DOW makes strides against poaching
By By DAVE BUCHANAN The Daily Sentinel
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Wildlife poaching is one of those problems everyone talks about but for which seemingly no one has a solution.
At least until now.
Wildlife law enforcement officers across the West puzzle over methods to stop the illegal take of wildlife, but strapped with limited manpower expected to cover thousands of square miles, it’s rare that poachers are caught in the act.
Instead, all you hear are the reports every spring of antler hunters, ranchers and hikers finding headless carcasses.
“Poachers take just the heads, and in some cases only the antlers, that’s all they’re interested in,” said John Bredehoft, the Division of Wildlife’s chief law enforcement officer, during a presentation last week to the Colorado Wildlife Commission.
And unless you can catch someone actually killing a deer, elk or turkey, or can find someone who saw the act and is willing to speak up, getting a prosecution is difficult.
Don’t start with the “but a real sportsman...” stuff. A real sportsman might report a poacher, but even “real” sportsmen usually aren’t out late at night in the middle of winter, which is when some of the biggest elk and deer are killed.
The Division of Wildlife last year initiated a special deterrent program aimed at stopping winter poaching along the Colorado-Utah border, an isolated area where the illegal take of wildlife has long been a problem.
The program, according to Bredehoft, included not only stepped-up patrols but also an increase in public education through newspaper articles, radio and TV spots and highly-visible billboards, including several in the Grand Junction area.
“We decided to emphasize deterrence by increasing our own visibility and making it known we would be patrolling the area,” Bredehoft told the wildlife commission.
According to chief investigator Glenn Smith, by the end of the winter program, 65 DOW officers led by DOW investigator Eric Schaller had invested more than 4,000 hours, driven more than 50,000 miles, covered 12,000 square miles, made more than 800 personal contacts with hunters and other recreationists and documented 41 violations, a 5-percent rate.
Of those 41 cases, six resulted in penalties for illegal possession of big game and nine are unresolved.
“We had been getting reports of headless carcasses found in winter range, suspicious activity and possible trophy poaching taking place,” Smith told the commission. “During the winter of 2002-2003, more than 60 headless carcasses were found in just two counties in western Colorado.
“Last year, after we initiated our deterrence program, less than 15 carcasses were reported across the Western Slope.”
Several poaching cases were solved because citizens knew the DOW was out patrolling, including one case near Naturita where a DOW officer had been tipped off about a possible spotlighting operation.
Having already been given the vehicle description, the DOW officer was surprised to see the vehicle ahead of him. The officer followed at a distance and watched as the truck’s occupants spotlighted and shot two bucks.
In another case, where five headless deer carcasses were found near Rangely, a tip from a citizen led to the arrest of a Washing man on charges of willful destruction of wildlife.
“For whatever reasons, we had fewer headless carcasses found than in other years,” Smith said. “We really can’t tell if it was us making all those contacts or not but at least it was something positive.”
The reward given through the Operation Game Thief program was increased from $250 to $500 for the duration of the anti-poaching program, which ran November through February.
“We informed the OGT board that maybe it’s time to increase the reward and now it’s $500 for all big-game year-round,” Smith said.
He said the program was judged a success and likely wil be repeated this coming winter.
“We’re not sure what form it will take, but you can be sure we’ll be out there,” Smith said.
By By DAVE BUCHANAN The Daily Sentinel
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Wildlife poaching is one of those problems everyone talks about but for which seemingly no one has a solution.
At least until now.
Wildlife law enforcement officers across the West puzzle over methods to stop the illegal take of wildlife, but strapped with limited manpower expected to cover thousands of square miles, it’s rare that poachers are caught in the act.
Instead, all you hear are the reports every spring of antler hunters, ranchers and hikers finding headless carcasses.
“Poachers take just the heads, and in some cases only the antlers, that’s all they’re interested in,” said John Bredehoft, the Division of Wildlife’s chief law enforcement officer, during a presentation last week to the Colorado Wildlife Commission.
And unless you can catch someone actually killing a deer, elk or turkey, or can find someone who saw the act and is willing to speak up, getting a prosecution is difficult.
Don’t start with the “but a real sportsman...” stuff. A real sportsman might report a poacher, but even “real” sportsmen usually aren’t out late at night in the middle of winter, which is when some of the biggest elk and deer are killed.
The Division of Wildlife last year initiated a special deterrent program aimed at stopping winter poaching along the Colorado-Utah border, an isolated area where the illegal take of wildlife has long been a problem.
The program, according to Bredehoft, included not only stepped-up patrols but also an increase in public education through newspaper articles, radio and TV spots and highly-visible billboards, including several in the Grand Junction area.
“We decided to emphasize deterrence by increasing our own visibility and making it known we would be patrolling the area,” Bredehoft told the wildlife commission.
According to chief investigator Glenn Smith, by the end of the winter program, 65 DOW officers led by DOW investigator Eric Schaller had invested more than 4,000 hours, driven more than 50,000 miles, covered 12,000 square miles, made more than 800 personal contacts with hunters and other recreationists and documented 41 violations, a 5-percent rate.
Of those 41 cases, six resulted in penalties for illegal possession of big game and nine are unresolved.
“We had been getting reports of headless carcasses found in winter range, suspicious activity and possible trophy poaching taking place,” Smith told the commission. “During the winter of 2002-2003, more than 60 headless carcasses were found in just two counties in western Colorado.
“Last year, after we initiated our deterrence program, less than 15 carcasses were reported across the Western Slope.”
Several poaching cases were solved because citizens knew the DOW was out patrolling, including one case near Naturita where a DOW officer had been tipped off about a possible spotlighting operation.
Having already been given the vehicle description, the DOW officer was surprised to see the vehicle ahead of him. The officer followed at a distance and watched as the truck’s occupants spotlighted and shot two bucks.
In another case, where five headless deer carcasses were found near Rangely, a tip from a citizen led to the arrest of a Washing man on charges of willful destruction of wildlife.
“For whatever reasons, we had fewer headless carcasses found than in other years,” Smith said. “We really can’t tell if it was us making all those contacts or not but at least it was something positive.”
The reward given through the Operation Game Thief program was increased from $250 to $500 for the duration of the anti-poaching program, which ran November through February.
“We informed the OGT board that maybe it’s time to increase the reward and now it’s $500 for all big-game year-round,” Smith said.
He said the program was judged a success and likely wil be repeated this coming winter.
“We’re not sure what form it will take, but you can be sure we’ll be out there,” Smith said.
