pa fines are a joke for poaching thats y we have so much of it look at ohio fines
January 23, 2006

UPDATE!
FIVE MARION MEN IN POACHING RING CONVICTED

Five Marion men charged with over 100 wildlife violations plead no contest to all charges in Marion County Municipal Court January 23rd, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. One of the men also was convicted of three charges in Delaware County. The total of all fines, court costs and restitution is $31,629 in Marion County and $1,367 in Delaware County that will be paid, with another $72,100 in Marion County and $100 in Delaware County in fines that were suspended. If the men violate their probation, they will be ordered to pay these fines. Three men will also spend 60 days each in jail, with an additional total of 41 years 85 days jail suspended as long as they obey their probation.

The individual sentences are:

David Jones, age 31, 65 charges
Fined $54,250, of which he will have to pay $6,500
Restitution of $3,200
Court and jail fees $5,709
(Total out of pocket $15,409)
Jail time given 29 years 210 days, of which he will have to serve 60 days
Lifetime suspension of hunting rights in Ohio
Must attend hunter education class
Five years probation

Robert Freeman, age 42, 27 charges
Fined $21,750, of which he will pay $2,700
Restitution of $2,650
Court and jail fees $4,201
(Total out of pocket $9,551)
Jail time given 10 years 90 days, of which he will serve 60 days
Lifetime suspension of hunting rights in Ohio
Five years probation

Dustin Freeman, age 19, 10 charges
Fined $4,750, of which he will pay $1,000
Restitution of $700
Court and jail fees $3,504
(Total out of pocket $5,204)
Jail time given 1 year 210 days, of which 60 days will be served
Lifetime suspension of hunting rights in Ohio
Five years probation

Joshua Stone, age 29, 3 charges Marion County, 3 charges Delaware County
Marion County
Fined $750, of which he will pay $300
Restitution of $400
Court costs of $162
(Total out of pocket $862)
60 days jail, all suspended
2 year loss of hunting privileges in Ohio
3 years probation
Must attend hunter education class

Delaware County
Fined $1,150, of which he will pay $1,050
Court costs of $317 minimum (longer he takes to pay, the more it is)
(Total out of pocket $1,367)
90 days jail, all suspended
3 years probation
2 year loss of hunting privileges, concurrent with Marion County penalty

David McKinley, age 20, 4 charges
Fined $1,500, of which he will pay $400
Court costs of $203
(Total out of pocket $603)
60 days jail, all suspended
2 years loss of hunting privileges in Ohio
3 year probation
Must attend hunter education class

Read more about this investigation and the charges imposed



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I've been saying that for a year now on these forums. Raise the fines, lower the occurances of crime. Give people something to fear.

Write to your legislaters about the fines.The PGC has no control.

That's the exact reason whythe PGC needs a lisence increase.

Your reasoning is totaly off base.A fee increase in not a perk for the PGC.A fee increase allows them to operate an agency that supports all the wildlife in the commenwealth and the hunters of this state.If you want to support more poaching and less habitat work,deny them the increased funds they need to do the job.

You make no sense.You complain about poaching and the lack of enforcement,yet you want to deny them the resources to fill the many vacant WCO positions.All this for what?Because they're trying to reverse the neagative effects the deer have had on the habitat and they aren't stocking enough pen-raised pheasants.Sorry but your logic is failed.

If anyone wants to read about poachers caught and fines levied in PA, all they have to do is go to the PGC site and read the news releases.

www.pgc.state.pa.us

Looks to me like they're doing a fairly good job of nailing poachers who operate in groups and were responsible for large numbers of illegal game. Especially considering how short-handed the PGC is in the WCO department. We just recently got back to "full strength" in my county, after a young feller returned from active duty in Iraq and was posted to our area. We'd only had one WCO in the county for about the past two years.

Judging by most of your contributions, you seem to thrive on personality conflicts...real or imagined.

fines like that are definitely a joke. that sux. i think it should be a nationwide law that if you're caught poaching, your licence is suspended in every state. these guys are just gonna drive to another state to hunt for a while...

This was a ring of poachers and it's not like they just poached one deer. What is really the bad news is. They can come to Pa. and hunt. Just a hop and they are in Pa.
No regulations about them to come here or any other state and hunt. Same with people who lose their hunt privs here in Pa.,say for a year or 2. No big deal, Go to NY or Ohio or pay for a canned hunt in their state. No problem for the ones who have money.All legal andnot really a loss of hunting is it?

The problem I have with a thread like this is basically with the use of the word "poaching". Over time it seems the term has been so corrupted that it's used to include anything from some trivial violation to downright criminal behavior. The net effect has of course been to render the term just about meaningless. The way many, if not most, use it when they say someone was caught poaching, we have no idea what or how severe their offense was. As and example, my cousin was once ticketed for not displaying his back tag. His specific act was to have his tag attached to his coat but then put on a back pack which of course hid the tag from view. Certainly a violation but now he's a poacher? lol...

In this thread nearly all are ready to say that the fines for "poaching" aren't high enough but even in the examples posted of fines and jail times to show what other states do we don't even know what these guys actually did. All we know is they are poachers (whatever that means). Now I understand what guys like TRYKON are getting at and I don't necessarily disagree but imo without specifics this whole thread is just meaningless noise. I have heard of many examples where imo the fines were too low but I have also heard of many where imo the fines were much too high given the circumstances.

So r pa fines a joke? Well imo, some are and some aren't but some are a joke in that they're too high and some are a joke in that they're too low. Now if you're talking about fines for "poaching" however, I don't think the question has any viable basis for a discussion.