Utah County men charged in poaching 18 deer

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6478145

SPRINGVILLE, Utah (AP) -- Four Utah County men are facing 14 felony counts in the poaching of 18 mule deer in Juab County.

State officials say it's one of the largest poaching cases in recent years. DWR conservation officer Jay Topham says they were first alerted to this poaching problem when sportsmen started finding the deer carcasses.

A two year investigation led the DWR to the home of Rex Powell in Utah County. There they found sets of antlers throughout the home.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources on Wednesday displayed 18 sets of antlers taken after a search warrant was served. Seven of the antlers are considered trophy-size under state law.

Three of the men are each charged with multiple third-degree felony counts of wanton destruction of protected wildlife. A fourth man faces one count.

The restitution value of each of the trophy-size antlers is $8,000 apiece.

They say at least 15 of the antlers come from deer poached in the Vernon hunting area in Juab County, an area that is limited to hunters so the bucks can grown into trophy deer.
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bigbuck92
Filthy piece of scum
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AGCHAWK
Get a rope!
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AntlersOutWest
I hope they throw the books at them.. Thats a shame..
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NotEnufTags
What a bunch of pathetic losers. It makes me so mad. So many legit hunters scout bucks like these never to see them on the hunt. Then to find out they were poached by a few jerks that couldn't hunt the way everyone else does. In the paper this mornig I read that the draw for the vernon unit will be decreased by 18 tags. Possibly more if more poached antler sets are discovered from this group of jerks. I feel bad for teveland who drew for the vernon this year. I'm sure there are still plenty of big ones out there but there is at least 6 over 24" and one over 30" that he won't have the chance to go after.

The article in the paper said that one of the key peices of evidence against these jerks came from sportsmen who had filmed a few of the bucks shortly before the carcasses were found. Kudos to them. I hope none of you ever have to use the awesome scouting photos you post here as evidence agianst poachers. Dang it makes me mad that they have made the odds worse for the Vernon. The odds are difficult enough without something like this happening.

Throw the book at them and I hope it hurts.
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Default Avatar
:222 :333 I am Pi***d off. The area they were caught is the same area me and WildAntlers and Antler 08 shed hunt, also know the one guy who did it. Me and WildAntlers on a shed hunting trip there seen two of the bucks they poached . We drove up a canyon and seen some crows and eagles. We hicked up the ridge to seen what was dead, to behold two bucks dead under a cedar tree, looked like they wre dragged there stacked bye each other. Thought at first they may have died sparing, but two weeks later I went back out to find the carcass still there but skull plates cut off. Now I know what happened. :>/ I am sooooo mad, they were pretty nice bucks, sh*tty deal, hope they get everything they deserve coming to them.
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