How do they know the % if there is no record of it?

 

96% of Poaching Cases Go Undetected, New Report Says

that cant be true. if they know its 96% then they also know about the cases

i mean if they caught 4 poachers, how do they know 96 got away ?

 

I think the outlaw mentality has changed a lot over the years. Back 70-80 years ago, my uncles and Grandfather killed a lot of deer. Many for the meat, and some they sold. ( There was a good market for bucks after WW2….a lot of new camps, they wanted a deer to take home ). But none of the killing was for bragging rights , it was for meat or for money for the family.

Today, you see guys lusting after big antlers. And it drives some pretty crazy behavior. And the kill for thrill guys who drive around and whack random deer….that would have been unheard of in the 1950’s and 60’s .

 

I remember stories up in Clarence and Moshannon about locals stealing bucks off of meat poles and selling them to company camps. Back then the big companies invited customers to camp as a marketing tool. Didn't want to send them home without a trophy.

I remember a story about the company buying a bunch of tame turkeys to butcher for guys to take home. One guy wanted to shoot his to make it legit. He missed and it ran off never to be seen again!

 

Sitting at the lunch room in any workplace you can hear some douche talk about his exploits of some dumbassery they haven't been caught for. Seems legit, that number is very well accurate.

 

I believe it. General lawlessness is pretty prevalent in some areas. I've known a few guys over the years that have no qualms about it, even openly bragging about doing pretty off the wall stuff.

 

I would suspect that percentage is about the same for all non-violent crimes, i.e., speeding, theft, fraud, DUI, etc.

 

With as much poaching as there is, can you imagine what the deer numbers would be without the poachers. We'd be infested.

 

We are infested; the old farmers kept deer thinned out back in the day.

 

x2, 99.9999999% of speeding probably goes unpunished. All about how you frame it.

 

I honestly think that poaching in PENN is not as bad as it used to be back in the 70s and 80s

 

I agree with that statement. I started with the Game Commission back in the mid 70's and poaching was a real issue back then. Back then it was one deer per year, and you were done. At least done legally. For many, maybe even most, one deer a year simply wasn't enough. For some it was the meat they were after and others it was that they didn't want to end their hunting.

Back then if I found a local archer with a dead deer there was almost a certainty it was not going to be tagged. I higher percentage of the camp people tagged their archery kills but it was not at all uncommon to catch them reusing the tag on another deer or using someone else's license.

During the firearms deer season untagged deer and multiple kills in a season were very common, even among people who were normally not of a criminal nature.

On fall and even some summer weekends the camps would be filled with hunters and a lot of them were going to take a deer back home with them. There were nights when you would hear as much shooting as you would hear the second day of buck season.

I remember one weekend night a deputy and I were totally frustrated because we didn't catch our first poacher of the night until the 17th shot. Then while we were writing them up we watched a vehicle a few hundred yards away spotlighting and shooting. We were too tied up to even go after them.

By the time I retired, in 2012, you were lucky to even see a spot lighter out at night and I wouldn't hear as much night shooting during the entire fall as what I would hear in one night back in the 70's and 80's. When hunters could get more deer tags they simply didn't need to risk getting caught poaching. Now it seems the people killing extras or illegal deer are mostly after the big bucks or extra bucks simply because don't want a big buck or they aren't willing to be finished buck hunting for the year.

Dick Bodenhorn

 

The number does sound pretty ridiculous. So if you are standing there at camp with 9 other hunters and you, each with a deer, they all did it illegally because you didn't?

This says "poaching is any illegal taking". If you squeeze the trigger 1 minute early/late, have one square inch less orange on, forget to sign your license, etc. then you took a deer illegally. It doesn't mean poaching is a barn with 20 hanging or a whole camp of hunters are out all night with flashlights.

 

or a whole camp of hunters are out all night with flashlights.

Screw that!!!! That's when we play cards.

 

When I was younger and we would go out spotting at night, I recall my grandfather saying more than once that the deer were acting like someone was shooting at them. At times, as soon as you would turn the light on the deer would be running for the woods. That was back in the 80's before you could get even a second tag of any kind.

 

The camp I went to as a kid back in those days must have been lazy. None of those guys were leaving the cabin after dark. I think most of them were happy to get back to the cabin before 5:00pm. Two woodstoves and a fireplace, a cold Black Label and a Marlboro....who wants to leave the cabin?

 

I thought we were told on here to not worry about the loopholes in any of the modern methods being implemented because most people are good and will simply follow the rules.

96% of nothing shouldn't have much impact.

 

The article stated the percentage of poaching that goes uncaught… it did not state the percentage of hunters that poach…

 

How about finding deer carcasses with heads cut off.....I think it happens alot. More then most people realize........

 

Not say it's right or ethical...but it isn't illegal as long as you tag it.

 

Well I’m sure the number of tags and opportunities (seasons and length) has made some more honest than they would be if was the way it was 20-40 plus years ago.
When it was one deer and done….you had a family of 5-7 to feed one deer didn’t last to long.
The community that I grew up in there were guys that provided deer meat for people.
I remember being at someone’s house as a kid and someone dropping a big tin can filled with deer meat off. I don’t know the particulars on if it was tagged or not or even remember if it was deer season. The family that received it was very happy about it.

 

Back in the 2 weeks of antlered and 2 days of antlerless deer season, my cousins husband would walk a couple of hundred yards behind his house and shoot the first deer he saw on the first day of buck season. Of course, most of the time the first deer he saw was a doe. He wasnt a big hunter, but enjoyed venison. He did this on his own property and processed it himself. His wife finally made him stop doing it. He left this world a few years ago, so hopefully I havent riled up the internet police.....................

 

I for one don't see that as "poaching" even though I know it is illegal. At least he waited for the season to start! It's how my father fed his family of 8 in the 50s/60s.

 

I know I've said it on these forums before, but my personal belief is that at least 25% of the dead deer pictures we see online are taken in some illegal manner, be it baiting, trespassing, jacklighting, out of season, weapon not in season, etc.

 

So either me or wexfordbowhunter is a poacher, then. There are 4 dead deer in the deer contest thread.

 

When I was in college we hunted off of Ridge Rd.

 

Anyone who was hunting deer in the North Central mountains back in the 1970's knows there were many hunters and bunches of deer. Made for rampant poaching thru out that area.
There were two men in particular, Gerald Shady and his brother Vaughn Shady...plus many cousins, nephews etc. We used to call them the Shady Gang from Lock Haven.
Gerald and Vaughn would often stop by our Camp to chit chat. The one day Vaughan showed us his new pistol with a laser dot scope mounted on top, you know the kind where the red dot shows up on the target. He explained how at night you shine the red dot in the eyes and then drop down and back and pull the trigger.
His brother Gerald laughingly said that Vaughn has his gun sighted in for 5 MPH.

Their deer season started on the first day of Turkey season and then in doe season they shot everything that moved.

 

96% of Poaching Cases Go Undetected, New Report Says

Not that I put the 40 hours during rifle season I use to. Cost of meat look for more of this.

I can tell you that one family would pay people to get hunting lic and push deer so they can shoot them.

Other group would shoot every deer they could.

One other group shot many deer going to and from a bird feeder. One time the deer was
50 yds away at most when they finished it off. Heading that way because it was use to being there and felt safe. I was walking a fence line making sure it was up... We always pushed deer through this area from 300 to 500 yards away or more drive would start some 3/4 a mile away. Never shot any around the feeder. Always 200 yards or more away, not a 100.

We still hear a ton... well not a ton but more then a few the 3-5 days before the season starts.

I can understand shooting a few minutes late or what was late years ago, your on stand and you see the deer and mins fly by and dam your like oo $hit it was say 5 min late. But these guys are just ?? in what they do.

Trust me there are a bunch of deer shot illegal every year. Mistakes are one thing but these are some that are just not right. I'll give anyone an honest mistake.

For years we would run these hills only to get home and check on things after dark to find a nice buck in the field at 5:45 PM. Say to each other what hole was he hiding in. Never did we shoot at any deer after hours. Trouble with a gun/someone dropped it or missed a deer and check it late in the day at a target yes, but no deer.