FRUSTRATION

[Hammsolo]

Poaching is a plague in Eastern Washington, and the same people complain about lack of elk and big bucks… I just herd that all charges on the attached poaching case had been dropped. JLS and others must be as much or more frustrated than I am. How do we shift poaching culture like this? So much greed…, and hunting for the wrong reason. Does anyone know of areas that have been able to shift their culture from kill at all costs to responsible hunting? What did they do? Whitman Poaching Charges Dropped

 

[TheTone]

Sounds like witnesses decided to give the perps the local discount after the fact. I’m amazed how often I hear of serious violations that people refuse to turn in because the perpetrators are a local or someone they know. All that does is empower people to keep doing it. Also it never hurts to let prosecutors and judges know that the public cares about wildlife crime and the seriousness of it.

 

[44hunter45]

Maybe there should be penalties for recanting a statement. Logically - the witness provided a false statement either before, or after, they changed their tune. Small town people know who the poachers are.

You wonder if eventually the wahoos will put something on social media and convict themselves.

@Hammsolo - You have to be the guy yourself. Just know that it will cost you in a small town. Do whatever it takes. Take cell phone video and pictures, etc. Call the Anti-Poaching line every single time. I have people say to me, "Oh, you're that guy...". After years of issues, I can say that road hunting and poaching is down, ON OUR ROAD. I have no doubt they have gone somewhere else, but there is at least a quarter mile of road where they know it will cost them. Even if the prosecutor can't get a conviction, there is deterrent in the PITA they have to go through in court. (Now if only I could keep the neighbors from putting blinds next to the fence...)

I feel for the enforcement folks. They put a lot into these cases and then lose not just the conviction, but the time and labor too. If you see something, the more evidence you can give them, the better their case will be. If you don't have the goods, call them anyway and tell them you saw something, but don't have evidence. You are not wasting their time, you are helping them build a pattern that may put them onto something.

Find out who your local officers are, arrange to meet them for coffee and ask them how you can help. You really can be resource.

You also need the carrot and the stick. Reward ethical hunting if its in your power. We let the right people bring their young hunters on our place. I will take the time to walk the place with them and show them the safe shooting lanes, etc.

What fries me most is that you know an impressionable new hunter gets their Hunter's Ed card, and the minute they get home they are told to forget all that and brought into the old family ways. Party hunting, spotlighting, flock shooting, road hunting, you name it.

On a positive note - I grew up in that culture and I went a different way. It does happen.