Mule deer poacher
Mule Deer
Mule deer poacher gets charged.
MULE DEER ABANDONED AND WASTED AMIDST MYRIAD OF EXCUSES
BUFFALO – Abandoning almost all the meat from a 6-by-5 mule deer Oct. 1 near Buffalo, even though offering a myriad of reasons to excuse him from the violation, has cost a Cody man $540 in fines and one year of hunting privileges.
Steven M. Haberland, 60, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to waste and abandonment of a big game animal and was sentenced Feb. 13 in Circuit Court in Buffalo. In addition to the fine and loss of privileges, the agreement signed by Judge Shelley Cundiff also ordered Haberland to forfeit the deer’s head and cape.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department first learned of the violation Oct. 1 when Haberland mentioned to a department employee at a Buffalo locker plant that he left the carcass of his mule deer in the field. Later that day both a group of Wisconsin hunters and the neighboring landowner also reported the abandoned carcass.
Buffalo Game Warden Jim Seeman called Haberland that afternoon, and the hunter said he abandoned the carcass because it had been severely scavenged and soiled by eagles and coyotes. Upon visiting the site the next day, Seeman discovered the carcass was intact and clean and had not been disturbed by any scavengers. When presented with the evidence, Haberland then claimed he did not retrieve the animal after field dressing, caping, removing the backstraps and packing out the head and cape, because of his age and bad knees.
The Wisconsin hunters also reported Haberland killing a buck antelope within 100 yards of his mule deer the afternoon of Oct. 1, and retrieving the antelope the three-fourths of a mile to his truck . Confronted with that report Oct. 5 by phone, Haberland told the game warden the “real story” was that he went back to retrieve the mule deer that afternoon, but since it had sat in the sun all day it had spoiled.
“I know that the number of excuses that Haberland offered when I interviewed him was astounding – a total of six,” Seeman said. “In my 22 years of wildlife law enforcement, that’s the most excuses I’ve ever heard in a case. I’ve never had a suspect even come close to presenting that many different excuses and changes of stories.”
In Wyoming, hunters are required to retrieve all “edible portions of big game.” Game and Fish Commission regulation defines that as “meat of the front quarters as far down as the knees, meat of the hind quarters as far down as the hocks, and the meat along the backbone between the neck and hindquarters including the loins and tenderloins, excluding meat on the ribs and neck.”
Cody Game Warden Travis Crane delivered the suspect, a retired package delivery driver, a citation for the violation on Oct. 6 and confiscated the cape and trophy head with antlers measuring approximately 24 inches wide. On Oct. 9, Haberland’s physician mailed a letter to the court stating that a minor injury prevented Haberland from retrieving the deer carcass. Johnson County Deputy Attorney Ryan Wright and Seeman also rejected that excuse as invalid and proceeded with the case. Haberland, who moved to Wyoming in 2008 from New York, hired a Buffalo attorney and a Feb. 17 trial was scheduled before the plea agreement was reached.
The revocation of Haberland’s hunting privileges in Wyoming for one year, also includes 41 member states of the Wildlife Violator Compact.
“I’ve really got to thank this group of Wisconsin hunters for their willingness to get involved in the investigation, because they were a tremendous help in debunking the excuses and sorting out the case,” Seeman said.
Age and bad knees, huh ? Good thing I wasn't the judge. Wanton waste IMO is worse than poaching for meat.
$540 in fines and it probably cost $5,000+ in time spent by F&G to prosecute him.
Maybe I'm not reading something here, but did he tag the animal? If he used his tag, although unethical wanton waste, what business is it of anyone else what he does with the meat...
Z the wanton waste was/is not only unethical but illegal. "In Wyoming, hunters are required to retrieve all “edible portions of big game.” Game and Fish Commission regulation defines that as “meat of the front quarters as far down as the knees, meat of the hind quarters as far down as the hocks, and the meat along the backbone between the neck and hindquarters including the loins and tenderloins, excluding meat on the ribs and neck.”
So as long as you remove from the field, you can then do anything you want with it?
Z---Your two posts are not sounding like those of an ethical, responsible sportsperson and I would hope nobody on here would want you in their camp with the attitude you're displaying!!
06 - You don't know me nor my ethics...
I was asking questions about the law, not ethics... Ignorance assumes.
BTW, I hunt alone over 90% of the time and don't share camps, and the few times I hunted out of state with another, the camps I shared was with my better half, so there is no fret of sharing a hunting camp with me...
Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have nothing nice to say , so I won't say nothing !!!!
Have to agree with a previous post. Killing a deer just for the horns is nothing more than poaching and should be treated as such.
archery95 - You need to go read my posts before questioning my ethics....
Again, I asked a simple question of legality...
"it is illegal anywhere I know of to shoot an animal and just take the antlers and leave the meat".....If legally tagged, PROVE IT!!!
I know Alaska has wanton waste laws, but did not know about WY...
What about the bear carcass laying around the woods after the skull and hide has been removed....
I know in my home state, once it's down, it must be tagged before being moved. The law doesn't specify what one can do with it after it's tagged... Their priority is tag fee moneys, and dead animal stats, not so much as what you do with it after, whether butcher it, grind it up, or feed it to your hogs or even leave it to rot. So I questioned, if legally tagged, although unethical, is it legal to leave lay....
Baiting may be unethical, but is it legal... There ya go smart guys, chew on that rotten meat....
"Straight out of the regs"
Where do you read "tagged" in there....
Again, if its legally tagged (you've punched your thousand dollar non-resident tag, after you've waited years to draw it) you now possess, or "own" the animal... You've paid for the right to kill it, the people of the state, managed by their F&G department no longer "own" it. Where in the rules does it indicate the F&G has control of another's personal property...
Oh bright one that interpits the law - Will you remove a found skeletonized skull from the woods??? Is it ethical, is it legal???
I was playing the devil'sd advocate but wanting to hear the legalities of different states wanton waste....
Most likely this guy is a lazy skumbag deserving of his fines, but let me give an example of a gut shot buck taking four days to find.
Ethically, you use your one and only buck tag, making it a totally legal kill, but does the law require you to legally drag the blotted, bug infested, rotting carcass from the woods...?
The more this guy posts on this the bigger jam he's getting into and it makes it look like he definitely condones only taking the head/rack and leaving everything else to waste. How else can you read his posts and not think that when he says as soon as he kills something it's now his to do whatever he feels like with no ramifications? I guess he doesn't know that if you look in the regs of just about every state, probably including his wherever that may be, that there is a wanton waste rule there somewhere like we're talking about. Even if there isn't, you shouldn't need one if you're ethical in everything you do in and out of the field!
06 - You still don't get the point.... There is a difference between ethics and legalities, and before one is convicted of a "crime", there has to be a law written in the books...
You guys are such students of the law, show me in writing the legalities of the circumstances I presented....
You must not be very bright ZBone. Here you go. Scroll down to Section 13 of the WY Game and Fish Regulations. The fellow in the article obviously had no susbstantive proof or reasoning why all edible portions were not removed.
Every state I have hunted has had some sort of wanton waste law/rule.
Can we all just.... git' along! :)
>>>>-------->
"Sounds like" There ya go - assuming.....
Okay, going back to my original question... Did the man first tag the deer?
If not it's cut and dry illegal killing, or poaching... If he did first tag it, then its a wanton waste violation...
Heck you should see how our DOW hands out crop damage permits to blow them away at night with lights and rifles and allows them to leave lay.... Talk about wanton waste....
bowmad - I haven't the time to go searching through every state's game regs to find, or not find, wanton waste rules, but I can tell ya we don't have them here...
I never asked that you do so. You asked for it to be produced, as for some apparent reason you did not believe it. I did so. You should always check on the laws of any state you may be hunting.
Well done for producing the regs...
I'm done making my points...
Hey, I only wanted to know if the man first tagged the deer which puts it in a different prospective than flat out poached it for the trophy, before the ethics police started jumping my boat... Peace
trublucolo - I was gonna let it go until now I see your post in between.... There is no back pedaling from me, bring it on....
What was the temperature of that day... How long recovery time... Was the meat already spoiled by the sun... Who determines if meat is spoiled, or edible... Is bear meat considered editable in WY... Is it ethical to leave bear meat, or coyote for that matter...Although legal, is it ethical to allow deer to be killed in summer and stacked up to waste....
Which one you want to debate, I'm ready to go!!!
This tagging or not tagging the animal is BS to begin with! The way the law is written is to make it illegal to leave edible parts in the field whether you have or don't have a tag and use it. It just makes it that much easier for a CO or Prosecutor to do their job with one less thing to prove. The animal is dead, regardless of whether it has a tag on it and was killed legally or poached, and all edible parts as defined by the law are to be taken from the field. As I stated before and what was just stated in the previous posts, quit digging yourself a bigger hole when you have been sized up and are now trying to get out of it, only to be going deeper the more you post!
dude - I haven't back pedaled to edited any of my posts... If I did, I would have went back and edited my "interprets" misspelling....
Have to step away from electronics, but bring your lunch dude, not my first day at the rodeo...
"Stay relevant to the OP if you can. 90% of your entire "debate" is irrelevant to the OP including your last post.
Until then I will just preface your posts with "I, Zbone was playing the devil'sd advocate but wanting to hear the legalities of different...". That should help me understand where you are coming from no matter what you post."
I might be a bad with spelling, and the keyboard, but I haven't a clue as what you are trying to say...
Ummm there are also laws that state the antlers and head must come out last and all meat taken care of first for this very reason. Also I full believe that wanton waste laws apply after the animal is out of the field. Someplace I recall wording that talks about being processed and packaged for human consumption. Meaning you must fully process the meat. Just hauling the quarters out of the field and dumping them in a dumpster would also qualify...
As mentioned earlier, it is a felony in Colorado!
You can rest your case and also take a flying leap because you have never even said what state you were in and we're not talking Ohio. If Ohio doesn't have a law and allows only antlers to be taken and all the edible meat to be wasted, then shame on them and they should get in the current century! Also, your BS statements regarding bears and coyotes, etc., is just that because animals like that are normally addressed in the wanton waste statutes. FYI more people probably do eat bear meat and take it form the field along with the head/hide. If you knew a fraction of what you think you know, that fraction would still be infinitesimal and your posts have certainly not shown anything positive relating to hunting and ethics.
So what if the meat is not edible? Do I still have to bring it out?
topgun (or I should say bottomofthebarrel) Read my lips. My first post was a simple question of was it first tagged before you ethics police chimed in in which I later stated this isn't about ethics, but rather legality...
Okay, since your head of the ethics police, even though you've legally blasted a habituated baited bear, is it ethical to not remove (and this coming directly from the OP) “meat of the front quarters as far down as the knees, meat of the hind quarters as far down as the hocks, and the meat along the backbone between the neck and hindquarters including the loins and tenderloins, excluding meat on the ribs and neck.” of this habituated baited bear?
Heck, they ought make that mandatory before you can remove the skull and hide from the woods....
Your head of ethics, ya better eat what you kill....
Zbone---Whether it was tagged or not makes no difference if you could read what has been posted about the wanton waste laws! Say whatever you want, but everything you've posted so far has been pure hogwash! You appear to lack any reading comprehension of the English language since you keep coming back with more posts containing questions that have been addressed previously along with absolutely stupid comments. As far as your latest question pertaining to bears, the statutes normally don't apply to them and say so, but if I was going to shoot one I would either eat the meat or have someone on hand that would if I didn't want it. That is the case for myself whether an animal is under the wanton waste law or not, with the exception of a coyote. AK is one state requiring antlers/horns to be hauled out first before all edible meat and I'm not sure if any of the lower 48 states have that requirement or not. However, I would certainly know before I hunted a state to make sure that no violations of any sort were committed.
I read Z"s first post. He just asked a simple question and was pounded after that. I miss ya Z.
Whether it's a question or legality or ethics, you take the dang meat out. I wouldn't want to be associated with someone that shoots an animal for the head and leaves the true goodies behind. Debate it anyway you want but come on, let's not try to avoid packing out meat based on a technicality. If you don't want the meat, pack it out and donate it to someone else. That's just respect for the game and the responsibility we as hunters take on. If that's not something that interests you then I feel sorry for you and would encourage you to leave the sport.
Lot's of whining on this thread....must be that time of the month.
Very simple: 1)Ethical hunter- Shoots animal, harvests meat, retains antlers/head as memory of great trip if he/she feels necessary 2) Scum Bag- Shoots animal, leaves perfectly good meat behind to rot and takes head/antlers as trophy/decoration
No brainer
'Time of year' is right.'Time of month' would be even more appropriate.
