POACHED!!! Now What?
 

hey folks,

i'm looking for an opinion, and I know you all have one (especially on this subject).

a group of my buddies and I have a just got our hunting licenses in the past 2 years. I went out hunting with them only once. i'll never go again. the reason is because there was way too much alcohol involved. hunting while under the influence. roaming around the forest with loaded weapons drunk is not what i'm interested in...needless to say, I packed up and left after I gave them a good scolding.

so any way, back to the reason for this post.

the boys all bait for the deer. best friends or not I have reported them. with gps locations of the tree stands as well as parking spots and also included license plate numbers. of trucks and atvs (the atvs are used before noon as well just to add to the stupidity)

one of the guys decides he is going to hunt on his uncles property all the boys go, I stay behind and hunt on my own. its in a draw only area. he takes 1 doe...well actually he never killed any because the doe was neck shot and paralysed so he and his wife started filling the body with arrows which still did not kill the thing. so he called his uncle over from the farm to slice the throat because nor he or his wife had the stomach to do it.

so, no draw to hunt in that area, tags never put on the animal. the animal is butchered and packed up into the trunk of the SUV. and brought back down to Calgary for consumption.

just recently I have him and his wife over for supper. they told me not to cook any meat because they would bring some little doe tenderloin for us all to devour. after supper we are all sitting around the table bull****ting and we get on the topic of his "hunt", they tell us the story of how uncle had been baiting/feeding these deer for quite some time. how he has tree stands all over the property at each baiting location so that we can all go over there to hunt. uncle says "don't even bother buying deer tags in the future because you can hunt here whenever you want" and continues on to say "I haven't paid for a tag in 20 years!".

personally I don't want any part of that.

so you have a group of first year hunters all poaching for their first hunts ever and are convinced that there is nothing wrong with it because the "wise" old unlce says it's ok.

what do I do?

is it too late for me to call RAP?

am I guilty because I unknowingly consumed the illegally harvested?

that evening we got into a major ethics battle/discussion and eventually I kicked them out of my house (in the nicest way possible).

how does one deal with this situation?

Personally I don't even know what the question really is.....these guys need a lesson in how things need to be done. Its never too late to call RAP. Id call

They've put you in an uncomfortable decision. This means you'll have to decide how much you value their friendship vs. knowing that you need to report them by writing a statement at the FW office.

I know I would struggle if I was put in that situation, but ultimately I'd have to do the right thing and report this blatant poaching.

Remember that this is everyone's resource and sounds like they have a long history of abusing it. If I had 'friends' that were doing these sorts of things, they aren't the type of people that I could continue to be friends with as my values would be far different than theirs.

The tricky part will be to find hard evidence for charges.

evidence isnt for the person to collect. Its our job to report scum bags and up to others to do their jobs.

I would report them. Sounds like they figure they can hunt whenever they want and will do just that unless something is done.. kinda your responsibility even if you catch a bit of s@&t.
Also you probably don't want to hang out with people like that anyway.....

My under standing is that you are not liable unless you had reason to suspect that the meat is illegal. For example if you buy deer meat from a guy on the side of the road for half the going price then you are hooped. I think that as long as you call them you should be fine no one really thinks their friend bring over illegal meat. Give rap a shout its not to late and even better if he still has the meat then they have potential proof.

What's the going price? There isn't one because in Alberta it is illegal to sell game meat.

If you are so adverse to these peoples actions, time to pull the plug. Sounds like a crowd you have no respect for anyways. Good for you, it's not easy making the right choice here.

What you do and how to deal with this situation is up to you. For me, I would report these guys and I thought that earlier in your post you said you did? Maybe typo.?
Knowing these guys as you do, it is reasonable that you should have suspected the meat was illegal but I doubt that can ever be proven. If you report these guys and charges are laid, you may or may not be required to testify. If you are cross examined after your testimony you may be cross examined on your consumption of the illegal game meat and it may be suggested that you were also guilty and only reported your friends for some selfish reason.

If you report this the investigators may find sufficient evidence that may allow them to proceed without your testimony.

That is a tough one but since you asked on this forum I think you know how most will advise you.

Let F&W decide
 

The story is beyond belief. I will believe you because i have no reason not to. But the list of infractions is long and hard to imagine.

F&W officers are not dumb nor inexperienced. They deserve the facts you have and they have resources to investigate. I suspect this is not the first rodeo of which they have been informed.

My preference would be to report the uncle's name. They could easily surveil the place during hunting season and find ways to stop hunters in the area until they had a few and then bust the landowner. I am no expert by a long shot but I would personally take great glee in catching a bunch of poachers despite the fact it would be after the game was dead. (Does seized game get consumed?)

But I'd tell RAP what I knew and let them decide what to do with my report.

That's an amazing story of infractions. Wow.

Isn't that the truth! If making the right choice was easy, more would be doing it.

Not sure what or why you are asking. You already said you reported them:

"the boys all bait for the deer. best friends or not I have reported them. with gps locations of the tree stands as well as parking spots and also included license plate numbers. of trucks and atvs (the atvs are used before noon as well just to add to the stupidity) ".

thanks everyone for your comments.

Haha you're not the only one. But truth is stranger than fiction sometimes...

The pack is howling now.

It's believable. Call RAP/F&W.

My ex co-worker was Michelle Hasseloh, the chick that racked up 110 charges with her boyfriend Chris Brophy a few years back. Serial poaching like this happens all the time I'm sure.

Maybe take a knee and consider your options!

i judge a person by there company, you need to find better friends, tell them straight up,

I suspect that F&W will contact you. They peruse this site often. I've been contacted by them twice, each time they stated they got all my contact info from this site.

Be the person you are. We all have choices in our lives. Being a new hunter i would get off on the right foot. Poaching is not hunting.

what Whitey said . this site has nailed some poachers in past . I was in on it and proud of it :)

as a troll
 

From the description are you willing to come forward to build a case?

Fire.:)

delte.

Knew people growing up that acted the same way. I decided not to associate with them. Two died in a drunken wreck, one shot himself in the pecker, another one got charged with shooting deer in the bow zone with a rifle. Guns, horsepower and alcohol are not a good mix and the problems can escalate beyond poaching pretty quick.

Black dually or not in this case, this stuff does happen. "It's my land!!!!" is the usual reason. Sounds like there was two incidents, one involving baiting and quads on public land, and the second on private land.

Report it and sever ties. Wouldn't let idiots like that within 100 yards of my family.

F&W watch these boards i'm sure you wont have to contact them, they'll contact you.

I would be careful, not post it on facebook or AO, I would have secretly went to CO's. Unfortunately some people that dont care a boatload about the law can end up on your lap angry.
Why tell everyone you are a snitch? in this case it sounds honorable but do this in private or you may end up on the wrong end of a gulley with the wrong people meeting you there.

Just my two cents with real life situations. If they know your handle etc. Maybe not enough evidence and they get away with it and now they are gunning for you. Fear cannot stop us from doing the right thing, just use better discretion I say.

Let CO's handle it.

If you have to ask on here then you already know. Grow up kid.

OH MY!!!!!!!!! Look in the mirror, what kind of person are you? A cheater, criminal, poacher? We shouldn't have to reincarnate Albert Einstein to figure this one out!!!!!!! "oh my uncles a serial killer but he says he's been doing for 20 years and I don't know if it's ok ?" Use your head!!!!!!!!!!

There's just to much wrong with all this for me ! There is moral issues as well as legal issues. The issues go over a period of time that should have been dealt with at its earliest stages. The drama about eating the tenderloin well thats just for effect of the story. The op comes on here and states stuff that not only implies illegal activities but directly states it. As far as i can see, the op is as responsible for the illegal activities as the poachers if he needs to ask it on this site. There is no question what needs to be done and if there is then the op needs to give up hunting and stick to team sports because he does not have the moral fortitude to continue with this sport. Too much drama,,,,way too much. Do what's right and chose your friends better.

Cant wait for getting ready for spring bear... :sHa_shakeshout: