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MOST COMMON POACHING METHODS???

Sligh1

Sligh1

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Constructive thread. Not a thread to get folks worried ;). Or stir pot too bad. BUT- a real topic!!!!!

To stop a poacher- need to know what they doing. & yes- try to think like them. But some don’t think too deep in most my experience.
1) what’s most common poaching methods & scenarios u think happen?
2) what do u do to solve & aid in reduction?

My own experience ……
-Seen a lot of dudes shooting from vehicles. A LOT!!!!!! I chased a dude on foot after getting out my tree stand when he was rifling during evening.
-We busted dude who shot em off road & came back in middle of night to cut heads off. This has been a plague multiple times.
-then next tier we clearly can go to bait, trespassing, etc. BUT….. wanna chat about the “worst of worst”.
Do I wonder if a tiny % would poach with other technologies I won’t list? Sure. I think it’s slim but maybe I’m naive.

I have cams at all places anyone would enter on me. All my road frontage is screened. Can’t get a bullet in!!!! :) I’m there all the time. We watch. So- it’s not bad but still happens. I’ve never been in a neighborhood in any state where don’t take place. I’m not gonna sit there & worry to death about it but do wanna solve when an issue. I feel like cameras have helped a lot. But the dumb dumbs with guns in truck still rank as my #1 today. Maybe I’m off????

What’s most common method y’all seen? What’s worst? SOLUTIONS?!?!?!? Has it become less common with trail cameras, more folks watching & social media making folks famous?
 
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I think the majority is still either a blatant trespass and hunt or cracking them from trucks. Every time I see a truck on our road I am around I make sure to introduce myself ;)

Caught the neighbor last year accessing thru a pretty tricky spot with some well placed cams. CO busted him and continued to find violations when searching his place, darn it!

I hate to say this, I also have an outfitter as a neighbor and he is really good at patrolling. I will take it as long as there are more eyes on the area.
 
Around here it's like JKratz says, they just shoot and hope they get away without anyone noticing. Or they poach in the dark. Lots use 22mag.
 
Two weeks ago I was driving to my farm and noticed a Xbox bolt in a small tree. Keep in mind I was putting down a dirt road. I stopped and pulled the bolt out of a 3 in tree. Probably shot from a truck in the fall. Don’t know how I saw it but I did.
 
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I have no data on this but I got to think that thermal scopes or IR with suppressors are a poachers dream.
For the average moron who just wants to kill something, I'm sure out the window from the road is still the go to.
 
hillrunner said:
I have no data on this but I got to think that thermal scopes or IR with suppressors are a poachers dream.
For the average moron who just wants to kill something, I'm sure out the window from the road is still the go to.
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For sure. We all know it would be crazy easy to do this. The good part- these scum bags would need to spend thousands to do it and MOST that poach pry ain’t gonna go to that level. If it does happen- the main solution is gonna be having cameras to catch these dudes.

I’ve seen so many varieties of poaching it’s insanity. I still remember running after these punks in their 20’s in POS truck when they shot probably their 20+ deer out truck window over a few weeks. I was sprinting to get their plates. They would shoot ‘em & leave em or cut heads off. Then the one where dude plead guilty to lil less than 50 bucks…. Would sell racks for meth $. Even if u got “$50” - there’s your fix!

I had an idea I wonder if this would ever work LEGALLY?!!?!?????…….
So- get ur neighbors to go in on a legit good looking robo-buck. Buddies have said $3-5k. Take turns spending time by it. When someone shoots- film it. Get all documented on film. & u also now know who your poachers are. Wonder if this can be prosecuted???
 
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I think shooting from trucks is the #1 around me. Trail cams seem to have reduced the blatant trespassing.

I was thinking about mounting some fake wireless trail cam/wireless security cam way up high on the Telephone poles along the road. Utility Co might take them down but it may give the road hunters something to think about.
 
Skip, TBH I don't even think you would need to use a robo-deer. I think if you just took like a Glendel Buck with the bigger rack and hid part of its body, but enough exposed so they could see the rack, they would shoot at it. I also think putting some kind of reflectors or something where the eyes would be so when their truck lights or spotting lights would hit it, it would light up when you shine an actual deer would make them definitely get an itchy trigger finger.
 
Skip, your robo deer idea is a good one. Once you get some successful prosecution done, word will get out to local poachers. I had a problem at the farm with road poachers. I worked with game and parks and they set up a robo deer. Caught one, could of probably had more but a very noisy neighbor wanted to see who they were busting so they aborted the project after that. I also busted neighbor for hunting without permission and trespassing. My signs are my only warnings. My trail cams also caught a meth head stealing a plot disk and harrow. Through pic id, the local sheriff dept. was able to track him down and arrest him after dropping his daughter off at parochial school. Dad of the year. The implements had already been discarded at a metal recycling plant.

I run many trail cams and haven't noticed poaching or trespassing evidence since then. I've since screened any part of property with miscanthus and cedars if it wasn't already screened from road. This has been a significant positive in deer movement and trespassing in my opinion.
 
Shed hunting some urban areas I have found xbow bolts where there should not be xbow bolts. The way some of these bolts where stuck in the dirt it was obvious they were being shot from a vehicle. Multiple times in the same areas. One year also found a headless deer in the area and a small dead buck that that had been shot, I contacted the county dnr officer on that one.
 
Sligh1 said:
For sure. We all know it would be crazy easy to do this. The good part- these scum bags would need to spend thousands to do it and MOST that poach pry ain’t gonna go to that level. If it does happen- the main solution is gonna be having cameras to catch these dudes.

I’ve seen so many varieties of poaching it’s insanity. I still remember running after these punks in their 20’s in POS truck when they shot probably their 20+ deer out truck window over a few weeks. I was sprinting to get their plates. They would shoot ‘em & leave em or cut heads off. Then the one where dude plead guilty to lil less than 50 bucks…. Would sell racks for meth $. Even if u got “$50” - there’s your fix!

I had an idea I wonder if this would ever work LEGALLY?!!?!?????…….
So- get ur neighbors to go in on a legit good looking robo-buck. Buddies have said $3-5k. Take turns spending time by it. When someone shoots- film it. Get all documented on film. & u also now know who your poachers are. Wonder if this can be prosecuted???
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The robo deer sounds good, but even our CO’s here in Kansas have trouble getting the case to stick. One case was thrown out due to “entrapment” because the robo deer had a B&C rack. Judge found the size of the antlers led the poachers to do something they otherwise wouldn’t. Riiiiiiiight…….


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sep0667 said:
Shed hunting some urban areas I have found xbow bolts where there should not be xbow bolts. The way some of these bolts where stuck in the dirt it was obvious they were being shot from a vehicle. Multiple times in the same areas. One year also found a headless deer in the area and a small dead buck that that had been shot, I contacted the county dnr officer on that one.
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I have found the same to be true while shed hunting urban areas around where I live. Bolts 50 yds away from the road, pointed as if shot from a vehicle.
 
I if wanted to take down giants illegally, I would use thermal + suppressor. Thermal is getting very affordable for the ambitious.
There is a road that bisects our (tree) farm. It’s not uncommon to see trucks suspiciously crawling up and down our road at certain times of the year. This spring I started hinge-cutting the trees most next to the road. I also started dropping some trees further back to choke off the view. I also planted and transplanted cedars that someday will completely block the view. Too many bad actors.
 
Very seriously consider giant miscanthus for permanent screens 10 to 14ft tall !!! They cant shoot what they cant see!!!

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Besides obvious preventative measures such as screening along roads, I like to put out old broken trail cameras in conspicuous locations so would be trespassers know the area is monitored. Great use of the early model spypoints.
 
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Hell, the most common method I know of is guys straight up using someone else's tag or simply not tagging a deer. Poaching is poaching and these are some of the biggest offenders who do it in broad daylight, quite brazenly at times. Outside of that, the prevalence of NV, suppressors and thermal will surely prove useful to poachers as well.

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meyeri said:
Hell, the most common method I know of is guys straight up using someone else's tag or simply not tagging a deer. Poaching is poaching and these are some of the biggest offenders who do it in broad daylight, quite brazenly at times. Outside of that, the prevalence of NV, suppressors and thermal will surely prove useful to poachers as well.

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I thought of this as well. Growing up there were gun groups who had 10 guys in the group but 50 tags given to them by other people not in the group
 
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