Very good post. I have a poaching problem in my area to compound the problem. Unfortunately I don't know what they could do to make the reporting system better. It's pretty easy for some lowlife scumbag to shoot a deer, drag it out of the woods, and butcher it in his garage without the DEC knowing anything. In all my years of hunting I have NEVER seen a DEC officer driving around or checking hunters ANYPLACE. I was talking to a DEC officer the other day discussing my poaching problem and he says he has 300 square miles to cover in his territory!!!!!!!!

I wonder if the DEC takes into account a certain percentage for poaching when calculating deer herd #'s and number of tags to be given out.