First poaching is a crime, but there are degrees of severity to each crime ie. man one, volutary manslouhter etc.
Steeling is a crime, but there is huge differnce of steeling your neighour' s apples and robing someone at gun or knife point.
We can just hope that the game wardens exercise their authority with fairnes to the law obiding hunters, land owners and the poachers as well.
And to be fair the min. and max penalties should be well publicized, and I don' t think their are, so very often the offender is not even awere of the severity of his crime and possible penalty.

not in the 40' s and early 50' s in the back woods of kentuky


again, your assuming....

and just to add fuel. if you walk into the woods and it is 10 min till leagal shooting time and you see a shooter, would you take? damn right you would. and isnt that what poaching is?

Not wanting to take sides hear but just thought i would chime in a little.

Maybe that was how it was in the 40' s 50' s but this is 2003 i cant speak for everywhere but i know you can get a doe tag here in kansas for $10 i think even someone hard up for money can swing that for 50lbs of meat. And as for severity of the crime, it is very much a judgement call anyone who can honestly say they have never broken a game law deserves a standing ovation. Some of the laws are too confusing to not slip up once.

Im guilty, last year is shot a deer, it ran 100 yds jumped the fence and died when it landed. It just so happens that the fence was the property line, and yes i did hop over and pull him back. That was tresspassing so i will leave the light on for the warden tonight.[>:]

Most of the Wardens I know today and have known of or known of in the past have a pretty good understanding of what is going on in their patrol area. They have a pretty good idea of who is poaching and who is not and they also know the circumstances of what is going on. Today’s welfare state with easy access to food stamps etc. is not the same as it was in the mid 1900s. That said, today there is little excuse for poaching with providing food for the family as an argument. Most poaching today is for profit. Even fawns are poached for mounts to be sold on the ever-expanding market for such " Trophies" .
There seems to be some misunderstanding on here about just what the Wardens do when a poacher is caught. The Warden does not confiscate anything except for those articles needed as evidence in court. The Warden makes an arrest or writes a ticket requiring the violator’s appearance in court at a particular time and date.
A Judge then makes the determination as to what fine or punishment is to be meted out. This could, depending on the state, include a monetary fine, confiscation of guns, fishing equipment, vehicles, and loss of hunting/fishing privileges and/or time in jail.

I don' t about poaching but a few years ago the game warden in the area that I am from walked up on a guy that was fishing. The guy got up and ran. The game warden shot him in the back. It didn' t kill him. I never did hear what came out of the whole thing.

Sorry for butting in here but..

Aren' t you assuming there yourself?? I know I wouldn' t shoot.

You know eastwood not everyone is picking on you I know you feel especially sensitive on this issue because your dad poached when he felt he had too ,and I' m sorry he felt he had no way out.Now in todays world you don' t starve to death if you don' t poach so don' t piss down my back and tell me it' s raining.

In Minnesota, the state and DNR officials have put a dollar figure on game animals that are taken illegally, as a way to " hurt" that sort of activity. The dollar amount changes with different animals. With fish, it' s $100 each fish over the limit. With big game such as deer, I believe the dollar figure is $1000 per animal. If actually caught in the " act" of poaching, the state can also take your vehicle(if you transported or attempted to transport the animal), weapons, decoys,guns, etc that were used or connected with the crime. The state may also take your hunting/fishing priveledges away for up to 5 years depending on the offense. Any repeat offenses, means stiffer $$$ fines,jail time, and possible lifetime hunting/fishing priveledges revoked. If the offense occured on any federal land, then the feds can get in and also prosecute. I live in very " rural" northern MN. I don' t want to say poaching is a way of life, but it' s something that happens often. It' s not uncommon to hear rifle shots at midnight year round. I don' t practice or agree with this activity, but accept it as what it is. happy Hunting! Steve

Whatever the punishment it' s not enough. Usually a gentle slap on the wrist. [:@]

Well I have to say that if in the 40' s and 50' s in the back woods of Ky it was poaching then my dad and all of his bothers were poachers at that time. They use to kill squirrles to eat. They live way back in the woods and if they couln' t kill it or raise it then they would starve. They raise what farm animals that they could but it took money to buy them to raise. They would catch ground hogs and raise them and then eat them. So where does that leave us? Are we all poachers?? When they got older then they would buy there hunting licenses and tags. ONe thing...they would eat what they killed. Nothing went to waste. Just my 2 cents worth.