DeerManiac874

Okay everyone, I am about to rant about something that happened at our weekend farm.
So, my dad and I decided to drive down to our farm for the night to do a little hunting. We arrived at our property at about 3:00 pm, and I immediately drove to my stand. However, as I was driving across one of our pond dams, I saw a brown and white blob at the far end of the pond. Well, I got out of my car, looked through my binoculars, and finally concluded that it was a dead deer floating in the water. Deciding that I would go back after the afternoon hunt, I continued toward my stand. So, I sit in my stand all afternoon--see nothing. After dark, I head back to the lake, grab the canoe, and paddle out to the deer. Well, I shine my flashlight down into the water and see one antler (which I originally think has 3 points) and the other side looked as if it had shed an antler. Without touching the deer, I went back to shore, got my dad, and we went back out. Well, long story short, when we eventually pulled the deer out, it actually had 5 points on one side. AND, *CLIMAX* *CLIMAX* -- a bullet hole straight through him behind his shoulder right below his spine. This pond is in the center of 360 acres, so this deer was definitely shot on our land. The deer turned out to be a deer I have been watching for a few years and have passed multiple times to let him grow--he only had 2 more weeks of the season--and was poached...made me sick. I know that this is not an isolated event cause we constantly see tire tracks, footprints, etc. Does anyone have any advice for us? Or, is it not worth taking any action.
*Side note*--The second antler popped off when trying to pull it ashore, do y'all think he was shedding or could sitting in water loosen the antlers...remember, one had already fallen off.
Thanks for letting me rant, and any advice would be great.

Rebel Hog

Well, I carry my my cell phone which has a camera and I would have taken all the pictures I could have of the deer, tires tracks, anything pertaining to the poaching and trespassingand sent all the pictures to my computer to have them printed-out on my photo printer. Then with the same camera/phone, would have called it in and requested to meet with a Wildlife Officer on the property.
I know, not all have the camera/phone, but you can do it the conventional way, either way I would have done it that day!

Rebel Hog

Delete

jepcho

Man thats a bummer! I dont know what you can do unless you live near your land and can watch it closely. That is the problem we have.

Chuck7

That is horrible.

I feel for ya. I sorry that happened to ya. Neighbors like that make me sick.
Chuck7

enginegrunt

I don't what your course of action would have been. I probably would have called the DNR and had them come out and take a look. Hopefully they would be more active in your area. Only other way is how well do you know your neighbors. If you know them quite well they could keep an I out and check if they see somebody or something out of the ordinary.
Man that really stinks hopefully it will come to conclusion the people getting busted.

live2hunt743

i dunno what laws are like in georgia, but in wisconsin i'd end up doing two things. calling the dnr and then the police. the dnr can take care of poaching im pretty sure, but they can do nothing in wisconsin as far as tresspassing goes. so if thats the issue then you need to call the police, they handle tresspassing, not the dnr.

another thing i'd do...if you have a trail cam try setting that up along where the poachers drive, maybe you can get a picture without them knowing.

good luck, i really hope all goes well for ya

DoctorDeath

Claymore mines seem to work well !

dd

Arrowmaster

Well maybe a trailcam might work for busting them out. Turn the flash off and conceal it the best you can. I would also report it to the DNR and maybe see if the game warden can keep a closer eye on the property and tell the game warden you will prosecute to the full extent of the law. No matter who it is tresspassing. Ive placed a trail cam on my property to catch unwanted guests.

DeerManiac874

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF THE DEER/ANTLER:

ENTRY:


EXIT:


ANTLER FOUND: