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TIP Cases

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Taken from IDNR and TIP websites

TIP case #1

On November 13, 2003, Tate Northcutt of Linby Iowa was convicted of illegal taking, possession and transportation of an antlered deer in Jefferson County. On November 16, 2002 Conservation Officer Dallas Davis received information that Tate Northcutt had killed a big buck and cut the head off and left the rest of the deer in the field. Officer Davis, along with Officers Matt Rush and Chris Flynn conducted an investigation. During the course of the investigation it was found that Mr. Northcutt had killed a trophy sized deer that scored 187 3/8 non typical, and left most of the carcass in the field. It was also determined that Mr. Northcutt had killed the deer sometime on or prior to November 12th. Mr. Northcutt's deer license was not issued until the 14th of November and he claimed to have killed the deer on November 16th. After concluding the month long investigation Mr. Northcutt was charged with illegal taking, possession and transportation of an antlered deer, abandonment of dead or injured wildlife, no deer license and tresspassing. During the course of his trial Mr. Northcutt agreed to a plea agreement and was assessed $4,190.00 in fines, court costs and civil penalties. He also received a one year hunting license suspension. This case was made with the help of concerned hunters that understand the importance of wildlife regulations and how these laws allow for the fair and equal utilization of wildlife for all citizens of our state. Thank you for the help.

The TIP reward committee approved a $250.00 reward on this case plus an additional $250 from the Larry Zach Trophy Deer Reward fund because of the size of the deer.
 
Case #2

Timely Call Nabs Poachers

It was 1:30 A.M. when Conservation Officer Les Nieland received information that a TIP call indicated that spot lighters were driving fields in the Baltimore township area of Henry County. After searching the area in question Officer Nieland located a black S-10 pickup stuck in a field driveway. In the truck was an uncased .22 rifle, spotlight and .22 ammunition. In the back of the truck bed were two pieces of fresh deer loin. After seizing the items Officer Nieland ran a records check on the vehicle. Upon arrival at the truck drivers residence, a distance of two miles from the stuck truck Officer Nieland found what appeared to be blood in a drag mark going into a basement garage door. A sleeping resident of the house was awakended and after a discussion he gave his consent to a search of the basement garage. As the resident and the officer walked to the basement door two men walked out of the darkness. Much to the poachers surprise Officer Nieland had beaten them to their home after they made the two mile walk from their stuck vehicle. They admitted to shooting one deer that night and another one several nights earlier. After writing the appropriate citations and returning to the field to help the poachers retrieve their truck Officer Nieland arrived back home at 6:10 A.M. Officer Nieland later wrote, "the information provided was accurate and timely. Had the caller waited until morning to call, the poachers would not have been caught since they were prepared to return to the stuck vehicle with another vehicle and get it out."

Total fines, court costs and liquidated damages totaled $3,588.00. Offenders will be subject to license suspension based on habitual offender points.

The reward committee approved a reward of $250.00.
 
Case #3

Out-of-State Tag Scam

On December 3rd, 2003 Conservation Officer Craig Roberg received a TIP call regarding an illegal buck deer killed in Decatur County in October by a hunter from Michigan named Rob Grassmid. The caller said that a picture of the hunter with the deer was on the Steel Creek Outfitter's web site on the internet. The caller would not give a name and did not want any reward for the information. This call was the beginning of a five-month investigation in both Iowa and Michigan. Now, the rest of the story.

Robbie Grassmid and Mike Lampen are both avid bowhunters from Michigan. They had both hunted in Iowa in prior years. Neither hunter was successful in drawing an Iowa any-sex tag for 2003. That did not deter them, however and they purchased anterless only tags instead. They came to Iowa around October 1st and met with Ernie Scott, owner of Steel Creek Outfitters. Both men knew Ernie from previous hunts. Steel Creek Outfitters is locaed near Garden Grove, Iowa in Decatur County.

During their hunts, both men killed very nice buck deer. Mr. Grassmid killed a large 8-point buck and Mr. Lampen killed a large 11-point buck. The deer were left in the field untagged. The hunters were instructed by Ernie Scott to go to Missouri and buy non-resident bow tags for Missouri. The hunters did this and then returned to tag the bucks with Missouri tags.

The illegally taken deer were then taken to Steel Creek Outfitters for photos and were hung in a barn at the camp. Both deer eventually ended up at the same taxidermist shop in Michigan with the Missouri tags on them. End of story...except for those darn photographs. Seems they ended up on Ernie's web site and that web began to unravel.

As a result of the investigation that followed, both Michigan men were charged in Iowa with taking deer illegally and failing to tag deer as required. They paid $4,294.00 each in fines and liquidated damages. They have been suspended from hunting in Iowa and all other compact states for one year. Mr. Scott was charged with the same violations under aiding and abetting. He paid a total of $588.00 in fines and was suspended from hunting for 2 years. Steel Creek Outfitters is still in operation today.
 
TIP Cases - Short Stories



Boone County, Iowa 11/2/2003

Conservation Officer Mark Edwards working on information provided by a TIP call issued two citations to Wade LeMaster of Woodward, Iowa. Charged with possessing an illegallly killed buck deer and unlawful transportation of the deer. Mr. LeMaster was assessed $2,159.00 in fines, liquidated damages and court costs. He was also sentenced to 80 hours of community service. A reward of $250.00 was approved.



Wayne County, Iowa 11/6/2003

The TIP information on Karl Parkin of Seymour, Iowa was that he was shooting deer from the roadway using a high power rifle. He reportedly carried bow licenses for himself and friends to tag the deer. CO Criag Roberg, assisted by CO Randy McPherren arrested Mr. Parkin, a convicted felon and charged him with 3 citations for taking deer illegally. He was assessed $5,941.00 in fines, liquidated damages and court costs and the court condemned the muzzleloader used in the poaching. A TIP reward of $400.00 was approved.



Cerro Gordo County, IA 9/25/2003


Nicholas Paul Clark of Mason City claimed to be hunting snipe and rail at the time he shot a white pelican. Conservation Officer Eric Johnston said the TIP caller "did a good job" of providing information, Mr. Clark was fined $197.00. A reward of $100.00 was approved.



Marion County, Iowa 11/2/2003

William A. Burk aka Billy Burk of Lovilla, Iowa was charged with one count each of taking and possessing an illegally killed deer and turkey by CO John Mertz. Mr. Burk admitted to shooting the animals with .22 caliber rifles. Total fines and liquidated damages could come to $4494.00. A reward of $250.00 was approved.
 
Isn't Steel Creek outfitters in case #3 a sponsor for Iowa Deer?

I hate to see an Outfitter involved in this crap!
 
Those happen all to often. It is pretty nice to know that the officer are doing a great job of catching them.
 
awesome, i'm glad that a few people are getting nailed to the wall. good post iowawhitetail.
 
Hey, Muddy,I have heard a rumor that one of the Bartels boys shot a 180-190 buck. Is this the buck from last year they are taking about or was this buck shot this year. Wandered if you have heard anything. Tim shot one last year
 
Pharmer,

Yes, a muzzleloader is not considered a firearm under federal law or state law. What a loop hole, huh.
 
I was handed a photograph today of a very large buck that was killed in Warren county a little over 2 weeks ago. The wife of the DNR officer that made the arrest said that even after being caught, the poacher (from Tennessee) begged to let them keep the deer. He offered everything he had . . including his wife. He then said that he wasn't sure he could stay out of the Iowa deer woods in the future. Talk about your basket cases.
 
I do not think it is right what these guys have done but I also do not think is your responsibility to put there names on here either. I realize it is public information but make the people look it up not post there names and there illegal doings. I know I will get bashed for this but everyone on here has done something they regret when they were younger or even last week. ex DUI, domestic abuse, moving violations. We need to realize these individuals have families and jobs. They do not need us putting them down anymore. Remember, I think it is awful what they did but everyone has a past. They made a mistake. And no I don't know any of these people. Just my thoughts. Let the bashing begin.
 
I agree Ghost ... slobs poaching our bucks is bad enough but it feels a little worse when we have an outfitter encouraging his client's to break the law so he can profit from it!

STEEL CREEK OUTFITTERS should be on every ethical hunters blacklist!!!!
 
huntnfish21

Your points are well taken yet our philosphies differ. Community service, fines and records may seem like enough penalty yet we still have a sizable problem with poaching.

Displaying their name publicly amongst the hunting community will increase the penalty and hopefully detour future poachers.

Let this be a warning to all poachers as you may be the next poacher high lighted on this site.
 
Do you have a mission statement here at Iowawhitetail?

And I won't ever be highlighted here just giving my opinion.

And I also see you do not have your name listed in your profile.
 
Just like domestic abuse, DUI, or any criminal offense, there name is and should be made public in the sunday newspaper. This is no different. To me the embarassment alone is far greater of a punishement than any dollar amount. Iowawhitetail stands behind ethical deer hunting, not behind a couple of slobs who cant play by the rules. I realize we all make mistakes, a speeding ticket, something we cant always control, but you have a choice when you lay a highpower out your truck window.
 
I've said this before a few times on different threads but I will offer it again.

Put the numbers of all the local CO's in your cell phone. I even put in a few of the county deputies. Use them anytime you think something is going on that shouldn't be. I've called a few different times over the course of the last 3 years and I appologize to the officer before they even go out to check if it's a false alarm and everytime they have said "don't appologize for anything", they want calls and leads. As the one case points out, a timely call is all it takes. I would bet that a large percentage of the poaching cases are from people who call in to report something. The more people getting busted will help us all in the long run.
 
Iowawhitetail, I agree with your post and personally I enjoy reading about it when some poacher gets his due.
Around here the local paper puts your name in the court section for anything, even your grandma's for failing to signal a left hand turn.
As was said, these people made a choice, so let 'em suffer. They are stealing oportunity from everyone that plays fair.

Keep up the good work IowaWhitetail!
 
I heard of a similar case in appanoose county where there were 4 guys who leased land from a farmer there and did not draw the any sex tags. The farmer still wanted his money so they paid and bought the doe tags and all 4 shot nice bucks. Someone tipped off the DNR -- final result over 17,000 in fines. I unfortunately do not have the names or state they were from -- maybe someone else heard of this one.
 
Good post, a monetary fine to some of these people with deep pockets means next to nothing... by circulating their names publicly through various forms of media, we send a clear message to would be offenders that we do not tolerate this kind of behavior in our communities (websites included). I would go a step further and say that I hope administrators of this fine site would permanently ban any convicted poachers
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