I thought he made it through??
 

Well the night before last my Dad said he heard cars slow down out infront of his house. He looked, and 2 cars had pulled over. He saidtheywere a truck, and a car. He didn't think anything about it because people spotlight all the time right there. Its a soy bean field. Well he said he went in the other room, and My mom yelled something cracked on the house, and he said no I think that was a gun shot. He looked out the window, and those cars took off. He thought they must of shot and missed something since they left. The field goes back to the woods prolly 400 yards from the road. Well yesterday, I was driving down the road, and see a white belly of a deer laying in the back of the field. He hadn't told me about hearing people shoot yet. I called him and said I think there is a dead deer in the bean field. He called me back on his way to work, and said it is a deer. Well I went, and checked in the evening. It was a buck, but someone had already cut the rack off of it! It was prolly the big 10 point we have been watching there. there were 2 of them that looked excatly alike, and he was the bigger of the 2. We killed the other one in gun season, and it scored 165. We were guessing him to be in the 180's. It looked like a big bodied deer. I'm guessing it was him because we haven't seen him since, and we were seeing him on a regular bases. sorry about the long write, I'm just not too happy right now.

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

Sorry to hear that man. Hope the SOBs get caught.

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This sort of thing unfortunately happens all the time. It amazes me where people will go for bragging rights. These SOB's show up to work saying "look what I got" and then rub it in everyones faces as if they did it legal....... Well I believe we all go to heaven, just different levels and they will be on the bottom cleaning deer sh-- for eternity with those racks they have cut off over the years up their, you know.... LOL

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Dang, if they spotlight all the time I would have done something about it before now. Put a lot of outside lights out with a switch inside, when you see traffic stopped, turn them on. Put a speaker outside and when they stop holler what the he@@ are you doing out there. Hook up a siren. Go outside and confront them. If you can't get help from the game and fish people then do something yourself or they will continue to kill the deer illegally.

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This is unfortunetly the first time this has happened. We have shined a spotlight on them before when they stop to scare them off, but they do it all the time. We just figured after so long of them spotlighting, and not shooting at anything what the heck let them spotlight. We didn't know someone actually had the balls to shoot a big buck right in front of the house. I hope it wasn' the big buck. We haven't seen him since, but you know how the big boys just disappear.here is pictures of the 165 inch we killed, and the other buck was way bigger than this.

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I'm still amazed that shining/spot lighting is still legal anywhere. If it were illegal, it would be much easier to catch poachers.

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

Dan-

Spotlighting deer is legal in Indiana. QUALIFIER: As long as you doNOT posess a firearm or other weapon in the vehicle or on your person.

Many deer hunters here use shining legally to locate deer in the evening, just as turkey hunters "put the birds to roost" at nightfall. Just as a means to find a set-up spot the following morning. LEGALLY done it can be an effective scouting tool.

NOW - Shooting a deer while spotlighting in most states is ILLEGAL and needs to be reported and IS indeed a poaching act.

Poachers revolt me.

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

GForce,I think you misunderstood me a little bit. I know when it is legal and that you can't posess a firearm. My point was that I can't believe that its legal at all, firearm or not.

IMO MANY MANY MANY more poachers would be caught if it was completely illegal.

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The problem with it being legal as long as you don't posses a firearm is that is unconstitutional.(Ky was the same for a long time)The last time I checked,we had the right to keep and posses firearms.Better off to just make it illegal and be done with it.

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

GForce,I think you misunderstood me a little bit. I know when it is legal and that you can't posess a firearm. My point was that I can't believe that its legal at all, firearm or not.

IMO MANY MANY MANY more poachers would be caught if it was completely illegal.
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And now thisgoes to many extremes; it is legal to purchase, posess and consume alcohol but where do you draw the line on the pointwhere it becomes illegal? Death of a human being?

What about tobacco, many issues are being considered in various city, local,and state governments as to the issues of second-hand smoke.

To this end,should we just consider and accept everyknee-jerk reaction handed down to us by the legislation?

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

IMO apples and oranges.

To me shining is used for nothing but entertainment. I believe it does no good in scouting, except it being the lazy and cheap way to take stock of deer in your area.

There is a huge problem with poaching. What is their main method? Shining. Its that simple.

Its already illegal to drink and drive, so that is not an effective arguement. Can you tell which vehicle carries poachers if you see them shining? No. If shining were illegal, only poachers would be shining.

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I should clear it up that I don't care if people shine. I am just saying that this would be a very effective way to combat poaching.

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

As provided in the US Constitution: (I do not agree with the following info) -The freedoms provided in the Constitution are subject to a numberof exceptions. The Federal Government (US) has set forth laws that allow the individual states tomake local laws morerestrictive than the federal laws, but the states can not relax the exsistinglaws beyond the stated minimums whatsoever.

With that being said, where do we draw the line?

You can not scout any game animal via any available resource?

Let's get real,poachers are poachers; indifferent to the laws. They will continue as long as the LEGAL hunting public allows.

Please tell me whatrecourse is available?

Therein lies the problem.

Why are the gun control laws allowedentrance into our first amendment rights?

I welcome any comments via my e-mail.

RE: I thought he made it through??
 

IMO apples and oranges.

To me shining is used for nothing but entertainment. I believe it does no good in scouting, except it being the lazy and cheap way to take stock of deer in your area.

There is a huge problem with poaching. What is their main method? Shining. Its that simple. I agree, but to an extent.

OKAY, let's adjust our focus here. If you positon a game camera on a deer trail to acquire some photos of the deer in your area, are you not indeed now "shining" or"poaching"?

Come clean here, you can not have it one way or the other!:D

If you use fine optics to locate the entrance to a bedding area on a 200 yard bean field, are you not poaching? NO YOU Are using all available resources to scout the deer in youarea.

Wanna bet with me, I have watched many videos that upon the first few days in camp have "glassed" their deer of the prey doing the exact same ritual. That is how they determine where they set their locations.

Bringit on...

-Steve

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Man,this is nuts,Dan said he thaught shining should be outlawed because it will then identify poachers easily.I use lights to shoot coons and coyotes,but im not in a vehicle when i do it.Poachers are mostly lazy,they wont get too far from the truck.Dans right.

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Thats what Im trying to get at.

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Thanks furgitter. Hunting coons and coyotes is a different story.

Sorry GForce, your arguement really holds no water. The idea of comparing scouting cameras and optics to spotlights is ludacris.

Also, bring what on? :eek:

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man 400 yards under artificial light, thats good shootin;)

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Does anyone really think that will deter someone who already breaks the law and is poaching?

Reminds me of a guy on the news in Des moines a few months back who was arrested for his 9th DUI and 6th in 2 years. He hasn't had a license since 2003 I think and has managed to rack up 7 DUI's in the meantime. He told the cops when he was arrested, "Once I get back out, I'm gonna drink and drive again."

Not saying I'm opposed to lazy bastard poachers losing their licenses, but if they're already scum enough to poach, what are the odds that not having a license will prevent them from poaching in the future? Especially if they process their own meat and never have to prove they have a tag anyway?

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Sorry about the poachers, that really stinks. Did you contact anybody about it? Let them know what you saw, maybe they can look out for them.

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i would be opening a big can of woop a$$

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Gforce, I use spotlighting to scout my urban zone. When the deer come out this one area of the woods and head north, the next moring they come back in a finger located on the north. Worked everytime this year at my URban spot.

I'm from Fort Wayne also

Thats a nice buck blondie, but what was the exact score, not knocking you or anything, but it looks a little thin on mass and tine length to make the mid 160's, but its a real nice deer. Too bad about the other deer. There are a lot of dorks around here that spotlight and poach deer. several years ago in another county there were two guys that spotlighted a deer eating out of a bird feeder, dropped it with a rifle, it died in the older peoples driveway, they drove in and took a chainsaw and cut the head off. They got caught, the buck scored in the 170's, just a shame that a buck like that had to be taken in such a cowardly manner.

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yeh out in the country on the bridges people will kill bucks cut off there antlers and then dump the body off the bridge..wut a waste..
i think there should be FINES FINES FINES

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That buck had a 19 3/8 inside spread. Its G2's were 8 4/8, and g3's were 11 3/8, He had 5 3/8bases, and kept over 4 6/8 all the way out. He had 26 inch beams. I'll look for the score sheet, and put it on here. The buck we got was onlt 3 1/2 and scored that much. I would have loved to see him next year. I can't believe you thought that deer looked like it had thin antlers, and short tines. When a buck is 5 inches from boone and crockett, its gotta have a good bit of everything. lol

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blondiez24 - Too bad you had the other deer poached. The one you posted is a nice buck.

bowhunterjohn - Glad to hear of your success in your urban zone set-ups. I recently lost a prime urban zone spot due to some low-life that came in and stole mine and the property owners stands.Trespassing is illegal almost everywhere, but a thief doesn't mind. The law isn't what they care about, your property is what they want.

Legal use of aspotlight is an effective scouting method IMHO. Some will not agree;to those that do not, I will not change their positions anymore than they will deter mine.

I don't know if you heard about a duo of spotlighting poachers that were caught in Steuben county a few years back. Two guyswere living in Michiganat the time and were shooting deer in the county'srural areas and takingthem home. One of the idiots even entered at least one buck in Michigans' big buck program (don't remember the programs name).

They were targeting an area that I have glassed in the evening and you can see 100-200 deer in a two or three square mile area coming out into the fields just after sunset. This area is widely known and gets a lot of vehicle traffic of people just wanting to see deer. Many are nothunters.

You don't even need to use a spotlight, and some of the bucks are just huge. It's not unusual to see a dozen bucks that are in the 140-170 range, a couple here and there at 180. Any way, the two got caught because the farm ownerreported the night time gun shots to the DNR. The IDNR set up a sting operation and caught thepoachers as they shot a buck in a field with a centerfire rifle. The Michigan DNR searched their homes and found more deer carcasses.

Shooting deer while spotlighting is illegal in Indiana, but the laws will not stop someone that is determined to poach.Poachers don't care if the laws exsist or not, it is the criminal mindset that they follow.

Poachers are thieves of our wildlife.

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Gforce, yes I heard about that, one of the bucks was shot real close to my cousins place. What a bunch of low lifes, I agree, I hate trespasser, thieves and poachers.

I lost my one urban spot the end of season as it got sold off, it was at the end of the runway at the airport. Had a lot of luck there, both deer hunting and coyote trapping. Shot 5 deer in 3 seasons and trapped 13 coyotes, plus a ton of coons. First year there some dirtballs were coon hunting at night. I took my boy and friend after Cub scouts to spotlight, the boys love seeing deer, coon, coyotes, rabbiits ect... These guys were parked with their back gate open, keys in the ignition and two big dead coons. If I was a bad person I could have driven their truck into teh big ditch, but my mom taught me two wrongs don't make a right. I called the sheriff and they said they wouldn't come out at night. What a bunch of crap!!!

What part of Ft. Wayne you from ? Where you pratice your bow shooting at?

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blondie, don't take it as I was trying to knock your deer, its a real nice buck. Evidently the pictures don't do it justice.

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Yeah, I got the same response when trying to contact the local sheriff's on a poaching report.Call thenearest DNR managed property office and ask for thelocal CO contactnumber.

The number you call will not put you in touch with an actual Conservation Officer, but they will forward your message to the officer on duty. The COWILL respond to your call.

I will send you a Private Message concerning your last two questions. If you are new to the site and Private Messaging: Here is how you do it -

Scroll to the very top of the page you are viewing. Click onInbox ,then Sent , go to the right side of the screen and select the Send Private Messagebox. That is howyou can send a PM.

When you get a PM, you will get notification by e-mail if you haveyour e-mail addresslisted in your profile, otherwise you can just check for new posts by clicking onyour Inbox.

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At this point, all you can hope for is for this knuckle head or heads to brag to someone at a bar about "the big one shot in of the road...." and the person hearing it reports them. They need to get caught and hit with big fines and maybe some time in jail.

There supposedly was a similar knuckhead who got caught poaching a moose during deer season within a couple miles from the folks farm in norhern MN. We couldn't figure out at the time why there was a helicopter flying low of the woods within a couple miles. They really nail guys like this. Everything they've used to take or transport such an animal automatically becomes property of the people of MN, rifles, ATVs, trucks, RVs, etc. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

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how could anybody take pride in a lie? you know those sob's are bragging up those antlers. Imagine what kind of people they must be! little, little men[:@]