Posting: Can & Will Be Used Against You
 

Hey guys,

First let me say that I do not condone poaching and I did not know the truth about what occurred until after the SHTF.

Let me try to link this up. A very good friend of mine has a friend (the guy that's not too happy right now). That friend has another friend that happens to live on the same street as my buddy. The unlinked friend posted a picture of a very large deer on a forum, showing it off. While showing it off on a forum he indicated that his neighbor (My friend) had it in the back of a truck.

Well word got out about this buck and the DNR and the Sheriff's office showed up to my friends neighbors house. The DNR and the Sheriff's office blocked off the street and went to everyone's house on the street that had a pick up truck. They searched everyone's yard, everyone's house, everyone's freezer. When you wouldn't tell them what they already knew they got out the ticket book and said what a shame it would have to be to have to write you up for having meat with no tags in your freezer or meat that is over a year old in your freezer etc...

Once they narrowed it down to my friends house, they hit him with the book and told him if he didn't give the guys name up he be arrested for obstruction and all his meat would be confiscated along with other items. BTW obstruction is a felony. My buddy had no choice because they already knew who the friend was because they had already been monitoring everyone's phone calls. They knew exactly what was going on.

I could have been dragged into this myself because in my buddies truck I had several old hunting tags that came from deer in my freezer and they had my name on them. As soon as he saw them on the street he went out to the truck and picked those tags up. He also put things in plain view so it didn't look like he was hiding anything. Like several deer heads he had in a bucket in the garage and what not. So had they had those tags in hand and come to my house with a freezer full of meat with no tags I might have some explaining to do but I did nothing illegal but there are tickets to be given in the grey area.

The moral of this story is remember that what you post here or anywhere can be used against you. My buddies friend's friend's IP address gave them his location. Then they used address of everyone on the street with trucks to get a hold of the phone numbers to monitor the calls. Then monitoring those calls they knew who did it but needed somone to point a finger so they leaned my buddy for the info.

Technology has brought us all closer together so watch what you post.

Tom

WOW, Every year a story like this seems to surface. Like the others this one also sounds a bit stretched. Monitoring phone calls of the entire neighborhood for 1 deer? I could understand if it was a poaching ring.... but just 1 deer? And the entire neighborhood? You said they already knew who the friend was so why did they hassle your buddy? I mean they were monitoring phones right?
BTW, obstruction isnt immediately a felony. It depends on the curcumstances and can be a misdemeanor charge.
If this story is true, the DNR and the Sherriff were using their muscle by threatening tickets cause when do you need to keep tags of deer you shot in your freezer with the meat? Or keep the tags period after you process the meat and its in your freezer? Why is it illegal to have processed venison in your freezer that is over a year old? Last I heard you just needed the tag when you were transporting the deer. This all sounds a bit far fetched but just might be true. What happens when you belong to a hunt club and at the end of the day the club shares the meat. Your driving home and get pulled over by the DNR (they have that right) they search your vehicle (they have that right too) and find the venison in your cooler. They ask you for your tag... hmm... you didnt shoot it so you dont have a tag. What now?
Tom, in Virginia the DGIF (DNR) publish thier CPO's logs for public viewing. Yours should also...Michigan should too.. But please post this incident so we can all see...

Sounds like they need to get a life.

My conservation dept is so short staffed right now they can barely patrol counties during hunting season.

Maybe I had a late night, but what was the crime here?

Edited to add:

If they knew the IP address why did'nt they go directly to the source? No offense statjunk, but as a LEO myself, I find this story hard to believe the way it is described here.

He had a buck in his friends truck so it is poaching? I don't understand where the poaching is here
The whole block was phone tapped? Not a specific persons home but the whole block? For a deer? Hard to believe this order would be issued

thats a bunch of bull, those guys would really tapp a whole sreet for that one deer, if so then they just really wanted to get theyre way

This is VERY fishy.

#1 - Since when is having a deer in the back of a truck poaching? Was there an out-of-season date on the photo, did they include text indicating it was poached, or what? Plenty of deer in the back of trucks in posts here with no black helicopters showing up.

#2 - I grew up in MI (this is where it occurred, right). While I have little respect for the DNR there based on my experiences and those of other acquaintances, unless laws have changed it is not illegal to have meat over one year old in your freezer, nor are you required to keep the tag once the carcass is processed. How would they tell what meat when with what tag anyways?? The processor I used regularly had a DNR officer there aging/measuring deer and sent me out the door past them with bags of meat, and no tag returned with it.

#3 - Monitoring an entire neighborhood's phones, blocking the street, going through everyone's freezers? Now the DNR has a little more investigatory discretion than the police but they still have to have cause to get phone taps etc and what you describe is beyond reasonable belief.


While I have serious doubts as to the truthfulness of this story, I have ZERO doubts that people don't understand the risk they put themselves at when they post stories about illegal hunting practices or pictures showing evidence of illegal activity. A couple years ago I saw a post by a guy where he shot 2 bucks in Montana -- illegal, and the authorities were contacted though I did not hear the outcome. In another case, same forum, some people posted pics of picking up winter kill sheep heads. The landscape was recognized as somewhere they were not supposed to be, and the authorities ended up getting them on multiple infractions. Finally, I have a buddy who posted a photo that was taken out of context and he while he was cleared of all suspicion he had to endure a very uncomfortable investigation.

Moral of the story: Don't break the law. Assuming you are anonymous on the internet is also a bad idea.

This is not BS.

To the poster that said since when is it illegal to have meat in the freezer without a tag etc.... Every state is different. In Michigan you have to have a tag in the freezer with the meat. After a certain period of time you must be re-issued a tag to keep it in your freezer. Not sure on the exact time frame etc...

This story is not BS. The guy did poach the deer and claimed that it was shot somewhere else. Why did they care about this one deer? It would have been a new state record.


Guys,

Don't get bogged down in the details. Just take from this that what you post on the internet can come back to haunt you. I've always watched what I've said on here so I know I'm good.

Tom

To my knowledge they only intercepted calls from homes that had trucks. This is an area where there's some conjecture. But there is no denying that they were watching the lines because the officer indicated to the minute what time my buddy had called his friend (the one who poached).

Tom

The guy who poached kept his mouth shut. It was a friend of the poacher that posted the picture and description to the web.

All,

Believe me this is 100% true. This just happened so there won't be any info on it yet but there will be.

Tom