Critr-Gitr

Started a rant and forgot to answer the question. I do view it as a crime. I call it poaching when you are:shooting or are attempting to shoot an animal out of season, outside of legal hours, while trespassing, in excess of limits, without a valid liscense, or by unapproved methods, in any combination of the above.

BowHuntingFool

I agree, Poaching to feed one's Family is the biggest cop-out there is! So I guess robbing a grocery store is OK as well, just as long as your feeding your family! NOT!!!!!!!

BullRider115

Poaching comes in many questionable situations. One may be "by the book" another may tag a game animal with anothers tag.

Here is one that a lot of us, I know I am, have been guilty of in the past.

You are sitting on stand for days on end and seeing nothing but squirrels, a rabbit here and there. Frustration sets in and you let an arrow fly at one of these small game animals. Hit or miss, if you don't have a small game license that is poaching or attempted poaching.

Here is a true story about a family member. They hadn't been seeing any deer in the national forest we hunted years ago. Finally, my family member gets a shot at a doe and takes her down. In his tracking he shoots another deer but, has only one tag. He figures, and this is what got him caught, he will load them both in the truck and tag the second with his sons tag back at deer camp. In driving the DNR stops him. Checks the deer and sees only one is tagged. Trying to explain himself the officer decides to let this slide and follows him to camp. They waited for his son to get back in with a tag for the second deer but, somehow he managed to leave them at home. The officer was then forced to do his job, took both deer and gave a ticket. This one little example of what some see as questionable poaching cost $3500 and no license for 5 years.

I have grown up in myyears and follow game laws to the book now. I don't shoot everything I see anymore unless it is with a camera. I have taken some great pictures and they make me feel good about myself and I can share what I see with everyone.

So here is my answer to the ?.

I believe everyone makes mistakes, poaching is not a mistake. It is a decision when the opportunity presents itself. It is a crime. Maximum sentence on all counts.

sunset

terrible crime...hurts all of us...my Dad was a game warden. I've seen the bad affect is has on the animals and the reputation of us as hunters who do follow the rules.

kansaswiderack

In ks the regs say visible polished antler. That can be interpreted different ways. I would think that if it is reasonable that the antlers were not visible at the time the shot was taken you would be within the law to use your antlerless tag-we had this discussion one time w/ a game warden & convienced him that my buddy who was a first time deer hunter had not broken the law when he shot a 3" spike buck @ 100yds. Seemed reasonable to me at the time.

Big Country

I have no way of knowing whether you are being serious, or are joking around?

I will throw out my thoughts on what you posted anyway......

I do not, for any reason, buy the feeding the family excuse. EVER

If you are truly that impoverished that you need to illegally shoot deer to provide a meal for your family, here is a novel suggestion.........

Sell your hunting gear. Guns, bows, etc.

Spend half of the proceeds at the local grocery store.

Spend the other half putting gas in the tank to go hunting......a JOB!

Once you have worked hard enough, and long enough to comfortably provide for your family, then go buy what hunting gear you can afford.

That has long been my opinion, and I am sticking to it.

BTW, I am not so old that I cannot remember when that was pretty much how my own life was.......[]

Hunter_59

Over the years I've taken several young kids out hunting,mainly pheasants, to introduce them to the sport. In Illinois, roosters only are the regs. I ingrained this into the young boys before going out, but as things would go, one of them shot a hen. Should I have called the game warden and reported the violation? It was a crime, but more importantly an accident by a new hunter caught up in the thrill of the hunt! We had a talk about the mistaken identity and I carried the bird in an effort to keep him from getting caught. This young man was 13 years old and even though I was yelling hen, hen, hen, he still pulled the trigger.
In another instance involving myself, I pulled the trigger on a tom turkey and killed a hen 15 yards behind. I felt terrible that I didn't see the hen in the background, but sometimes these things happen. Should I have turned the violation in to the game warden, I have the number in my phone? Am I considered a poacher in everyone's mind on here or a human being that makes mistakes once in awhile?

Rhody Hunter

i think it depends on the severity of the poaching crime whether i would turn someone in . I run across lots of people in conversation that do minor things wrong that are against the law but are not worth getting involved for

Arthur P

There has to be INTENT for it to be poaching. Accidents are ticketable, but not criminal.

Arrowmaster

Poaching is poaching no matter how you look at it. I dont violate game laws ever, and Im proud I dont.

Heres a recent example that happened in my area just this past week. 3 guys from Tennessee were caught during our muzzleloader season with 7 deer that were taken with a high powered rifle. The one guy shot 5 deer in less than 30 minutes and the other 2 were shot by the 2 other guys. Now thats poaching...