they must of had some good lawyers. the punishment deffinatly did not fit the crime

You know, I think Trushot may be on to something here with his suggestion about the Ethical Hunters Colition. Maybe we should form such a group. It could operate much like the Neighborhood Watch groups accross the country. It would be groups of hunters/landowners forming together to help report illegal hunting actitivty such as poaching, spotlighting, trespassing, standstealing, ect. Think about it, our local game wardens cannot be everywhere at all times. Who better to help patrol the woods than fellow hunters? This group would form relationships with the local game wardens. The groups would meet with the local game police/commissions prior to the seasons to discuss problems and also for the local game police to give tips on what to do should you encounter someone violating the law. For example, a few years ago, while my father and I were outside talking, a car stopped up the road and shot a deer out the window. My father and I ran up the road and scared the guy before he could load the deer into his car. After we called the warden and he arrived, the warden advised us that should we come accross a similar event in the future, we should let the guy load the deer into his car first, then get his tag number and then call the warden. By us running him off, the warden had no evidence to go on other than our word verses the poacher. Now, we know what to do in the future.

I believe this group would not only help cut down on poachers and other illegal activity, it would do alot for our reputations as hunters in general. Now, when someone breaks the game laws, we all look bad as hunters, but if we had a group whose sole function was to police ourselves, we'd ALL look a wholelot better in the eyes of the public.

What do you guys think? Good idea? Bad idea? Wouldn't work?

Hey Slicendice,They're toying with an idea like that here in Michigan with the base group from a BB like this one. Check out http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/fo...?s=&forumid=10

Should be the first post on the top. Not a bad idea at all. The trick is to get the DNR and Law enforcement to give you their blessing, otherwise you wind up with rougue vigilantes with more good intentions than brain cells. I think it could work, but it would have to be on a local level with meetings, parameters set, and maybe a crash course in locale-specific laws.



Trushot }}------>

Trushot,

This sounds like a great idea. I'll monitor Michigan to see how it goes there, what success it has and what problems it encounters before I take it to my local DNR. I really think this could work.

Jon

I agree fully with all of your responses. I believe that fines etc.. that are given out for these types of offenses aren't even close to being fair. With that amount of illegal game, these guys aren't going to quit doing what they are doing. Not to mention that these guys have probably been doing this type of stuff for a long time. They just got caught. How about other people(family, friends etc..)? I think that they should be nailed too. You can't take that amount of illegal game and no one except for the people who are actually doing it would know about it. That's BS!! Get everyone involved in some type of legal action. It's my thought that this isn't something that a couple guys just pickup. It's something that is passed on from parents or in-laws. Look it the whole dang family!! I'm sure they would find more violations. If people poach to that extreme, there are many, many more people involved. Atleast around here, the known poachers just aren't one guy, it's the whole family. Just my two thoughts. I hate these people!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately Wildlife laws are not as stringent as the criminal laws. To d they id not travel aross state lines, then possbly they could have received punishment from the fed's under the Lacy Act. That is where the big time punishment is.

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