I agree, its apples to oranges. His illegally hurting the rest of our chances at legally taking a big buck in no way compares to that. And before you'd throw a friend or simple acquaintance under the bus, even for a serious crime like poaching deer, think about how it will impact their life, their families life and your relationship with all of them. Then ask yourself, can I do something, perhaps sit down and talk to him about why this is not acceptable? In some circumstances, maybe most, it won't do any good. But in a few it might and maybe he'll feel guilty enough to never do it again and you know you helped set him on the right course. In other cases, a call to law enforcement would be in order, after you did what you could do. I consider this to be more of an apples to apples comparison. Suppose your friend was doing drugs, or constantly binge drinking and driving around town impaired every Friday and Saturday night, which are both also illegal, and it was affecting him, his family and your friendship. Would you call the cops immediately, or would you talk to him and try to get him help? The call to the cops may eventually be in order if its what's needed to put an end to the chaos, but wouldn't you rather see if you could get the guy some help first?