Poaching is shooting a wild animal. He shot a farm raised animal. No idea what crime that is, but not poaching.
The [bleep] that pays $20k to go in and shoot that deer is no better IMO.
I was going to say exactly the same thing. He shot livestock, not game. This is the same as cattle rustling. At one time, in some areas, it was a hanging offense but now it's probably whatever penalty the state allows for the theft depending on it's value. Some cows are worth a lot more than others and this is one of the more expensive ones, more like a top breeding bull. I wonder if they collected a few quarts of semen before they offered him for shooting.
As a side note, I read how he did it. This is similar to a case years ago in one of the large eastern cities. They had a whitetail buck that was a phenomenal atypical. He was probably one of the most photographed deer of all time because everyone who visited the zoo took pictures of his unusual rack. Then one night someone 'poached' him. They shot him and dragged his body through a hole they cut in the fence.
The state fish & game figured that with a rack like that, it would be just a matter of time before it showed up at a big buck contest. They passed around a bunch of photos of him and had wardens start visiting every big buck contest there and in surrounding states. It took 3 years, but the guy finally figured that the heat was off and entered it in a contest. The heat wasn't off and they caught him.
