Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Prince of Poachers Part 1

I could understand shooting deer or whatever to feed your family if that's all you had.

But in the vast majority of cases, that just isn't so.

When I was in LEO, I stopped a pickup with two dykes in it late at night...

Got the impression they were hiding something bad. I really thought it would be drugs. I got their permission to search and found a plastic bag with two deer backstraps and two hams in it behind their seat... along with an old .22 rifle.

When I asked them where they shot it, they said down some county road about 50 miles from where we were. I called the GW and stood by until he got there. Those dykes started crying and slobbering. How broke they were, and just needed the meat...

I told them they weren't too broke to drive a pickup that got 8 mpg a 100 miles to illegally kill 30 pounds of deer meat. I really didn't feel sorry for them.

I despise poachers to the bitter end I will not give him any money by buying his book. A man that poaches to feed his family is one thing a man that poaches for fun and entertainment is hardly a man.

Not too interested in a book glorifying the actions of a poacher.

Kirt Darner tried to write one, turns out it was mostly lies

This. I wouldn’t even publish it.

Cal Coziah was another one poaching large mule deer to get his name in the record book.

It seems more than a few of those famous archery guys in the past have been outed as using a rifle, hunting closed seasons, etc. Whatever it takes to get their name in the book.

America loves the criminal. They tell stories of robbers and murderers, immortalize them in movies. Everyone knows Jesse James, Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, but no one remembers a person they killed or a bank they robbed...

Yeah, it stands to reason a perpetual poacher would likely lie every chance they got, if it would benefit them.

The same here, but I have a different take.

The state will fine the crap out of you for killing one of "their deer". In some instances,
It can be a felony.

A trespassing fine is around $50. Hard to get someone fined, and you
have to spend a fortune in signing in order to get first time convictions.
You also have a terrible time getting law enforcement to even do anything.
The GW's will not enforce trespassing, they say it's the State Police's job.
Anything else, they will tell you they have the same authority as the police.

I used to have a family that worked for me on the farm. I'd shoot the first legal deer I saw when I first started hunting, and give them the deer. I didn't tag it, and have no idea if they did or not. They said they needed the meat, and that's all that mattered to me. If I was hungry and needed to feed my family, I'd not hesitate to go out and shoot a deer, just as long as I did it on my land. If a hungry person came to me and asked me to shoot them a deer for food, and I knew they were serious about it, I'd probably do it.

I would read the book, just for the entertainment, the guys that really piss me off are the lying bastards they paid him money for a deer that they would never be capable of taking on their own.

If you think about it , its not that hard to kill big bucks if you throw the rules out the window. Obviously hunting the rut, hunting Sundays when they closed in most states and taking shots that we offer knowing that the meat was a by product.

And why not hunt places like the King ranch, knowing full well their was no one else out there except in the "deer" season. Now the guy had to have some serious woods skills finding water, avoiding snakes, mountain lions and anything else that hunts the night.

I would like to know his early life story, Viet Nam involved, or if his father taught him this trade?

I remember A W Grimes. 😁

And who can forget Bob Olinger???? 😁

"Hey Bob!!!!" BOOM!!!!

The problem I have is I’ve seen judges throw the book at someone who shot a deer during the season but did not have the correct license. I seen prosecutors and judges hammer people over game violations but yet take a pathetic stance on meth cookers. Meth cooks are the scourge of society but they get drug court or have to go through rehab and then their charges are dismissed. Same for wife beaters or child molesters.

Here is a story for you..
Many years ago (during my near 30yr career in LE) I was directed to drive to Michigan City Indiana prison to pick up a prisoner and return them to court the following day. I drove the several hour trip north and picked up the prisoner. I had been on the road back for a short time when I got a cell phone call from dispatch. I was directed to go by another county jail and pick up a subject being held on our warrant. So I drove over to that county and picked the second prisoner up. One prisoner was an inmate asking for a sentence modification the other has a warrant on him. With both secured in the back seat I started back to my county.
About a hour in the return trip the subject with the warrant asked the prisoner what he was in jail for. The prisoner replied “Attempted Murder”. About ten minutes go by and the inmate asked the prisoner what he was in jail for... he replied “Undersized largemouth bass”.

News seems to always post a picture of the killer, and not the victims.

Definitely a candidate for the "Group W Bench" in Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie...

In the early sixties,once the screw worm eradication program succeeded, North Texas started having WT deer in places where they had been gone for 70 years, and North Young County was such a place and where I lived. I’m sure that the State helped the process along by clandestinely restocking in select large pastures. They didn’t get Landowners permission, they just turned them loose at night.

Ranchers did not want any deer since they were blamed for hosting screw worms and the eradication program had not yet been proven effective. Add to that the fact that deer carried ticks and it’s easy to see why they were unwanted.

But a guy with a family to feed who could be trusted not to accidentally kill a cow was certainly welcome.

That’s all I’m gonna say about THAT.

William Bonney.

Right?

when i was in high school back in 78-80 road hunting was pretty much a right of passage amongst all us redneck types. catching catfish out of our FFA teachers ponds or getting a couple cases of lone star and a bottle of JD and hitting the back roads. It was more about not getting caught than killing a deer.

I wasn't there but if what I have read is true. the killing BtK did escaping was kind of earned. Bsitid had it coming, no sympathy for him here