RE: NY Conservation Officers
I grew up near a family that was well respected in the community. It was also a well known fact that the father and son would take as many bucks as they would see fit every year.
On one occasion the son showed me the heads and racks of the bucks they had taken just that one year. I counted 24 bucks not including any spikes.
The reason I mention this is the fact that the father was high level New York State Trooper.
You see...where I grew up most people don't take any issue with harvesting more animals than a hunter is licensed for. In fact this family always tagged all their deer, they may not have been their own tags, but you would be surprised how many family and friends tags they had.
The reason no one frowned upon this activity was that this family only hunted in season, and in an otherwise very ethical manner. In fact the only meat theyregularly served at their home was venison.
My point in all of this is simple. There is line that has been drawn in the public view as to what is criminal activity. In the minds ofmany people thisfamilies activities were not criminal. They were simply hunting for their food.
Where the line is drawn between hunting and criminal activity is really the heart of this topic.
If the public really felt that hunters were involved in truelly criminal activities they would demand more CO's. In my opinion the public believes that the government has much better things to do with our tax money then chase hunters for activities that are relatively low level violations and at most have a questionable effect on our overall deer herd.
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I want to make it clear I am not condoning illegal hunting here, I am only trying to shed some light on the likely reason our society has not felt the need for more CO's, and why the numbers are unlikely to increase any time in the near future.