moved Poaching info

Several things that I have observed, beyond the simple greed and ignorance of individuals.

Whats driving some of it:

1. With deer we have seen an increase in the population after having pretty stagnant numbers for two decades. And with those increases in deer, we saw a decline in permits.

2. Trophy mentality. After 20 years of the "quality era" the focus on big animals at any cost has increased, as has poaching as those animals have become available, yet legally unavailable in many cases.

3. The same agency tasked with enforcing rules against poaching, are implementing regulations, like decreased deer tags in the wake of deer increases. This feeds an overall social feeling of illegitimacy about the rule of law. This does not excuse poaching by any means, but it certainly plays a role.

How to reduce some of it:

1. increase animals and tags. Simpler said than done.

2. Bring some legitimacy back to the DWR. Many times poaching occurs because it is socially acceptable. That does not make it right, or a sound practice for hunters and wildlife. In kind, many hunting regulations are implemented on what is essentially the same basis......social acceptability. Without quantifiable, meaningful metrics in place to "gauge" the reasoning of actions and their regulations....eventually anything goes, as long as it is socially acceptable, including poaching.

And, This should be moved to the big game section, very good topic. Edit: It should be it's own topic.

I have no science to backup my opinion but here it is....

i think poaching is easily broken down into two catagories:

1. Those that go out with the intent to do so (Premeditated)

2. Those that are legally hunting and take game not permitted (Opportunistic)


The type 1 guys are on the rise and are pretty good at what they do. They're comfortable getting away with what they do and will continue to do so until they are caught....and some well beyond then.

The type 2 folks just can't keep it in their pants. They've never been very good at impulse control and good decision making skills go out the window at the first sign of a nice rack. A large portion of these folks react the same as waking up with a fat chick. They now realize what they've done and have to make a choice, let it lie take it home. Taking it home is a good way to get busted and without a plan in place, most will let it lie. In contrast, the type 1's had this part worked out long before the trigger pull. They'll have a rack and likely pics to go with it.

As mentioned before, the type 1's used to be out there for the meat. They felt entitled to god's creatures and nobody was going to tell them otherwise. I'm sure a few of those couldn't afford the tag and subsisted on game meat. I certainly wouldn't pass judgement in that situation.


the overlap of type one and two are party hunters. this has happened forever and will continue to happen. one guy gets lucky in the group and put a hurting on the herd. Then it's time to call the boys and start punching tags. These people can rationalize their actions easily by saving it's one animal per tag, so it should be legal. It's pretty amazing how many grandmas, wives and children fill their tags without leaving the house.