A little more...
So as I mentioned there were 3 people involved. Two guys, which we later learned were a 22 yr old guy from Post Falls, ID and his step-dad, (who was the local) and a woman (who was the wife/fiance of the 22 yr old guy).
The step-dad was the one on the quad. Since the first two shots were from an area where we couldn't see the shooter (behind cluster of trees), I am guessing that the woman was the first shooter for a couple reasons. First, she was the first person who came running out of the trees looking for the deer. Second, the deer was hit in the back hip with the first round and missed with the second round. This is not a slam on women shooters at all as my wife is as good or better than me on any given day. My thought was this younger gal may not have ever even shot at a deer before and possibly her boyfriend/husband decided to give her first shot. The deer was hit, but not fatally. I know the second round missed because I later saw the deer in the warden's truck and it was only hit twice. Once in the hip and the once througth the EAR! The shot through the ear was clearly the 3rd shot (the guy's) while the deer was lying in the field with only it's head up. The guy obviously tried for a head shot and just punched a hole clean through the ear. This deer was VERY MUCH ALIVE with only a round to its back hip and a round through it's ear when it was mercilessly dragged by the neck for nearly 1/2 a mile.
Now when the Sheriff and Warden spoke to the step-dad and 22 yr old at the house, they first lied their ASSES off. No, no deer...what are you talking about....blah, blah, blah. When explained how they were witnessed by two turkey hunters who watched the entire thing and who had already found the kill site and quad tracks with deer hide and blood trailing behind it for hundreds of yards (before all the hair on that side was gone) leading straight to their house, they were given one opportunity to tell the truth or go straight to jail. The 22 yr old kid hung his head and confessed. They had gutted the deer somewhere on the mountain side before bring the deer closer down to the house, but still kept it away from the house. The kid took the Sheriff and Warden to the deer and it was confiscated along with his .308 rifle. One whole side of the deer was completely bald as it had been stripped clean of all the hair from being dragged by the quad!!
The step-dad pled ignorance and that he just went up there with the quad AFTER his step son came back to the house to tell him what he'd done. BS!! He was right up there with them and we wrote out statements clearly articulating that. He was still cited for Aiding and Abetting a game violation and will loose his privilages for 2 yrs.
Also they flatly denied that the woman was up there, period. Said we were crazy. They were clearly covering for her and were proven to be liars, but the bottom line was that since we never saw her with a gun or around the deer, they felt it would be hard to prove a game violation on her.
When the Warden asked the kid why he drove over to poach a deer in April, he said he was out of deer meat. The Warden asked if he hunted had an Idaho hunting license and he did not. Likely a chronic poacher.
Yes the quad could have been seized. Perhaps they still will.
The kicker was the day after, while hunting in that area we found the gut pile and saw that the doe had been pregnant with a female fawn that was completely developed. I took photos for the warden and forwarded them to him.
As wingshooter mentioned, you get 10 bonus pts if your info leads to an arrest or conviction of a poacher for a game violation. Apparently it's 10 points per "incident", as I tried to see I could get 10 pts for the one guy and my partner get 10 pts for the other guy. We had to split 'em so whatever, we that fine. The important thing was getting these guys caught...the bonus points were just that, bonus.
