This deer was on display at the 2016 Western Hunting & Conservation Expo earlier this year, where people recognized it as a deer that was known to have lived through the Wyoming mule deer season. After an investigation, it was found the deer was killed illegally after the 2015 season had ended...


http://www.gohunt.com/read/news/breaking-story-230-inch-mule-deer-buck-poached-in-wyoming

Poachers. Dude knew it was a mule deer, exactly why he took it to Utah for mounting.

What a Dbag

Eff poachers. Hope he gets banned from WY for a long time. States should have ban reciprocity and ban him all over.

That is infuriating to me. It happens all the time around here unfortunately. Kansas recently raised their civil penalties but it's very difficult to get overworked courts to consider poaching cases as "real" violations.

Our most infamous poaching case here locally involves two brothers from one county south of me. Brother #1, with Brother #2 in the cab of the pickup with him pulls over and shoots at "geese" in a field with a rifle. Unfortunately the "geese" are actually decoys. B#1 kills a 17 year old kid who is in a layout blind in the middle of the decoy spread. B#1 gets manslaughter.

B#2 learned so much from his brothers poaching/murder that 2 years later he shoots a 197" whitetail off the road out of the window of his pickup with a 9mm pistol He chops the head off and leaves the rest to rot. Upon learning this deer is a possible typical state record he has the head taxi'd and goes to enter it into the local Big Buck Expo contest. Much like this mule deer the whitetail was well known/photographed and expo attendees provide a lot of info to KDWPT. B#2 is arrested and receives more or less a slap on the wrist.

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Eff poachers. Hope he gets banned from WY for a long time. States should have ban reciprocity and ban him all over.

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Many states do. Last I saw I think 45 states participate in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact - so if his Wyoming privileges are suspended they would be suspended in 45 other states as well. I haven't looked in awhile but I think it was Nebraska and then some small east coast states like Delaware that didn't participate. Almost every state in the mainland are members.

Checked out his open Facebook page and dude is a big hunter. Agreed he needs to be banned.

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Eff poachers. Hope he gets banned from WY for a long time. States should have ban reciprocity and ban him all over.

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Many states do. Last I saw I think 45 states participate in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact - so if his Wyoming privileges are suspended they would be suspended in 45 other states as well. I haven't looked in awhile but I think it was Nebraska and then some small east coast states like Delaware that didn't participate. Almost every state in the mainland are members.

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I wasn't aware of this. I have had heard of a few bans locally that extended to bordering states. Hopefully a significant ban is handed down in this case.

Do y'all watch Wardens? I'm amazed that in Montana, ill begotten deer are confiscated and the shooter is slapped with a $135 fine. Pretty lenient consequences if you ask me.

cowboy, here is the Colorado P&W page that comes up with a quick google...

Interstate Violator Compact

Not sure what "good" a ban does to prevent poaching? Poacher's gonna poach! Need bigger sanctions/penaltie$$!

If the deer had a name jimmy kimmel would be crying on late night. I agree though banning someone from hunting who already illegally hunts is a ******ed punishment. Should be fines in the thousands criminal charges substantial enough to deter future idiots

I agree with big fines and even criminal charges. Throw the book at them. A lot of these guys have big hunting resume's and get away with poaching by putting legal tags on illegally taken game. Banning them and keeping tags out of their hands is just as important as the other measures in shutting these a-holes down.

I agree with the sentiment here. Unfortunately, sometimes throwing "the book" at them doesn't really result in much deterrent because the punishment/penalties aren't that strict. In these cases, the laws need to be fixed to allow harsher punishments. I can't get upset about a judge only giving a "slap on the wrist" when he is still prosecuting to the extent of the law.

(not that this was done in this case)

Surely I'm not the only one who would be the least bit tempted to shoot that

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Surely I'm not the only one who would be the least bit tempted to shoot that

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I would bet you are one of only a few.

I'm thinking that if you have no fingers you cannot reasonably fire a rifle.

We can write a book on "getting thrown out of court."

Every time I see a story like this I think of Kirt Darner.... a dirty poacher from back in my major hunting days. That guy had a bunch of record mule deer. He spotlighted and used a helicopter to get on deer. I am guessing that he had so many record animals that people started questioning the legality of his kills. Google it.

Edit: no reading comprehension

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In late 2014 local residents noticed the buck had a bullet hole in his ear. Somebody had tried to take this buck on the winter range.

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This sounds like a stretch.....usually a hole in a deer ear is from a tag...
Doesn't really have any bearing on the story however.

Because it's two different deer.

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Not sure what "good" a ban does to prevent poaching? Poacher's gonna poach! Need bigger sanctions/penaltie$$!

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Ban him from being allowed to own firearms and any sort of hunting.

....he'd switch to bow's

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....he'd switch to crossbow's

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Poachers.

My bad. Reading fail. I went back through and reread article. That's what I get for TA at work.

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Not sure what "good" a ban does to prevent poaching? Poacher's gonna poach! Need bigger sanctions/penaltie$$!

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Ban him from being allowed to own firearms and any sort of hunting.

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These kinda folks laugh at those kind of sanctions. Then they possess whatever gun they want and hunt/poach at will. Don't get me wrong; I don't oppose them. Just don't expect scum to honor/follow them. Better off to impose significant fines/restitution.

I just can't begin to wrap my mind around how anyone would get any satisfaction whatsoever from poaching a buck just for the sake of bragging. Like that guy in that killed that nice buck in the pen at the park in Houston. Just sickening!

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Not sure what "good" a ban does to prevent poaching? Poacher's gonna poach! Need bigger sanctions/penaltie$$!

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Ban him from being allowed to own firearms and any sort of hunting.

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These kinda folks laugh at those kind of sanctions. Then they possess whatever gun they want and hunt/poach at will. Don't get me wrong; I don't oppose them. Just don't expect scum to honor/follow them. Better off to impose significant fines/restitution.

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There are 2 different class of poachers out there IMO.

There is this guy/Falling Skies guy that attempt to make a living (or at least a reputation) off their hunting prowess. Banning them from hunting definitely DOES have an impact on them. If they can't profit off of it it hits them in the wallet, right where it should.

Then there is the "drive the backroads and shoot s**t while guzzling MillerLite" crowd. They're trash. Losing their hunting privileges does nothing to them because they don't hunt. Civil forfeiture of the jacked up Dodge with the "ain't skeered/DaleEarnhardt/Browning" sticker on the back does hit them. But in nothing will stop them from poaching until they are busted for meth/theft and put in county jail. ...and even then it only stops them for about 30 days at a time.

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Every time I see a story like this I think of Kirt Darner.... a dirty poacher from back in my major hunting days. That guy had a bunch of record mule deer. He spotlighted and used a helicopter to get on deer. I am guessing that he had so many record animals that people started questioning the legality of his kills. Google it.

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I read about that guy. He was a real POS. Went above and beyond just so he could be thought of as the best. Through an anonymous tip, his most prized buck (which was on the cover of his book) was traced back to a different hunter in the 50s.

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Do y'all watch Wardens? I'm amazed that in Montana, ill begotten deer are confiscated and the shooter is slapped with a $135 fine. Pretty lenient consequences if you ask me.

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I lived in Montana, and outside Bozeman a friend was finding his property intruded upon most of the summer. Little things like foot tracks and fence gaps not put back in place like he had left them. He found out these guys were scouting his property and a few hundred acres of neighboring properties. He got with the neighbors and they decided to contact GW and he said he would make the rounds in the area and to call him if they saw them. They find where the guys are parking and walking in. They get a trailer and winch the truck onto it and take it home. Called the GW and met them at the parking area. GW does not know they towed truck. So when poachers get there and freak that the truck is gone, GW and land owners pop out and meet them. Guys swear they shot muley on BLM, GW asks how are you planning on getting deer home, where did you walk in from. They don't want to say anything and tell GW that friends are picking them up. GW scolds my buddy for not enough info and tells them not to bother the Out of State Hunters! Yep these guys came in from North Dakota over the summer a few times and plan their trip. So GW leaves and the hunters ask if they know where the truck is. My buddy told them he knew they were on his property and that the truck would never be found again, and that anyone who poaches in this area loses their vehicle...told them that is why GW left and did not do anything. Poachers agree to leave muley with landowners and they give them a ride to their hotel and tell them they may get truck back in a few hours. They take it back to them and warned them they were now ready for poachers. I later moved back to Texas but in the years I spent on BLM property after that incident I heard stories that the neighbors spread themselves about the dangers of poaching in and around Gallatin County.

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Then there is the "drive the backroads and shoot s**t while guzzling MillerLite" crowd. They're trash. Losing their hunting privileges does nothing to them because they don't hunt. Civil forfeiture of the jacked up Dodge with the "ain't skeered/DaleEarnhardt/Browning" sticker on the back does hit them. But in nothing will stop them from poaching until they are busted for meth/theft and put in county jail. ...and even then it only stops them for about 30 days at a time.

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I know a guy in the Fish and Game department here and your description above is more or less how he describes most poachers he runs into. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely the other type you mention. In fact one of the biggest Elk poaching cases we had here in Idaho was a bunch of guys that came over from Australia of all places. And these jackwads had been suspected for almost 20 years. Finally F&G went all-out and caught the SOBs. And fortunately, the judge threw the book at them:

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After their arrest the men spent six days in jail, were fined $5,000 apiece, lost their $75,000 bail bonds and their rifles, and two of the men were permanently banned from ever hunting or fishing in Idaho again--a punishment that thanks to the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact--means they won't ever be allowed to hunt in 35 other states as well.

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http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2011/11/australian-hunters-banned-life-hunting-idaho


But most poachers are local to the area. And in fact the ones that get caught are a lot of times known locally as guys that poach....and do other stuff as you mention. Someone eventually turns them in.