million) and Michigan (approx. 2 million). Virginia's local whitetail population hovers around 1 million.

Looks like poaching has taken its toll on the whitetail populations .

There’s so much wrong with your logic here that it’s hardly worth responding to but The idea that a 25 year old study is irrelevant to poaching as a general trend make no sense. You also seem to be implying that it’s okay for poor people to poach and that it’s okay to poach in general because it’s not having an effect on the animal populations. It’s an odd perspective to put it lightly.

There’s a mountain of evidence that poaching is quite prevalent- both in the past as well as the present. Just look at how many people in this thread and others have mentioned reporting poaching violations and nothing was ever done about it. I’ve had several similar experiences. None of those violations show up in any stats, let alone all the violations that no one witnesses. I stand by my original point that poaching is more prevalent than most people realize. We’ll never know the exact numbers but it’s pretty obvious if you look around a little bit.

 

[Slickhill]

If I own 6400 contiguous acres, that’s 10 square miles and just a nice round number to work with, there will be whitetail deer that are born and die of old age inside that property without ever leaving the boundary.

Say on this theoretical ranch I don’t allow anyone but myself and my son to hunt.

If we don’t exceed the state’s allowable bag limit does it really matter if its technically deer season or is it still poaching?

Why is it a big deal to have a plug in your shotgun when dove hunting, especially if you quit at the limit anyway? Plug laws came about in part due to market hunting of waterfowl, I can’t recall seeing doves in my local grocery store lately.

In some places legal shooting time is when you are able to see without artificial light, in others it’s to the second on a synchronized watch and a minute on the wrong side will get you ticketed, (I’ve watched a friend get written for shooting one minute past legal time while dove hunting).

Like many things in life I think the poaching issue is more gray than black and white. Some things feel pretty petty when you really think about them and seem like there’s likely better things game department employees could be spending time on.