Props to ID Warden

CountingCoo

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
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47
Location
Idaho
I drew a late muzzy tag for mule deer here in Idaho. Saturday morning I spotted a golden eagle and some crows in a draw and decided to check it out. I found this buck at the end of an incredibly obvious blood trail. After a bit of investigating I figured out that the buck had been shot at about 175 yards from a forest road. There were ATV tracks in the fresh snow, and it was clear that the shooter never left the road to check if the buck was hit. This really pissed me off and I decided to call the local G&F which was closed and I was redirected to the poaching tip line. I wasn't really expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised when the game warden called me back within 3 minutes. I explained what I'd seen and he said he was about 90 minutes away and would head my direction. I texted him a couple pics and the GPS coordinates of the buck and moved to another area to glass. I ran into him a couple hours later and he had found the buck, removed the head and said he was going to start looking for the hunters. It was pretty obvious the deer was shot the day before, and I figured the odds of finding the guys that did it were slim to none. As I was driving out in the dark a few hours later the warden called me to let me know he had found the hunters, and they had admitted to shooting the deer and not following up. The warden had followed the ATV tracks to where they had trailered up. He then followed the trailer tracks for several miles to another canyon. He spotted the two ATV's driving down the road and was glassing them when they stopped and shot at yet ANOTHER deer before, once again, driving away without any attempt to follow up. When confronted they admitted to shooting at the buck I found, and not bothering to climb the hill to look for blood.

I am incredibly impressed with this warden. He could have just picked up the head and moved on. It also feels good knowing that at least one despicable road hunter got what was coming to him. Even a cursory search for blood would have led directly to this deer. I spent weeks preparing for this hunt, and several days hiking and glassing in freezing cold and never saw a buck of this caliber.


Poached Deer.jpg
 
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One of my past interns is a warden in Idaho. Most that I have ever worked with are thorough and professional.

Last fall, my neighbor was woken up by shots around 3 am. He told me about it, not knowing anything other than time, date and approximate location, I passed the info to our warden. Within 2 weeks the warden stopped at my office and said he had found the shooters and had confessions.
 
Well done @CountingCoo and to the intrepid warden who followed the breadcrumbs to find the culprits doing more of their dastardly deeds. Such disregard for the law should result in a real hurting punishment for them.
 
The warden probably wrote as many tickets as they could. Unfortunately, district attorneys and judges will plea them all down or not give adequate punishment.
This is not accurate. The lawyers I know that work these cases always try for the max. The max isn't always very much, but that's what they shoot for. And they usually get it because the wardens are extremely thorough and the evidence overwhelming. Cases with game and fish are their favorite because of the professionalism the G&F conducts themselves with.
 
Sickening. Makes you wonder how many more they have laying out there rottting.
Good for you and the warden.
Nature rarely allows anything to go unused. Is the circle of life. Wasted meat which could have been recovered with a modest amount of hiking to look for sign of a bullet hit is unacceptable to anyone that values wildlife. I would have hiked miles, if need be, to recover that buck.
 
Congratulations to you, have any other pictures looks like a good buck.
 
This is not accurate. The lawyers I know that work these cases always try for the max. The max isn't always very much, but that's what they shoot for. And they usually get it because the wardens are extremely thorough and the evidence overwhelming. Cases with game and fish are their favorite because of the professionalism the G&F conducts themselves with.

Haha. Not sure where you live but I have never once saw a judge or a DA really hammer a guy. Instead they plea it out and the guy gets a slap on the wrist…
 
Any reward for your effort? In come states you can get a point for the species of a tag etc…

In Coloraod I turned in a guide for killing a couple elk on public land during a private only hunt season… They had been after the guide and with my photos and GPS evidence they were busted.

The end result was 2 elk points one for each kill violation.

I did not do it for the points, but when they were offered I did not turn it down…
 
Any reward for your effort? In come states you can get a point for the species of a tag etc…

In Coloraod I turned in a guide for killing a couple elk on public land during a private only hunt season… They had been after the guide and with my photos and GPS evidence they were busted.

The end result was 2 elk points one for each kill violation.

I did not do it for the points, but when they were offered I did not turn it down…

The warden actually did contact me and told me he was putting me in for a cash reward. I'll take it.
 
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