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Does a poacher **** in the woods?

Started by LeeB, November 28, 2010, 11:49:29 AM

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LeeB

The other night Lidy and I were sitting in the hot tub having a glass of wine and relaxing away the days sore bones when she saw a light up on the ridge at the side of my property. I thought it was a four wheeler.We often have a lot of trouble with poachers. As I said, we had a glass of wine or tw. I'm really tired of the aholes paoching the deer that I spend a couplke grand a year feeding and keeping health so I went and got my pea shooter and started slinging a little lead up that way. No possibility of hiting anything. Too many trees in between. Lindy called the sherrif and the game warden came. Sherrifs won't come out where we live. Too many rough sorts around for them. He's been stalking them out for a few days now. A friend went too walk it out and said he didn't see any sign of a four wheeler so I guess who ever it was definately knew I was popping off at them. I would say there was at least one poacher that did like the bears do.  ;D
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

TimRB

I presume that the law is less strict in your neck of the woods, but around here, shooting at someone (even if you're intentionally missing) when that person does not present an immediate threat will get you thrown directly into jail without passing GO.   What did the game warden say?   

In any event, you should count your lucky stars you didn't hit anyone. 

Tim

Onthesauk

On one of my fishing web sites mentioned one of our larger rivers south of us.  Four game wardens in that region, two on medical, one transferred and one retired.  No coverage at all.  Have to believe the poachers must read the site too.
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dnalley

Tim, you said that differently than I probably would, but I guess your wording is better.....you said it well!

doctorb

I own 34 acres and have had my share of "lost" hunters appear. go_away go_away  I think you are better off catching them with a camera in hand rather than a gun.  While I understand your desire to defend what is yours, and the shots are certainly a deterrent, if anything goes wrong or even appears to be your fault, it's your butt that will be fried, not theirs.  

Poachers often think they have a right to be where they are because they have, legally or illegally, hunted there before.  Through identification of the guilty parties, they will be unlikely to return.  As long as they remain anonymous, it's just part of their game.  

I would find out who hunts your neighbors properties and relay your issues to them.  These people have got to be coming from somewhere, and your neighbors, and the hunters that hunt those properties legally, will know what's going on too.  Find their ATV's and wait 'til dark.  Don't destroy their property.  Just get their ID.  Firm but peaceful.  My humble advice is don't shoot at anyone, even if you intend to miss.  Doctorb
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

ely

the law is pretty much the same everywhere in respect to shooting at someone. that being said, around here when we have some of the local crackheads show up and park on the road and walk in hunting/poaching they seem to respond quite well to a few new bullet holes in their mode of transportation.

i am fairly certain they will never call in on me for doing that for numerous reasons.

Tom

Don't ever shoot at something you don't intend to kill.  Bullets are like words, and vise versa,  once fired, you can't get them back.

LeeB

Yep, they are like words and I was speaking load and clear.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

isawlogs

 Lee , geezz we think alike  ;)

If you dont own it , and/or you dont know who does, or you know who owns it but don't have permissionto be on this property then don't be there, I like to shoot at squirrels here, they are normally up in the trees.. well if you are galivanting behind in the forest ..  ya might be getting some lead your way.
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

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Tom

I've found myself in situations, in my life, where I felt that I could take someone's life.  Usually it was after being maligned or burglarized.  Time makes one feel differently than you feel when the anger is hot.

Personal defense is a good reason to end someone's life.   I've been known to go out in the front yard and shoot the shotgun up into the air and yell like a madman in the middle of the night.  You see, we have poachers and we have transients who feel that I have no property rights.   Just the other day, coming home from visiting friends on Thanksgiving, we noticed that someone had put reflective thumbtacks in the trees next to a game trail in front of the house. My anger boiled.

I'd sure like to catch these folks and tell them that they are trespassing, but I don't think that I could actually shoot one of them.  If I accidentally hit one, it would bother me.

while I understand your ire, I also think that you would be one to carry the guilt for the rest of your life, if you harmed someone.  Some people actually don't care.  They are the cold-blooded murderer's of the world.  The rest of us have a conscience and do care.  Living with having taken a life is a bad thing.

Shooting into a car parked on the side of the road is setting yourself up for killing someone's child asleep in the back seat.   Shooting high powered rifles in the air is putting "someone" in jeapardy for miles around you.  Even a spent bullet, dropping from straight overhead, is moving at over a hundred miles an hour when it returns to earth.

It doesn't minimize the fact that someone is trespassing, nor the helpless feeling one gets when he asks for help from the local enforcement and can't get it.   But please look beyond the moment when you have an urge to point a firearm at someone. :)

ARKANSAWYER

  Lee does not live far from Zinc.  So another dead man laying in the woods would not raise to many eyebrows.  Some people really do need killing and are asking for it.  There are to many places around here giving away free food for someone to go out and poach a deer.  They are not doing it to feed their family but to just be a pain in the butt cut to normal hardworking people who have a chunck of land to enjoy.  Just south of here a few miles is well over 1/4 million acres of land they can go hunt on.
 
ARKANSAWYER

Paul_H

Quote from: Tom on November 30, 2010, 11:34:43 AM
Shooting into a car parked on the side of the road is setting yourself up for killing someone's child asleep in the back seat.   

That's what I was thinking too.Anger,booze and a firearm don't go together too well and regrets could be life long.The lights up on the hill could have been kids.

I know a man that as a young boy,was over at a farmer's house and saw him looking with a spotting scope across the field at a camper and a couple men.It turned out the men we're shooting the farmer's cows ears with a 22 so the farmer brought out the rifle and put a few into the camper on the truck which sent the men scrambling.
I thought that was a good reaction til I thought that there could have been young kids in the camper that don't know their left hand from their right and their shed blood wouldn't be just.

Why didn't the farmer grab his gun and go face the men?As it was,by firing from his house,he exposed his own kids to a possible barrage if the men returned fire.
This same wingnut chased his son's girlfriend(about 16) off the property one night with bullets wizzing over her head.
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Jeff

The way I see it, if you can see the light, then there is a return path for the bullets. It would have haunted you the rest of your life if a bullet made it though those woods and extinguished that light.
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fishpharmer

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doctorb

Good post fishpharmer -  You are right.  These things need to be solved without the threat of personal harm.  I realize that we all have grown up under different subcultures.  I don't question that some would solve this with a gun in their hand and a shouting, or shooting, confrontation.  It's your right to do it that way, if you choose.  Please take a breath and consider the risk you are fostering for the poachers, innocent bystanders, and, even more importantly, yourself and your family.  It's just not worth the bravado, IMHO.  doctorb
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

northwoods1

Quote from: LeeB on November 30, 2010, 10:56:17 AM
Yep, they are like words and I was speaking load and clear.

that is hilarious

i made real good friends with the local wardens they do a good job of making people think twice about illegal hunting activities. They love to catch poachers and they are smart enough to do it too :D

northwoods1



trying to shoot and kill a person because they are out poaching deer is going to far :o i'm really surprised that someone would even suggest that, now letting them know you have a gun and know how to use that is a different story I am sure if someone was tresspasing and you were to just start shooting they wouldn't stick around very long.

ely

not so much that they are poaching deer, i really wish they could gather up several a day as far as im concerned. its really more of an issue with the type of people around here who feel compelled to trespass and do illegal things. first is it simple deer hunting on someone elses property without permission, when that goes well, next spring you some green stuff growing in some well hidden spots that you are going to have to explain to the athorities. then lastly the really nice neighbors start setting up the mobile meth labs so no one can find them.
it has gotten to where i dont feel comfortable letting my kids ride on the property alone or even walk over to their grandparents house which is less than a 1/4 mile away. we have so many people in this world today that think the world owes them a living that at least around here the way of life is in a downward spiral.
where do you feel comfortable in this world? how close to your children or grandchildren would you want this type of activity. yeah i could look away and i could turn a blind eye to the goings on around me. but when it effects my family in a few years down the road i would have a tougher time living with that than i would if some dope dealer caught a chunk of lead at my hands.

doctorb

Northwoods

Interesting.  Our DNR police have been absorbed into the State Police.  They cops are not interested in this crime.  By the time they arrive, there's nothing to see, so they don't really respond unless there's an escalating problem.  Maryland does not have the DNR resources to enforce our hunting laws, and all the poachers know it.  That's why property owners have tried, on an increasing basis, to take matters into their own hands.  When they do....you get this thread's controversies.

Doctorb
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

LeeB

You know folks, I did what I did. I'm glad it didn't have a dire ending, but I ain't gonna back down from it either. I fully expected the sherrif to haul me away and was quite surprised when they didn't even bother to come up to the house.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

doctorb

Lee-

First of all, I want you to know that I do not want you , or anyone else here, to think it's my place to be in judgment of you.  I have wanted to castrate the poachers that have repeatedly come on my land, or traversed my land, to hunt illegally.  Reading the posts again, some would handle it in much the same way you did, others would not.  It is a great topic, in my view, because it has so many levels of personal decision, with a wide spectrum of responses from people in similar and quite different situations.  I just wish I had a hot tub overlooking my property so that I could share it with my wife and a glass of wine too.  Best to you.  doctorb
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

LeeB

'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

Corley5

A few years ago I heard coyotes south of the house after dark and walked out there with the Mini-14 for a look see.  No coyotes but just as I turned around to head back a couple carloads of what sounded like teenagers stopped out on the road, got out slammed doors and started hooting, hollering and having a good time.  I emptied the ten round mag in the opposite direction of them and listened.  Cars doors slammed and tires squealed as they made their getaway  ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D  I about fell down I was laughing so hard  ;D 8) :D :D :D
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

northwoods1

Quote from: Corley5 on December 02, 2010, 08:06:28 AM
A few years ago I heard coyotes south of the house after dark and walked out there with the Mini-14 for a look see.  No coyotes but just as I turned around to head back a couple carloads of what sounded like teenagers stopped out on the road, got out slammed doors and started hooting, hollering and having a good time.  I emptied the ten round mag in the opposite direction of them and listened.  Cars doors slammed and tires squealed as they made their getaway  ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D  I about fell down I was laughing so hard  ;D 8) :D :D :D

That is what I carry in the truck out when I am out at the farm, a mini14 ranch rifle,  it has a collapsible stock and fits in a small case along with 3-30 rd mags of good quaility factory hunting ammo. Coyotes are a problem here. I put a bipod on it and it with the leupold scope it shoots nice :)
The way i see it is there are a couple issues in this thread. Poaching can be a problem i have 100+ acres of prime hunting/farm land that anybody in there right mind would love to be able to hunt on, and would be easy (potentially :D) to trespass on because 2 different dead end roads come in to it and I am an absentee owner no one lives there, and it borders a river & state owned land. I've never let anyone hunt on it except for 1 year and they bagged a 450# bear, this year there is a huge buck running along a ridge right next to my barn, the 2nd night of gun deer dear season here he came and made the biggest rubs on trees I have seen in probably 20 years and the reason is because I am able to make sure no body goes on there or even walks in to it all year long including hunting season. This year it was easy because there was snow on the ground for most of deer season so people are hesitant to blatantly trespass. To keep trespassers and away some of the things I have done are put gates up on all the entrances to my property. That eliminates all the people who just drive down every road they find and there are a lot of those. Keeps people off the farm fields too. Another thing is like I mentioned I know the game wardens. Twice during deer season when I was out at the property I saw the wardens drive down the road checking hunters and they always want to know about any illegal activity in regards to trespass, they enforce that here, or game law violations. They handle all of that no problem. All of the private property owners around there now watch out for that type of stuff and the amount of it that happens has really decreased poaching a deer here is expensive if caught.
Now for other illegal activities we have that here also, now we do for sure. My home is located in a large area of national forest that has now in the last 2ple years become popular for large marijuana grow operations. Apparently it is easier and more$$ to ship illegal people up here to grow the stuff rather than transport it,, I know of several bear hunters who have found the stuff and just backed out of there and alerted authorities. These were large enough operations that I am certain the people would have been armed and dangerous. I'd let the authorities handle that stuff though if I knew it was happening that is 1st thing, my tax dollars pay them to take care of it! supposed too :D,,,  I can see the value of letting would be or actual thieves/poachers/or what have you know that you are armed and dangerous(wink wink) :D...obviously :D :D :D but I couldn't imagine myself ever wanting to shoot someone or ever risk it happening unless I or another person was threatened with immediate and serious danger  :( >:(



Patty

I am of the belief that the more folks who know that a couple of crazy old farts who shoot guns lives down our road, the better!! Norm lets the entire area know this quite frequently! While we have never shot anyone, yet, they do need to be aware that the potential is there, and they need to respect that. One never knows what kind of creep may wander down here with none of my best interests at heart. I want them to know their lives are in danger if they step onto my land. We have a cemetery as our closest neighbor (kinda handy, eh?) and this cemetery just seems to attract bad people. Police have arrested meth heads and just plain spooky people hanging out there.

Once we forget to protect ourselves and depend upon others to do so, we become victims. I will do everything in my power not to ever be a victim. Victims are made from sheeple.
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