This $#!+ makes me sick to my stomach. In California we have no deer hunting to speak of. The success rate of hunters is less than 30%, it is extremely expensinve, and the deer rearely get over 2 to 3 years old. Plus 90% of the deer here only develop forked racks. To see a 3x3 or a 4x4 rack is extremely rare. We don't have whitetails here either.
This is why I go back for rifle season (Thanksgiving) every year and visit the family. Last year seemed like the poaching was worse than it had been in the few years prior. I can remember hearing gun shots all throughout the night the whole two weeks I was there.
Last year there was a big buck that would pass through my Dad's 10 acres from time to time. I never saw him but my Dad and his neighbors did. His neighbor thought he might score in the 150's. I remember at about 2:00 in the morning when I was sleeping I was awaken by a gun shot that had to have been within 100 yards of my Dad's house. It was loud and scared the crap out of me. I'm not sure if it was the big boy but spotlighting seemed to be a huge probelem last year. So far no eye witness reports of the big boy this year.
It truely is sickening and enraging! I agree that there should be much stiffer penalties for poaching. I think jail time with the loss of the firearm and the vehicle would be a good deterrent for a fist offense. If you get caught again then you serve some serious jail time. We do also need more game wardens out there.
This is why I go back for rifle season (Thanksgiving) every year and visit the family. Last year seemed like the poaching was worse than it had been in the few years prior. I can remember hearing gun shots all throughout the night the whole two weeks I was there.
Last year there was a big buck that would pass through my Dad's 10 acres from time to time. I never saw him but my Dad and his neighbors did. His neighbor thought he might score in the 150's. I remember at about 2:00 in the morning when I was sleeping I was awaken by a gun shot that had to have been within 100 yards of my Dad's house. It was loud and scared the crap out of me. I'm not sure if it was the big boy but spotlighting seemed to be a huge probelem last year. So far no eye witness reports of the big boy this year.
It truely is sickening and enraging! I agree that there should be much stiffer penalties for poaching. I think jail time with the loss of the firearm and the vehicle would be a good deterrent for a fist offense. If you get caught again then you serve some serious jail time. We do also need more game wardens out there.
