I don' t think we' re missing the big picture here elknut1, the topic was poaching.

But you do bring up a great point. When f&g determines how many tags they issue they take into account success rates. If everyone got the animal they had a tag for the herds would be gone in a few years. Party hunting is illegal for that reason.

You might be right that party hunting has a significant effect on the herd but at least that can be regulated a little bit. Meaning if many people party hunt this year in a certain area then in sound management next year tag numbers should be down due to a low census count in that area. But I' m not trying to take away from the seriousness of party hunting, its still a negative and illegal deal.

I do think poaching has more than a drop in the bucket effect on herds. In the Book Cliffs area in Eastern Utah a poaching ring was just brought down. A taxidermist in Colorado was paying some kids $50 a head for trophy muleys. These kids admitted shooting close to 100 trophy class deer in the last 3 years. Thats almost the SAME AMOUNT OF TAGS DRAWN in those 3 years for that unit. Thats 100 trophy class deer that a person who averages 12 years to draw that unit no longer gets to hunt.