Poachers in the family
Anonymous
11/3/04 12:32pm
Ive got to get this off my chest. Im from a family of poachers. My grandpa and all my uncles buy northeastern tags and hunt southeastern. They also will shoot two deer and have an other person tag it. They have never shot more deer than they have tags but it still bugs me. I cant turn them in cause they are in the family and every one would hate me but I just had to say something
18,321
there is another guy i know from my hometown that has been busted more that once and he owns this bar in town and he has got three of the biggest mule deer you have ever seen hanging on his wall, i know darn well he didn't kill them legally, i have watched him hunt before from a distance and i know first hand all he does is drive around, and you are going to tell me that he has killed not one but three huge mulies while driving around, i think not! it absolutely drives me crazy when they do these things and then mount them and try to pass them off for legal, fair chase game.
I've had the samething happen to me but not with big game but it sucks because all it takes is for you to be with your buds out hunting and them poach somehting any you all get caughtt not just him. I know if tonz of my friend who have poached one time or another and if i ever caught them in teh act i wold have to turn them in. Is ther some kind of a anomanise (sp) turn in so they don't knwo who did it?
Well, we got the damn thing in the truck and back to town where my dad "threw" both my friend and the buck out in my buddies front yard, yelling at him the whole time about going to jail, losing his truck and license, and so on. I just sat there the whole time thinking "My dad is NEVER taking me hunting again" and wondering if he would live through this.
Well, although it was probably the scariest hunting trip my father was ever on, he half-heartedly joked about that day up until his death last year. I can tell you this much though, although we continued to hunt together every year thereafter, my father NEVER allowed me to take any of my friends with us again.
My father was a good man who loved to hunt and hated poachers. I still have pangs of regret for putting him in that situation in the first place and because of that I turn in anyone that I discover poaching. It's the least I can do for my father....and myself.
As a side note, that buddy of mine ended getting busted poaching just a couple years ago and spent time in lock-up, lost his rig, gun, and hunting rights for a LONG time. I guess some people are slow learners.
chitty luck i must say! we were out elk hunting one time, in a special limited quota area that was known to produced some huge elk. anyways my dads hunting buddy had shot an enormous bull one morning, later to find it gross scored at 386 and some change. anyways on our way back to camp we were coming across this sage flat that filtered out from the black timber and into the lower elevations. out in the middle of this flat there was a coyote running at full boar trying to get back to the timber, my dads hunting buddy got out of the truck and let his son get out. the son wanted to shoot the doggy so his dad said fine and he pulled out his dads rifle and set up on the coyote. after a few seconds my dad realized something out of the oridinary, the coyote had a four foot tail and he was a super tan coyote. and then it sank in, wait a minute this is no coyote, it is a mountain lion, the lion perched himself up on a rock outcropping and sat there for a minute. my dads hunting buddy told the kid to not shoot, because noone had a tag, needless to say, he was not forceful enough with his plea and the kid shot. luckly he missed and the lion got away uninjured, but i will tell you one thing, my dads heart and dads hunting buddies heart skipped a few beats.
sounds like your dad was a good man, and we all make honest mistakes sometimes. 99% of the time the kid would have missed that deer, like say if he really wanted to shoot it, legally! but it is those times when we really don't want to hit something that we do. example, this deer season my brother in law was set up on a so so 4pt. buck, it was going to take a good shot for him to hit the deer. straight up a hill at probably 450 yards. he shot and hit the deer and after all was said and done he was mad at himself for shooting something smaller than he really wanted. the only thing i could say was this, never attempt to shoot at something you don't fully intend to hit. because it is those times when you will hit it. this is not intended to be a lecture, just a line or two to show that i understand the luck that some people have.
On a side note, just read an article about cell phone use while out hunting. Used to be a mortal sin to carry a phone but now the various Fish and Game departments are really liking it throughout the country. Seems that ethical hunters and fishermen have been calling in violations that they witness while out in the field. Numerous states have noted an increase in the amount of arrests AND convictions for poaching. I've never carried my cell in the field before but now I may start to rethink that.
I know how you feel, I have a friend who has probably killed the most deer out of everyone I know because he usually gets at least three per year by tagging them with his dad's, mom's and his own tag. To tell you the truth, I would turn in someone I don't like because Utah gives some pretty sweet compensation for tips that lead to convictions. But friends and or family, I would probably stop hunting with them. You can live without hunting, but you can't live without family and friends.
=D>
My guess is that they didn't report that to the authorities, though they should have. Since they talked to them directly, had vehicle descriptions, etc. there probably would have been a great chance of catching them!
Arizona Game and Fish Dept. just recently sent out an email survey on poaching, asking if we had ever witnessed it, and if so if we turned them in. If not, they were asking why not.
I would andnot just for some points or tag but the fact that being with the person at the time of incident and not reprting it is the same as being involved in the poaching according to most Fish and Game agenices.
I do have a good friend who I question on his hunting ethics because I dont think he is legit on some of the animals he has taken. I would love to take him out here in the west sometime but avoid it by all means because I cant trust his actions in the field.
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Do it annonymously, you are only enableling them by not saying anything and they are slapping you in the face and infringing on your rights and hunting future. =;
If they want to poach that's their business and their consequences, but doing it with other family around should not be tolerated.
Just remember this.....you are an accessorie if you in camp and the sh*t hits the fan. :nono:
Exactly
am I missing something? (???)