MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Forty-eight hunters from 11 states were charged with illegally hunting white-tailed deer and turkey in southwestern Wisconsin, including a man authorities alleged Wednesday recruited the hunters and acted as their guide.
Officers seized 30 mounted trophy deer, turkey mounts, numerous rifles and compound bows, which the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources described as the biggest display of seized evidence in the state's history of wildlife law enforcement.
Prosecutors said Adam Lawinger of Blue River - through a company he owned called Blue River Outfitters - served as a hunting guide for white-tailed deer and wild turkey on land owned and leased by Lawinger and an unindicted co-conspirator in Richland and Iowa counties.
Authorities say the hunts violated numerous Wisconsin laws, including killing deer and turkey without licenses and shining and shooting deer at night.
"The message to all hunters is clear. If you violate the law, you will be held accountable," Iowa County District Attorney Erik Peterson said in a statement.
Authorities scheduled a news conference Thursday to discuss details of the investigation.
According to documents filed in federal court in Madison, state wildlife officials received several tips that Lawinger was running an illegal hunting operation. One man told authorities Lawinger had everything he needed to hunt turkey in Wisconsin, even though he had failed to get a license by the required deadline. The Minnesota man contacted wildlife officials in his home state after becoming upset with the way Lawinger conducted the hunt, according to court records.
Following an anonymous tip and other complaints, wildlife officials went undercover.
Lawinger, 27, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of two federal counts filed against him. They allege he conspired to sell wildlife, deer and turkey that were hunted illegally and taken across state lines.
Lawinger was not listed in Blue River, and a phone number for his business listed in court records had been disconnected when The Associated Press attempted to reach him for comment.
The hunters face charges that range from failing to properly tag and report turkey and deer they killed to hunting without a license.
The hunters charged are from Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
Just look at the number of times the press had to use some form of the word HUNT.[:@] This was not hunting, this was poaching! Why can't the media get it right? 48 Poachers were arrested, not hunters.[:@]
But then as my signature says....
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There's no such thing as truth, only perception
If the guide said he was legit and had all the proper licenses and tags and said he would handle the deer for you including tagging it, would you question him when you're from out of state?
I certainly don't like to see scumbags with no regard for the law perceived as hunters in the same sense as you and I.
However, unless there is a new definition of the word "hunter" that I am unaware of, there is no inaccuracy in that story. There is no definition of the word "hunter," that I am aware of, that specifies that hunting is the legal pursuit of game. It is simply the pursuit of game. So, in every sense of the word, what they were doing was hunting. And as such, they were hunters. They're not legal hunters. They're not ethical hunters. They're not sportsmen. But they're hunters. I realize this is a petty argument, but blaming the media for misrepresenting these poachers is a little unfair.
That point aside, it is true that - like it or not- poachers ARE mistaken for hunters by the public in general everytime they are in the news. That's why it blows my mind to see hunters on this forum arguing for slap-on-the-wrist penalties for convicted poachers. We should be trying to distance ourselves from them, not defend them.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
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I certainly don't like to see scumbags with no regard for the law perceived as hunters in the same sense as you and I.
You shouldn't be suprised by this perceptionBen. In the other thread you are saying that even the smallest of game violations are poaching violations therefore as we have pretty much all committed tiny offeses then we must pretty much all be poachers. You are contributing to the perception you complain about!
You shouldn't be suprised by this perceptionÂ*Ben.Â* In the other thread you are saying that even the smallest of game violations are poaching violations therefore as we have pretty much all committed tiny offeses then we must pretty much all be poachers.Â* You are contributing to the perception you complain about!
Sylvan, you're stretching. My comment above was that I don't like to see scumbags with no respect for the law perceived as hunters like the rest of us. Yes, any game violation "” ANY "” is, by defnition, poaching. But I didn't say that on this thread, did I? I said "scumbags with no respect for the law." In other words, blatant poachers. I don't understand what is so confusing about that.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
Sylvan, you're stretching. My comment above was that I don't like to see scumbags with no respect for the law perceived as hunters like the rest of us. Yes, any game violation "” ANY "” is, by defnition, poaching. But I didn't say that on this thread, did I? I said "scumbags with no respect for the law." In other words, blatant poachers. I don't understand what is so confusing about that.
Nothing confusing at all Ben. I simply disagree with your use of the word poaching. I don't accept that any game violation is poaching. To interpret it that way is indeed "stretching".In fact, to me it is more than stretching, it isridiculous to say thata fellow who left the region blank when he filled out his deer tag simply because he didn't know what it was is a poacher.
Call them whatever you want but they, these hunters, are really stupid if they did not check out the outfitter and know the game laws.
I hunt out of state alot and I do my home work. I check the states website, read and reread the regulations and if I have any questions I call and ask.
If I use a guide or pay a treaspass fee I check out the guide and the property rights also.
Most states require some type of licensing and if it is a game farm (high fence operation)in WI it has to have a crap load of permits. With CWD a problem in that area all the deer farms and game farms are closely monitored. I don't use that type of thing but they are legal and the users have the responsiblity to make use what they are doing is proper.
As far as the definition of hunter goes, Ben has it correct in my book. It doesn't always apply to hunting animals and it does not have to be the legal pursuit of anything, just the pursuit.
A couple of years back I was hunting with this guy in Ohio and he took a doe and did not have a tag for it. He thought he had one but was so excited when he registered the first and only buck he ever got heforgot to buy a doe tag. The jerk left the doe in the woods. To me thats a poacher, intent or not. It may have been a mistake to start with, a stupid one, but once he kill the animal he should have donethe rightthing. When he didn't he became forever a poacher.
It should be up to the judge in these cases to determineand consider the degree of intent when handing out the penalty.
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Now you have to picture a combination of PeeWEE Herman and Wally Cox but with less muscle tone, trying to be intimidating None of this is funny! Message edited by Cougar Mag -- 1/7/2005 1:16:42 AM >/b]
Not everyone is like you logs . Alot of newer hunters will actually hunt out of state because they see these pics of trophies taken but never in their own state. Like when I was young hunting in Hawai'i I dreamed of hunting on the mainland. Now, I realize I never had it so good as Hawai'i is a bird mecca.
Looking at some of the other posts here, consider:
We arrest protesters, students, xxx number of a crowd, etc. The papers DO NOT say, "ś21 Blacks, 17 Hispanics, and 32 Caucasians were arrested. The media reports 70 people arrested. They do this because they are trying to be PC.
However, when it has anything to do with hunting or guns, the media sensationalize it. They could have said 48 people, or poachers, but they picked "śhunter"ť specifically to target a certain class of people. This IS discrimination. Where is the ACLU? Why aren"™t they protesting this discrimination?
The reason is that it"™s PC to attack hunters and hunting organizations.
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There's no such thing as truth, only perception
We arrest protesters, students, xxx number of a crowd, etc. The papers DO NOT say, "ś21 Blacks, 17 Hispanics, and 32 Caucasians were arrested. The media reports 70 people arrested. They do this because they are trying to be PC.
However, when it has anything to do with hunting or guns, the media sensationalize it. They could have said 48 people, or poachers, but they picked "śhunter"ť specifically to target a certain class of people. This IS discrimination. Where is the ACLU? Why aren"™t they protesting this discrimination?
The reason is that it"™s PC to attack hunters and hunting organizations.
When 70 protesters are arrested, they don't say 21 blacks, 17 hispanics, 32 caucasians were arrested, they say 70 protesters.
When 70 hunters are arrested, they don't say 21 blacks, 17 hispanics, 32 caucasians were arrested, they say 70 hunters.
I fail to see the difference between those two.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
Poachers mistaken for hunters
. Alot of newer hunters will actually hunt out of state because they see these pics of trophies taken but never in their own state. Like when I was young hunting in Hawai'i I dreamed of hunting on the mainland. Now, I realize I never had it so good as Hawai'i is a bird mecca.
