Utah = 1,000+ Poaching Cases A Year

[ShootsManyBullets]

Stronger penalties are needed to deter these IDIOTS. Taking away hunting privelages is a waste of time for people who don't actually hunt legally with a license.

What on Earth drives people to do this? I'm trying to imagine their conversations an came up with this:

"Hey Larry let's go get hopped up on beer and painkillers and shoot some deer at night and out of season"
"Sounds like a good time Chuck! Lets take them to the taxi to mount and show all our friends how awesome we are."
"Only suckers buy tags and licenses."

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Any "Samson" quality Trophy should be a Lifetime ban, get caught again Prison. John

 

[ashersdad]

Any "Samson" quality Trophy should be a Lifetime ban, get caught again Prison. John

Exactly!!

 

[bigskyblueman]

Across the nation, these scoundrels take untold thousands of animals every year, I believe. Fill the jails with them.

 

[OriginalOscar]

Look forward to seeing their camp here in central Colorado next year!

Do people in CO hunt? Last time I visited it seemed like everyone was happy, hungry and reliving John Denver days of Rocky Mountain High

 

[Oak]

Do people in CO hunt? Last time I visited it seemed like everyone was happy, hungry and reliving John Denver days of Rocky Mountain High

Yuk, yuk, yuk! It never gets old!

 

[Zim]

I have no doubt the poaching trend in Utah is a direct result of SFW's "model" of wildlife conservation and control of the DOW. When the common man sees the writing on the wall at the Salt Palace year after year, what do you expect? And the poachers probably justify their actions as simply taking what was stolen from them.

Utah is reaping what they sowed.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Like this bill in WY?

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2015/Introduced/SF0108.pdf

Montana Wardens are already there. No entry into private land without probable cause that a violation occurred.

 

[hank4elk]

A daily occurance here in NM sad to say,trophy poacher,entitlement poachers,wonton waste poachers.

 

[antlerradar]

The cost in not just in the loss of wildlife. It is also access. As a landowner I deal with illegal slobs almost every year. I find evidence of an average of five illegal kills every year and the actual number is likely much higher. Dealing with the slobs is never fun. I know landowners that sell hunting rights to outfitters so they don't have to deal with this problem. Some outfitters provide a full time "rent a cop" to patrol your property. A big benefit to many landowners. Our place is not leased but we are very carful who we let on. When I was young anyone that asked could hunt. Every time we have tightened access it was because of some hunter behaving badly. One of the reasons I get on this sight is to interact with true sportsmen. If I didn't I would get a very jaded impression of hunters.
Antlerradar

 

[smarandr]

My fear is that what you see in Utah is probably a reflection of what happens in other states.

Yup. I have a friend that's an ID game warden and he figures for every two or three animals taken legally there's another one that's poached.

 

[nmelktrout]

Good points, guys. It certainly makes one cringe to think about the magnitude of poaching that goes on as well as the number of poaching incidents that are never discovered. Makes me sick...

 

[Zach]

The cost in not just in the loss of wildlife. It is also access. As a landowner I deal with illegal slobs almost every year. I find evidence of an average of five illegal kills every year and the actual number is likely much higher. Dealing with the slobs is never fun. I know landowners that sell hunting rights to outfitters so they don't have to deal with this problem. Some outfitters provide a full time "rent a cop" to patrol your property. A big benefit to many landowners. Our place is not leased but we are very carful who we let on. When I was young anyone that asked could hunt. Every time we have tightened access it was because of some hunter behaving badly. One of the reasons I get on this sight is to interact with true sportsmen. If I didn't I would get a very jaded impression of hunters.
Antlerradar

That's a 2 way street. I'm guessing there are plenty of LO's who never visit the meat market to buy beef because the store is open year around on their property.

 

[fowladdict]

Yup. I have a friend that's an ID game warden and he figures for every two or three animals taken legally there's another one that's poached.

My math is just a quick guesstimate off of the top of my head, but this would equal somewhere around 20,000 poached animals in Idaho. If he was being brutally honest that is a lot to take in. I would have guessed 1 in 15 animals. I generally thought that we hear more about poaching now because of social media, and honestly I think social media has become a tool in helping game officials find more poachers.

 

[trotsky]

Sad to say that the west is too big to ever catch all of these clowns. Add that to all of the other things that CO's have to deal with and you have a recipe for disaster. I get really sick of hearing how people hate game wardens because they can act like jerks. I could only imagine that doing their job for a while would make you a little jaded and distrustful to everyone. God knows I wouldn't want to deal with the crap they do

 

[smarandr]

My math is just a quick guesstimate off of the top of my head, but this would equal somewhere around 20,000 poached animals in Idaho. If he was being brutally honest that is a lot to take in. I would have guessed 1 in 15 animals. I generally thought that we hear more about poaching now because of social media, and honestly I think social media has become a tool in helping game officials find more poachers.

I hear you. I'm not sure where he's getting his numbers, and maybe he told me that on a day he was particularly frustrated, but I still think the problem is far worse than we'd like to believe:

http://archives.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007149735#.VMkJii4XPpc

The Department of Fish and Game admits that it has only a vague idea of how many game animals are killed illegally.

“It’s so hard to get a handle on it,” said Clearwater Region Conservation Officer Mark Hill, who’s in the process of creating a computer program to produce a map of unlawful wildlife harvests throughout the state.


However, Hill said, that information will probably understate the true extent of the problem. He cited a study of deer ecology in south-central Oregon that incidentally collected data showing more deer killed illegally during the study than were killed legally. From June 2005 to September 2011, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife radio-collared 591 mule deer. During the study, 216 deer were found dead. Of the 118 animals with a known cause of mortality, 49 were killed by hunters (other main causes of death were 38 deer killed by predators and 21 by motor vehicles).

Of the hunted deer, 23 were killed in season and 26 were killed out of season (study author DeWaine Jackson cautions that those determinations were made from evidence found at the site, not from convictions). The study did not address other illegal methods that may have been used.

 

[fowladdict]

http://archives.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007149735#.VMkJii4XPpc

uhhh....maybe the warden that went to the press and said poachers kill more game in Idaho than wolves wasn't all that far off in certain regions of the state.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Camera phones and technology have to be helping to catch these clowns.

 

[OriginalOscar]

Camera phones and technology have to be helping to catch these clowns.

Need drones.

 

[RobG]

Like this bill in WY?

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2015/Introduced/SF0108.pdf

I must be missing something if you, Buzz and Randy are against it, but what is wrong with requiring probable cause before entering private property? Don't police have to obey that because of the fourth amendment?