What are your thoughts

[mntman]

Do you think poaching numbers are actually this high, lower, or even higher?
These poaching numbers seem high but honestly I don't have a clue. I don't care about about the wolf issue in article, just the poaching numbers.
If they are this high in ID, I would assume they are similar when comparing to other states. I would guess a ratio to be used would be comparing to overall population of people in each state would get to a discussable number.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/N-Idaho-poachers-taking-heavy-toll-on-game-5412795.php

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?

 

[Tristate]

I have no idea whether poaching is at that high of a level. I guarantee that isn't the purpose of this "article". It's a Idaho conservation issue talked about in San Francisco. It is meant to stir the pot with an emotional comparison of poachers and wolves. It is supposed to show some form of logic that we should be more worried about poachers than wolves. In reality that isn't logic at all because the vast majority of hunters and conservationists don't support and actively fight poaching. Its an emotional distraction, nothing more. When that is the case you can never trust the numbers within the content. Facts are not important there, only the agenda.

 

[Zeke]

That seems like a perfect place for that kind of an article; San Francisco Ca!

Here's a little story for you.
The Utah F&G, in all their wisdom, has a poaching display complete with graphic photos, confiscated horns and antlers and news articles about poaching cases. This display is taken to all the comunity events including the State Fair where tons of non-hunting folks turn into anti-hunting folks thanks to the vile display and the portrayal of hunter as blood-thirsty, wasteful killers of cute little critters!
This is totally inappropriate and insensitive of the F&G yet in their "law enforcement" wisdom, they'd rather have anti-hunters than non-hunters while casting hunters in a poor light.

Sooooo, I think the game departments sometime inflate the numbers for shock value just so people will keep their eyes open while in the out of doors. Because they are insulated and totally insensitive the only real "benefit" of all this BS is that we now have more people against hunters!

Ok, Ok, yes, I think poaching is a huge problem in some areas and we should all be more aware of whats going on in the hills but when State employees start speculating and spouting ficticious numbers it only hurts the sportsmen! Period, end of story!

Zeke

 

[wolfhunter]

All this article tells me is...The IDFG has to have the largest accumulation of of idiots of any western state agency. No wonder their tag sales are in the toilet! Have they forgot they work for hunters and sportsman. Their poaching estimate is like their game counting methods... find 5 and multiply by 95 percent, what a F'n JOKE!

The only thing the IDFG has successfully done is; RUIN THE FINEST MULE DEER HERD IN THE WEST!!!! AND RAISE A STATE FULL OF PREDATORS!!!!

 

[Zeke]

wolfhunter,
I think I know what you meant but let's do the math.
When 5 is multiplied by 95 percent you get 4.75!
5x 195 percent equals 9.75.
Now 5 PLUS 95 equals 100.
(that's more like the math they use)
Thanks for letting me poke a little fun at your math.
Zeke

 

[Stonefly]

A few years ago, I remember an article from the Utah DWR about poaching. I wish I could remember the numbers correctly ( if anyone can remember please post it) But after talking about all the stolen trophy's and big money that can be made. They came right out and said something like only 10% are ever caught. I thought at the time it was asinine to more or less tell the bad guys how to make money and 90% can get away with it. As to the story it sounds like a planted Wolf lover to me. And why arent they "setting money aside" or "creating a committee " To deal with the problem if it is infact as bad as he is saying.

 

[wolfhunter]

Zeke,

OOP'S I stand corrected... The IFG finds 5 deer or poachers and they equate that to 100 in the bush or a 2000 percent increase!! How ever you skin it, the IFG numbers are a joke!! Even my math is better than theirs!!!

 

[mntman]

Wonder how they determine that they only catch 5%? That's like me wandering through the woods for two days seeing 3 elk and then confirming there are actually 200+ elk in the area.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?

 

[mickeymouseoutfitters]

Instead of advertising how bad it is, they should advertise a huge reward for a conviction. I would turn my own mother in for $10,000. Of course I wouldn't have to because she can't bring herself to kill anything. And no, nobody fills her tag for her because she doesn't get one.

I will be fined $750 for poaching an elk. If it is big enough, that would be totally worth it. That is how much the non-res elk tag caught in Utah. Raise the freaking fines, idiots! How much is for a deer? $300?















________________________________________
I'm not one for telling my grandson how big of turd I had to pinch off from having to eat so much meat. I want to give him the trophies that hang from my wall and tell him the unforgettable experience that came with each and every one.

 

[nontypical]

Well...since your elk would be confiscated, and your hunting privileges revoked almost nationwide, it would really not be worth it.

Now..if you're a professional poacher; that's different, because you don't really care if you lose your privileges.

I agree penalties need to be much stiffer, and judges harsher.

There seems to be a growing mentality among F&G departments that hunters are bad guys. Just my opinion, but in this day and age of the trophy being the most important aspect of hunting to many folks, I sense G&F personnel resenting hunters more and more over time. To their credit, I'm sure they hear "Where's the big bucks?" more often than they care to. Anytime you work with the public on a daily basis there are certain things that trip your trigger, so to speak. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I've heard it said before; in Wyoming, that poachers take as many or more trophy animals than legal hunters do. Who knows? And how do they attain that data?

At the end of the day, it sounds like IDFG is trying to downplay the role wolves play and turn things around on to humans. Is that a veiled jab at hunters??

 

[Trammer]

The problem is in what the F&G considers "poaching". To me, for the most part, poaching, as far as the state is concerned, should be limited to cases when they are actually short or missing an animal. When an animal is killed without the use of a tag then there has been a real poaching by everyones measure. I am certain Idaho as well as most states cook the books and count any violation as a poach. The rest of us with a brain know that when someone doesnt have the right color hat on while hunting, their animal is not poached. But the State counts it as a poach because with the wrong color hat on, the animal was "taken in violation of state law".

Wyoming once published a book that covered real noteworthy poaching in Wyoming over about a 20 year period...you could count the chapters and stories about the animals that were poached on your fingers....

 

[slamdunk]

I've only lived in Idaho for three years now but I can tell you I am dumbfounded by the poachings I hear people bragging about openly. It's easy to get away with here with so much rural and private lands up here. Kinda feels like the old adage here is "if it's on my land, I own it" philosophy.'....yet the wolves are the real enemy??
Go figure....

 

[TOPGUN]

>I've only lived in Idaho for
>three years now but I
>can tell you I am
>dumbfounded by the poachings I
>hear people bragging about openly.
>It's easy to get away
>with here with so much
>rural and private lands up
>here. Kinda feels like the
>old adage here is "if
>it's on my land, I
>own it" philosophy.'....yet the wolves
>are the real enemy??
>Go figure....



***And of those people that you have heard blatantly bragging about poaching, how many have you turned in to the proper authorities?