No Check Stations????
 

Well Ive been thinking about this for a while, Missouri is doing away with wildlife check stations. For yearswhen you take a deer or turkey you had to take it to an official check station to be checked, recorded and banded with a numbered band for records of it being tagged. Now Missouri has done away with check stations, and I think it is just going to make it easier on poachers. What I mean is before, when you tagged an animal, you had to take it to town, have it looked at, by a check station attendant, or maybe even a game warden, for it to be legal. That would have been hard to get by with shooting with a rifle and bowtagging it, even if it was a little inconvenient. I know there are states that dont have to check animals, and am wondering if there is a bigger poaching problem in areas where you simple kill it and take it home. I think it will open the door to people not tagging game and shooting it with whatever they want and tagging it with another kind of tag, such as shootin deer with a rifle in bow season. There is already a serious poaching problem in our area without this, and Im afraid it will get even worse. What does everyone think it will do?? Has anyone ever experienced a change like this? Sorry to be so long winded but this has been a concern to me every since I read about it. Thanks for your replies.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

But.......Missouri is the "SHOW ME STATE"....right?? (Sorry....had to do that)

I smell a rat (rats) in the state legislature there....same as New Mexico going to all draw on public land. These elected officials in the state legislatures are usually a cross section of public ignorance and we get what we vote for. I'd contact your local state senator and congressman and give them the business....

RE: No Check Stations????
 

I dont think it'll matter. Laws dont usually matter to poachers.
Here in CT you only have to check deer during firearms season, even if its a bow kill, or if you want a replacement antlerless tag you need to bring the deer down, otherwise its just tag & drag. You get caught with a deer without a tag its just like getting caught with one that hasn't been banded at a check point. The only plus I see to check stations is it helps the DEP keep track of kills & thereby herd population. They give you a report card with every tag but I know alot of guys that toss them.
I hunt NY too & they just want the tag on it till its cut up for consumption.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Last I heard Illinois was dropping its checkstations too. Everything is going phone in just like they do with Turkeys. don't know if they are doing it for shotgun too but I'm pretty sure the Archery stations are gone.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Rumor has it that Maryland is doing the same thing this year. For the most part, I agree with Leverdude that poachers will do what they're gonna do, however, I think this opens the door to allow people who may not be 100% law abiding to kill illegal game.
Under this policy, all you have to do is kill a deer and fill out a form, you don't have to go through the same checks and balances to confirm that it was a legal kill.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

NC has been do it here for many years. It's the best. All you need to do is call 1-800-I Got One and check it in.

MD. is going to it next year. Thank God. It was a royal PIA to find a check in station. They all were being sqeezed out do to urban sprawl.

Va I'm not sure. I haven't hunted it for years. Back when I did, I quit taking there deer to the check in station. They never wanted to see the deer so why hassle with loading the deer up and going. I would just show up by myself and check it in.

Seriously, this is a plus not a minus for us hunters. It makes it so easy and reduces your wrap up time therefore it will increase your hunting time. It won't increase poaching. Poarchers are caught in the field. They are either caught in the act or someone tips off the game warden that someone has an illegal deer.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Poachers don't check in their kill. I agree with Fieldmouse, they are caught in the field, not the check station.

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I agree w/ Angus...I am also from MO and I kinda like the check stations but I do think doing away with them entices one who may not be 100% legal to further break game laws...For instance I know of a hunter in my home town who got his sons tags who does not hunt and filled them this past turkey season for him...I've know this guy for a long time and have never known him to do something like this...I confronted him about this and asked him why he would do something like this and he replied that with this new phone in thing its easy because he would have never tried it if his son had to accompany him to the check station and lie about the whole thing...I have been very upset about the whole thing because I feel I haven't done my part as a sportsman by not turning him in...I am from a very very small town and have known this guy for years and he is a good friend of my dad's who he does farming buisness with...I figure if he continues though he will have to pay the consequences because you never get away with something totally...I say keep the check stations and keep the so called honest guy HONEST!

RE: No Check Stations????
 

VA made the switch last season. Personally I think it does open the window for the poachers to get away with it much easier. There aren't near enough game wardens to keep up with the poaching as it is. For me personally, it's neither a plus or a minus. There are check in stations everywhere and 9 times out of 10 it's not really inconvenient to check one in. I'm sure it probably helped some folks out, depending on where they live and hunt. IMO the folks it hurts the worst are the actual check in stations. They will lose "X" amount of business by not having to have people bring their game in. How much that is...??? Who knows.

WV still has check in stations as of last season. I have not heard if they are considering the change yet. Of course WV is a whole different animal. Nobody checks them in anyhow over there, so it definitely won't make a difference. Based on what I know, my guess would be 1 out of 5 get checked in at all right now, even when they are required to be taken to a check in station....and that might be way low :(

RE: No Check Stations????
 

I like the idea and then again I don't. In Va. you have to call it in and they give you a # that has to be written on the tag. Get caught with out the # and your busted. They check it in with out seeing it. It's the same. If you want it scored you have to take it in though.

I don't like it because I like going to the check station and hanging out. It smells good. It feels good. It's a part of the hunt I enjoy.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Well like nodog said I too like to go to the checkstations, and as a kid when I started hunting, taking an animal in was very exciting to get it checked. As some others have said, the new call in is very convenient, all you do is call a 1-800 number and type in a couple answers and your done. But in my area Id say only one in 5 deer are actually checked, and now it will be worse. A lot of guys around here only put their tag on a deer in case they got stopped before they got home, now once they get home it will go in the freezer and never checked. But my biggest concern is trophy bucks, a lot of the locals around here wont even bother hunting with their bow anymore, they will simply hunt with a gun, and possibly even a spotlight, then call it in as a bowkill, possibly entering it into P/Y or B/C clubs, making it very unfair for the ones of us who pride ourselves in doing it right and legal, just my opinion.

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I'm concerned with the number of immature bucks that will be shot and not repeorted so that the "hunter" can continue hunting for yet another OR a larger animal. I feel that many will NOT respect the limits this way.

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We've never had check stations in Texas, except for certain public lands. Yes, we've got a poaching problem, but no worse than anywhere else. As said already, poachers and other game violaters don't go to check stations anyway. I'd rather see the fish and game departments take the funds it takes to staff and run the stations and use the money to track down and catch the bad guys.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Illinois Archery check stations were never staffed by the state so elimination of them will not save any money for the state. I just wonder how the heck they are going to monitor CWD in this state. I think there will be some undereporting of harvest of bucks. I doubt that poaching itself will go up any but I do think some bucks will go reported as does.

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I think the idea of state wide check stations is silly. Alot of the managed private ranches in Texas have there own check stations set up and the information they collect is extremely important. But when you have check stations on a state wide level its kinda pointless because the information you get isint going to be very accurate. Alot of people dont report the animals that they kill and even if they do, most of the people who work at check stations dont know how to properly record the data. I've heard of several check stations in different states that had high school kids recording the data and even aging the deer brought in. To me thats just plain dumb. If you do not have quailified workers then the state is simply wasting money and the hunters are wasting there time.

I doubt that the number of poaching cases will increase due to the lack of state wide check stations. Most poachers arent going to take their deer to check stations anyway, so I really dont see what difference it makes. The best way to prevent poaching is to have extreme punishment for those who do the poaching. Take Texas for example, poaching down here is considered a felony. If a poacher gets caught then hes going to jail and most of the people will have to file bankrupcty because they can not pay the fines that they will recieve. Plus they loose everything that they had on or with them at the time they committed the crime ex. guns, boats, atvs, trucks. I think the best "poaching law" in Texas is the fact that you dont have to kill a deer on somebody elses land, but if you are caught on somebody elses land with a gun/bow then you are considered poaching and will face the same charges if you had killed a 200" with a spotlight off of a county road. Tough punishment is the best crime deterrent.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

I from MO as well and will miss the atmoshpere of the the check stations.

The original purpose of check stations was to gather information on deer health and deer kill numbers. The check station system started back when they reopened the deer season back in the 40's or 50's here in MO. With the new system, deer numbers can still be monitored. Deer health information (with the exception of CWD) is of minimum importance, since it basically has been studied to death as it deals with the entire population. I have heard the cost of the check stations is over a million dollars/year. The deer population and turkey population are both high here in the state. They account for a certain percentage of harvest as being unreported or unchecked.

So with everything I mention above being true or preceive to be true, why would anyone be surprised by the elimination of check stations?


It will make poaching or filling other tags easier, but with all time high populations, who cares? It will only be a small increase of cheating percentage wise. Sooner or later enough of these people who cheat will get caught to set examples. Those of us who are ethical, will abide by the laws.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Somebody staffed them and, I assume, footed the bill for it, IL Rancher. Who was doing it and paying the bills, if not the state? Not jumping your case, understand, I'm just curious.

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Hopefully they will use the money to buy more public land for hunters and manage the game. It will go good, we don,t have check stations in Kansas and all is well.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

Most bow hunting check stations were at Archery shops and manned by the shop owners. Some were at larger stores (Farm stores) Shotgun check stations were different and were mainly, in this area at least, manned by college students from a University's biology department. There was one that had official DNR there but not usually. Maybe in Southern Illinois it is different. And you were talking 2-3 check stations a county for Shotgun (I think one even has one and I am sure some have 4. It's been a while, I have to drive 20 minutes to mine in a cOunty that takes 35 minutes to drive across) . Archery, I think there were a Dozen+ in my county. So I think you might seem a decrease in sales tax revenues from the 1 out of 10 people checking a deer who realize they would like a dozen arrows made up too or hey, I'll try those broadheads. Impulse buys you see. Now, maybe 75% of those people will still buy instate at a latter date but many might just go the cabelas route. Just not smart IMO.

I will not deny that this might save some money in data entery time, automation you see, but I think the initial investment at a time the DNR is slashing jobs because of lack of funding and investing in an automation system might not be wise. You are looking at a state that barely has enough money to fund CPO's and is grossly understaffed in that department during hunting seasons. The DNR is so mismanaged that I just see this as another mistake Arthur.

Don't worry about jumping my case, legitimate question as every state does things differently.

Oh, as far as data collection of age, probably meaningless really, the information gathered (This was only done during Shotgun but realize that 2/3rds of the deer killed in Illinois a year are shotgun and Shotgun is what, 7 days with most of those deer being killed in the first weekend of the season). I do wonder how they are going to do CWD monitoring however. Maybe roadkill or maybe they will get samples at lockers, still someone has to be there to pick them up. I just see the potential for problems by eliminating them.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

The archery check station here is the local gas station. The cashier handed out the orange thingies, and recorded if it was a buck or doe. On occasion whenever I was in there, she would just ask them what it was without even going out to check it.

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Check stations only operate during the seasons, poachers hunt all year round. I am from missouri and own my own property. There has always been poachers (criminals). My cabin is back in the woods and I stay down there most every weekend. all year long at night I hear poachers. I think the call in checking would work if they make the penalties alot stronger for violating the laws and make it legal for landowners to drop anyone trespassing and poaching.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

This will have zero effect on poachers, they are poachers for a reason. What will now go uncaught are "mistakes", honest ones.

I worked in an archery shop that was a check station, it costs the shop a good deal of money on weekends such as the opener. We would have trucks backed up in the parking lot 5-6 deep for 4-5 hours in the morning. This takes the shop techs away from customers, bow repairs, arrow making etc. Heck I was a JOAD instructor and my classes were pretty much cancelled those mornings cause I was needed in the check in area to help lift deer onto scales. We treated it as part of the class and with the kids interested in hunting would talk about shot placement etc.

Additionally the COs had to make the rounds to the stations every couple of days to pick up the check in paper work.

I do like the atomosphere of the check in station and it is great bringing one of my sons in with his deer or turkey, but they take the willingness of local shops to front the cost, they take time and money for the COs to make the rounds.

--Bob

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Again, it might be different in other locations around the country or State but I talked to the local shop owner and they would get maybe 5-10 deer on a busy day during early season and than it would often be only every other day. After second shotgun season it really, really slowed down because all the deer were really doing different patterns. Granted I had something like 8 archery checks stations within 30 minutes of here that I could have gone to so that could have had an impact on short waits to check one in but...They had a lot of fun with it at the local shop, did a big buck and big doe contest and I know the owner was disappointed that they are not going to be doing it anymore.

Yes, A CPO or someone employed by the state would have to go and pick them up. Unfortunatly they were often a year behind. And by the way, this would be a great program to intern college students in that are doing Wildlife Biology. Call it busy work but for 3 months of the year the only cost would be the cost of the state vehicles for them to drive around picking up the records and dropping them atregional DNR offices (Heck, use the US postal service) Before people start saying than what was the point of the stations it is pretty simple. It doesn't stop true poaching. A lot of people do out of season poaching and tons poach on posted land and some poach on preserve land too. Tags or no tags that isn't going to stop people. I think it will have impact on people shooting a buck that turns out smaller than they wanted and calling it a doe. The state is saying they will do spot checks but if they can't get to check stations except once every 6-18 months than what are the chances that one of the very few CPO's is going to stop by? I have lived on this farm for 5 hunting seasons now and have seen a CPO twice drive by. This 2 buck limit in Illinois has had a great deal to do with the growth of the big bucks taken in this state. To be honest, that is not a big deal to me but to others who hunt for horns it is.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

I dont think the check stations do anything but employ people not needed. The same thing can be accomplished by requireing a tag on an animal, and I.D. before it can be processed. As for poacher, if they do keep the meat it wont make a difference if a processer does the checking or a game warden. But most poachers dont use a processor, they process the deer themselves or simply lop of the antlers and leave the carcuse. Other than for information on herds, I have always thought the idea of check stations was simply a waste of needed resources.

RE: No Check Stations????
 

For the most part they are. The only reason that checks stations are still around is because its a tradition. There is no "real" scientific research or data that is collect at state wide check stations. There mainly just a place for hunters to shoot the bull and see what everybody else killed. Which is fine, but I dont think the states need to pay for such things........