Poached Goat

[Stein]

The guy has serious credibility and stones for making the call on himself, it is no mystery what was going to happen.  He would absolutely lose the goat, never get a chance to shoot on in WA again as well as pay a hefty fee.  That's for sure, he could also get into much more criminal penalties, lose his hunting privileges and end up with a 4-5 figure legal bill on top of it all.

[trophyhunt]

Maybe the hunter self reported because he suspected his hunting partner was eyeing 10 points.  Better to self report than have someone report you.

It's just not that easy, I've reported 2 slam dunk poaching cases in the past 5 or 6 years, both times they were caught with enough evidence to convict.  The problem was the poachers just kept their mouth shut and not even a ticket was given. One was a trophy class bull shot with a .22 during archery season, one was at night. There are laws to protect you from false accusations, but they also work in the wrong way as well.  I'm not saying people should do illegal things and keep quite, I'm just saying if he would have kept his mouth shut and said nothing at all, his mistake might have just gone away. It could have just stayed between him and his conscience, but I don't know the whole story, maybe a warden was watching it happen.

[Jpmiller]

The guy has serious credibility and stones for making the call on himself, it is no mystery what was going to happen.  He would absolutely lose the goat, never get a chance to shoot on in WA again as well as pay a hefty fee.  That's for sure, he could also get into much more criminal penalties, lose his hunting privileges and end up with a 4-5 figure legal bill on top of it all.

I would bet you someone sees pictures of his goat and recognizes it. I'm always amazed at how people can recognize different animals from a glance. There's enough people out there looking at goats on top of the state bios that it would have come out eventually.

Even if he would never have gotten caught if it is true he self reported I have respect left for the man. Regardless what your justification internally is poaching is poaching and it's wrong. Turning yourself in takes some serious conviction to being a good man even if he did do something wrong to get there. Once the mistake is made it's the moving forward that is important. He is redeemed quite a bit in my book.

[Humptulips]

Am I the only one that finds it amusing that a guy with 7 hole posts knows Jackalope so well?

What, is he putting in a fence?

[jdb]

Am I the only one that finds it amusing that a guy with 7 hole posts knows Jackalope so well?

What, is he putting in a fence?

grammer nazi

[Timberstalker]

 

[fireweed]

I would almost bet that (off the record) the WDFW wishes this guy just kept his mouth shut, and hates the fact that he self-reported what is now advertised as "poaching" a Mtn goat.  Nobody wins.  The honest hunter who makes a mistake gets labeled a poacher in the media & and the WDFW gets labeled as heartless curs or throwing the book at the guy who turns himself in and made an honest mistake.  But they are probably required to by law.  I hope the WDFW has some wiggle room for punishment in cases like this.  Only anti-hunters, that can proclaim a goat was poached, win. For goodness sake, at least talk to a lawyer first.

[White Pass Outfitters]

This is a sad situation, but remember ignorance is not an excuse
for breaking the law. Good example why you need to know the
 boundaries. And if you don't hire a darn outfitter or at least contact the one in the area and ask questions. Sorry for this guy
but a lesson for all hunters to map study before you go out there and hunt.   

[Curly]

I just wish the title of the thread wasn't "Poached Goat".  If the guy made an honest mistake, I hate that people refer to it as poaching.  It was a mistake.......not poaching.

BTW - how far from the open unit was the guy?  Did he just totally mess up the boundary or just read wrong what unit he was supposed to hunt?  When did he realize his mistake? 

[bobcat]

 

It certainly is not a "poached goat."  A poacher doesn't turn himself in. I also wonder about how far outside of the boundary he was. Is it only a matter of 1/4 mile? Or is it several miles? Either way you'd think the punishment won't be too extreme, seeing how a hard core, actual poacher just got fined $500 for all the animals he killed during the last few years, out of season, and illegally using hounds. But, I guess that all depends on the county prosecutor and the judge.

[h20hunter]

At worst he should pay  $100 bucks and oh I don't know....maybe be offered a voluntary penalty of another  $500 and keep his trophy. No poacher self reports and huge props to him for being beyond honest.

[Ridgerunner]

First off what a hard lesson for the guy to learn, if I found myself in the same situation I'd do the same thing, that being said it is an unfortunate situation but one that in my mind doesn't fall into the classic poaching case.  When I think of poaching I think of stealing opportunity from another individual, taking too many critters etc.  Based on the very limited info I know about this case from the posts here, it sounds like he shot a goat that was just outside of the boundary(which he should have known). But perhaps the WDFW needs to rethink the boundary for this unit.  I highly doubt they are trying to grow a population of goats in the Bethal unit(no good habitat).  Odds are this goat spent at least some(if not most) of his time in the open hunting unit and was considered part of the "herd" that the tag was open for.  I know the line has to be drawn somewhere and I would never condemn his actions as right(except turning himself in) but this is a far different case to me than the poaching rings that shoot dozens of deer a year, or the guys who buy their wives tags and shoot those deer for them, shoot big bucks off the winter range, etc. 
I'm sure I'll get flamed for my opinion but it is what it is.  Bottom line is the guy is 100% responsible for his actions and not being aware of the proper boundaries but a poacher? 

[Timberstalker]

First off what a hard lesson for the guy to learn, if I found myself in the same situation I'd do the same thing, that being said it is an unfortunate situation but one that in my mind doesn't fall into the classic poaching case.  When I think of poaching I think of stealing opportunity from another individual, taking too many critters etc.  Based on the very limited info I know about this case from the posts here, it sounds like he shot a goat that was just outside of the boundary(which he should have known). But perhaps the WDFW needs to rethink the boundary for this unit.  I highly doubt they are trying to grow a population of goats in the Bethal unit(no good habitat).  Odds are this goat spent at least some(if not most) of his time in the open hunting unit and was considered part of the "herd" that the tag was open for.  I know the line has to be drawn somewhere and I would never condemn his actions as right(except turning himself in) but this is a far different case to me than the poaching rings that shoot dozens of deer a year, or the guys who buy their wives tags and shoot those deer for them, shoot big bucks off the winter range, etc. 
I'm sure I'll get flamed for my opinion but it is what it is.  Bottom line is the guy is 100% responsible for his actions and not being aware of the proper boundaries but a poacher?

Couldn't agree more.

[jackelope]

First off what a hard lesson for the guy to learn, if I found myself in the same situation I'd do the same thing, that being said it is an unfortunate situation but one that in my mind doesn't fall into the classic poaching case.  When I think of poaching I think of stealing opportunity from another individual, taking too many critters etc.  Based on the very limited info I know about this case from the posts here, it sounds like he shot a goat that was just outside of the boundary(which he should have known). But perhaps the WDFW needs to rethink the boundary for this unit.  I highly doubt they are trying to grow a population of goats in the Bethal unit(no good habitat).  Odds are this goat spent at least some(if not most) of his time in the open hunting unit and was considered part of the "herd" that the tag was open for.  I know the line has to be drawn somewhere and I would never condemn his actions as right(except turning himself in) but this is a far different case to me than the poaching rings that shoot dozens of deer a year, or the guys who buy their wives tags and shoot those deer for them, shoot big bucks off the winter range, etc. 
I'm sure I'll get flamed for my opinion but it is what it is.  Bottom line is the guy is 100% responsible for his actions and not being aware of the proper boundaries but a poacher? 

No flaming here. I also couldn't agree more. I'd have a much different view of this if the guy didn't turn himself in.
As close as they're watching goat populations right now, I feel like they'll want to or need to know about it.

[Naches Sportsman]

He illegally took a goat on USFS land that in a unit he didn't have a tag for= poaching.

This was no honest mistake if he had reading comprehension. He needs to be fined a good amount to show the public to read the damn regs before you kill an animal. The 1500 road is a well defined boundary and you have to be dumb to shoot an animal in another unit.  He must of got goat happy, but that's no excuse.