Post by: JBR on April 19, 2011, 10:47:53 PM
He and the guy on the quad keep walking/driving slowly searching the area. Meanwhile 5 longbeards huddled together about 200 yards downhill from them, unseen by the guys. I thought, what the heck are they doing? The guy on the quad then hands the guy on foot a rifle and then he drives away for a few mintues. They guy on foot, now with the rifle, walks another 75 yrds, then squats down and takes a 3rd shot with the rifle. I'm scanning the area to see what the hell he's shooting at.
Then I see what looks like a deer lying down in the grass with it's head up looking around still!!! The guy on the quad then pulls up slowly to the deer (whitetail doe) and slowly approaches it on foot with a rope. The rope is tied in the form of a noose and the guy carefully puts the noose around the deer's neck, while it's looking at him. He then strings it up to the quad and starts DRAGGING IT ALIVE!!!!
He drags this poor deer by the neck 500+ yards with the quad and out of sight! We RUN down the mountain side to the farm where the owner of the property we're hunting on and tell him. We call the game warden and the sheriff as we drive up to the area and find the deer hide trail leading to the property owners neighbor's house!! The sheriff came and confronted the neighbor and after a ton of lying, finally learns that the neighbor's step son drove over there from Idaho to poach a deer, cause he was outta deer meat!! They took his rifle and issued the 22 yr old kid over $3,100 in tickets as well as his step dad that assisted!! A$$holes!
Now my partner and I got to split the 10 bonus points.
Post by: Button Nubbs on April 19, 2011, 10:57:21 PM
Post by: Devinshoe on April 19, 2011, 10:58:17 PM
Post by: Gringo31 on April 19, 2011, 11:02:03 PM
Post by: Crunchy on April 19, 2011, 11:15:23 PM
Post by: Andrew on April 19, 2011, 11:16:08 PM
Post by: lokidog on April 19, 2011, 11:19:25 PM
Post by: bobcat on April 19, 2011, 11:22:16 PM
Post by: twinners on April 19, 2011, 11:51:52 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on April 19, 2011, 11:55:49 PM
Post by: ORCA_SIX on April 20, 2011, 12:02:55 AM
Post by: steeleywhopper on April 20, 2011, 12:09:45 AM
A big thanks to you and your partner for getting that waste of a human caught.
Post by: snowyaker on April 20, 2011, 12:29:24 AM
Post by: Malottguy on April 20, 2011, 12:38:04 AM
Post by: PolarBear on April 20, 2011, 12:39:03 AM
Post by: BigKnock on April 20, 2011, 12:48:14 AM
Post by: rgalanti21 on April 20, 2011, 01:04:13 AM
Post by: winshooter88 on April 20, 2011, 02:11:59 AM
First off what are 10 bonus points? I thought it was a cash reward for convictions?
Andrew, for turning in a big game violation that gets a conviction or pleads guilty you can get your choice of money or points toward deer or elk special permit applications. You have to specify what category that you want them put in.
Dave G.
Post by: pianoman9701 on April 20, 2011, 06:45:02 AM
Post by: jackmaster on April 20, 2011, 06:59:05 AM
Post by: PA BEN on April 20, 2011, 06:06:57 AM
Post by: boneaddict on April 20, 2011, 06:28:21 AM
Post by: ribka on April 20, 2011, 07:18:28 AM
Amazing the reason people justify for poaching. Drives over from Idaho with gas $4 a gallon uses a quad to poach for 40 lbs of meat. :bash: :bash: :bash: :bash:
Should have confiscated the quad too and wrote up all party members. Hope they revoke his friggin hunting rights
Post by: ribka on April 20, 2011, 07:31:36 AM
Amazing the reason people justify for poaching. Drives over from Idaho with gas $4 a gallon uses a quad to poach for 40 lbs of meat. :bash: :bash: :bash: :bash:
Should have confiscated the quad too and wrote up all party members. Hope they revoke his friggin hunting rights
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 20, 2011, 07:37:12 AM
Post by: Curly on April 20, 2011, 10:32:11 AM
There should be an extra charge of animal cruelty or something similar for dragging the deer alive. >:( That's worse than the poaching in my opinion. The guy obviously has no respect whatsoever for wildlife if he couldn't be bothered to use one more bullet and finish the job before dragging the deer off like that.
:yeah:
That story is shocking. I can't believe some people. :bash:
Post by: BurleyDog on April 20, 2011, 10:32:28 AM
I am glad that they were caught and glad that you get the bonus points.
Post by: Curly on April 20, 2011, 10:34:27 AM
Post by: Moose on April 20, 2011, 10:43:00 AM
Post by: JBR on April 20, 2011, 10:57:29 AM
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.
Post by: Dustin07 on April 20, 2011, 11:02:00 AM
Post by: Alan K on April 20, 2011, 11:10:21 AM
Post by: WAmuleyHunter on April 20, 2011, 11:13:05 AM
Post by: Ridge Roamer on April 20, 2011, 11:16:15 AM
Post by: Holg3107 on April 20, 2011, 11:19:29 AM
Post by: fair-chase on April 20, 2011, 11:21:59 AM
Post by: JBR on April 20, 2011, 11:31:50 AM
It was a good job by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and WDFW Officer as well. Hats off to those guys!
Post by: oldleclercrd on April 20, 2011, 11:42:38 AM
Post by: quadrafire on April 20, 2011, 11:48:58 AM
Post by: woodswalker on April 20, 2011, 11:52:03 AM
Still think that ID F&G needs to pay the boy a visit...see just what else might be hanging around his place.
Post by: Skyvalhunter on April 20, 2011, 11:59:07 AM
Post by: bigpaw 77 on April 20, 2011, 02:11:48 PM
Post by: PlateauNDN on April 20, 2011, 02:26:16 PM
Post by: one more on April 20, 2011, 03:02:56 PM
That the kid from ID admitted he didn't have a license should be grounds for ID F & G to go to his house.
Diane
Post by: shedcrazy on April 20, 2011, 03:10:18 PM
Post by: Machias on April 20, 2011, 03:50:01 PM
Thanks for turning them in and following up with evidence and damn good witness statements!!
Post by: BLR 243 on April 20, 2011, 03:51:50 PM
Post by: quadrafire on April 20, 2011, 04:19:27 PM
:yeah:
Still think that ID F&G needs to pay the boy a visit...see just what else might be hanging around his place.
If he is out of venison and didn't have a license before------ then----------- Well let's just say this likely isn't his first time.
Post by: wsucowboy on April 20, 2011, 04:29:00 PM
Post by: TeacherMan on April 20, 2011, 04:34:59 PM
Post by: 6x6in6 on April 20, 2011, 04:43:30 PM
Post by: CAMPMEAT on April 20, 2011, 04:49:29 PM
Post by: stickinmaster on April 20, 2011, 06:09:35 PM
Post by: elkaholic on April 20, 2011, 06:56:45 PM
Alot of great comments everyone..... Check his freezer in Idaho.... Who knows what else is in it???
Post by: Andrew on April 20, 2011, 08:12:02 PM
Ironically I heard on the radio this morning about a book that was coming out which is about dishonesty and how the American public is getting worse and worse and that lying has become tolerated. These 'winners' don't help!
Post by: ribka on April 20, 2011, 08:21:17 PM
So a guy has to buy $4 a gallon gas to drive over to WA, buy a license, drive a quad to hunt turkey because he is too poor to buy meat and is forced to poach a young doe. I imagine the doe was carrying young too.
Post by: CAMPMEAT on April 20, 2011, 08:29:39 PM
Post by: sisu on April 20, 2011, 08:36:55 PM
Post by: JBR on April 20, 2011, 09:11:24 PM
The poaching occurred on private property, that did not belong to the step-dad or the property owner of the land I was hunting on. The Warden contacted the property owner and asked if they wanted to file criminal trespass charges on the poachers and unfortunately the owner felt that the kid had already learned his lesson with everything he had already received, so he just let the trepass part go. I think the reason that the guy and his girlfriend came over to WA to do his crime was because he felt safe with the large tracks of private land with little pressure or witnesses. Unfortunately for him, he happened to pick opening weekend of turkey season to come do it. And of course we turkey hunters like to slink around quietly in camo.
Post by: Andrew on April 20, 2011, 09:23:47 PM
Post by: bobcat on April 20, 2011, 09:27:33 PM
Post by: ribka on April 20, 2011, 09:28:00 PM
Yes Ribka, the doe had a fully formed female fawn. I won't post any pics, cause it'd push everyone over the edge, but I did show the pics to my 3 sons (13, 12, and 10) who are all learning to be ethical sportsman and while they were fired up at the story...when they saw the pics of the doe with one entire side of it's body rubbed bear of all hair and then of the gutpile and saw the unborn, fully developed spotted fawn...wow, that really hit 'em. They were visibly sickened and angered to the point that they all sat up from their seats and developed a very personal hatred for poachers. I know it will have a long lasting impact on them.
The poaching occurred on private property, that did not belong to the step-dad or the property owner of the land I was hunting on. The Warden contacted the property owner and asked if they wanted to file criminal trespass charges on the poachers and unfortunately the owner felt that the kid had already learned his lesson with everything he had already received, so he just let the trepass part go. I think the reason that the guy and his girlfriend came over to WA to do his crime was because he felt safe with the large tracks of private land with little pressure or witnesses. Unfortunately for him, he happened to pick opening weekend of turkey season to come do it. And of course we turkey hunters like to slink around quietly in camo.
Thanks again. Shame your sons, although a good lesson, had to witness this criminal behavior at such a young age.
You did really good reporting this!!
Post by: goducks on April 20, 2011, 09:45:13 PM
Post by: ORCA_SIX on April 20, 2011, 10:03:28 PM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 21, 2011, 07:56:04 AM
Post by: Heartsblood on April 21, 2011, 08:03:10 AM
Jail time might end up being a decent deterrent...
So glad you guys were there - in the right place at the right time. Thanks.
Post by: saylean on April 21, 2011, 08:03:29 AM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 21, 2011, 08:10:34 AM
Post by: Skillet on April 21, 2011, 08:22:38 AM
Yeah but poaching this time of year usually means someone may have kids to feed and has no money ,poaching during deer season usually someone trying to be mister big and has to show off all his huge deer he has killed So there is a difference there and I know it is illegal but if someone needs to feed there family then so be it ... Just my opinion...
As pointed out before, he had the money to buy the gas to get over here to poach. You can buy a lot of round steak in family packs for the money it would have cost him to get over there and back.
Post by: Shed Stud on April 21, 2011, 08:26:05 AM
Yeah but poaching this time of year usually means someone may have kids to feed and has no money ,poaching during deer season usually someone trying to be mister big and has to show off all his huge deer he has killed So there is a difference there and I know it is illegal but if someone needs to feed there family then so be it ... Just my opinion...If they have no money and kids the state will feed them. There are no exceptions to the rule. No one is allowed to shoot our deer out of season. Please don't try and justify it here.
Post by: Heartsblood on April 21, 2011, 08:35:15 AM
Yeah but poaching this time of year usually means someone may have kids to feed and has no money ,poaching during deer season usually someone trying to be mister big and has to show off all his huge deer he has killed So there is a difference there and I know it is illegal but if someone needs to feed there family then so be it ... Just my opinion...
I hear ya. And if they have kids, I feel bad for the kids in more ways than this thread could possibly encompass.
Your statement made me think of the fact that many other types of crimes are committed because the perpetrator is also trying to feed their families. It doesn't wash in those cases. For example: armed robbery to feed ones kids is still armed robbery.
Too, in a sense this type of poaching could be considered armed robbery ...
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 21, 2011, 09:18:48 AM
Post by: h20hunter on April 21, 2011, 09:39:51 AM
Post by: pianoman9701 on April 21, 2011, 10:23:18 AM
Post by: pianoman9701 on April 21, 2011, 10:26:37 AM
Yes Ribka, the doe had a fully formed female fawn. I won't post any pics, cause it'd push everyone over the edge, but I did show the pics to my 3 sons (13, 12, and 10) who are all learning to be ethical sportsman and while they were fired up at the story...when they saw the pics of the doe with one entire side of it's body rubbed bear of all hair and then of the gutpile and saw the unborn, fully developed spotted fawn...wow, that really hit 'em. They were visibly sickened and angered to the point that they all sat up from their seats and developed a very personal hatred for poachers. I know it will have a long lasting impact on them.
The poaching occurred on private property, that did not belong to the step-dad or the property owner of the land I was hunting on. The Warden contacted the property owner and asked if they wanted to file criminal trespass charges on the poachers and unfortunately the owner felt that the kid had already learned his lesson with everything he had already received, so he just let the trepass part go. I think the reason that the guy and his girlfriend came over to WA to do his crime was because he felt safe with the large tracks of private land with little pressure or witnesses. Unfortunately for him, he happened to pick opening weekend of turkey season to come do it. And of course we turkey hunters like to slink around quietly in camo.
Thanks again. Shame your sons, although a good lesson, had to witness this criminal behavior at such a young age.
You did really good reporting this!!
On the contrary, I think this was a great lesson for the sons. They got to see that their dad is an ethical hunter and what happens to people who break the law. Nothing leaves an impression on a young person's mind like seeing someone taken away in cuffs and losing their chit.
Post by: rebal69972 on April 21, 2011, 10:28:37 AM
Post by: turkeydancer on April 23, 2011, 04:45:30 PM
:yike:
The warden I believe is a very good friend of mine (Kurt). He is a great example of a sportsman and so are his wife and children. Pillars of the community, not like the trash you had to deal with ... great job !!!
Post by: JBR on April 24, 2011, 09:10:39 PM
Post by: Big game archer on April 24, 2011, 09:52:44 PM