ORIGINAL: huntnma
i think the dictionary may need to be updated, because one does not have to be tresspassing to poach a critter, you can be on public land, like earlyin said or you can be driving down the side of the road.to me, it's any animal that is killed out of season and/or without a property owners permission.
I guess that's the point isn't it? You do indeed have to be tresspassing to be poaching. That's what it means.Itseems to me that the majority of non hunters use or understand the term correctly. It's hunters that seem to have gotten it wrong over the years. I don't think the dictionary is going to get changed just becauseprimarily hunters (and not all hunters for sure) use the term incorrectly. Anyway, my original question was how is it that it got perverted to mean any game violation?
The term poacher correctly has a pretty severe conotation to the non hunting public. When we hunters use it frivolously to include all kinds of even minor violations it, imo, gives the impression that we are all a bunch of criminals. I really think we should go back to using the term correctly. Calling someone who forgot his back tag and shoots a deer without it in his possession for example is not a poacher yet some would incorrecty argue that he is. I think it's silly at least and potentially harmfull to the image of hunters.