230” mule deer poached in Wyoming
Mule Deer
Breaking: 230” mule deer poached in Wyoming
http://www.gohunt.com/read/news/breaking-story-230-inch-mule-deer- buck-poached-in-wyoming
Nate must not be very bright...
Definitely not. He's even recently shared a post on Facebook for the best units on hunting mule deer. I really doubt he'll have to worry about that for awhile!
I don't get it. I hope they throw the book at him.
I cannot imagine anyone looking at any poached animal on the wall and cherishing the memories.
Beautiful deer,ignorant individual. I often wonder how much pleasure these poachers get out of a trophy mount they killed illegally.
"I cannot imagine anyone looking at any poached animal on the wall and cherishing the memories."
SFW does it 500 times a year and gets away with it.
"Nate must not be very bright..."
Wish all poachers were as dumb as this guy. How'd he think he was gonna get away with this.
IT is a disease, the person is wired that they just have to have it at all cost, their are a couple of brothers from Ia. are the same way, if there is some big horns around it drives them crazy unless they have it, they have ben busted number of times.
I can see how he got confused. Maybe he buys t-shirts from the store I found this one.
Dumb and sad all at the same time.
Nice rock pedestal mount will be a nice decoration to some game and fish office or ?
He is not dumb he is a college grad. and a school teacher in Big Piney WY. He is flawed. I would not want him around my school!!!!
Wow. Just wow. What is wrong with an individual that it makes them so crazy to do something like that and then the NEED to tell the world???
I mean don't get me wrong I'm not holier than thou I can honestly understand a guy being tempted in the right situation while he's out hunting or something. Not saying it's right, but good people have been known to get themselves in sticky situations. Before we all cast the first stone. But to literally go after animals out of season that are known locally and then to top it off to make a big deal about the animal???!! I mean there is a mental issue there.
Antlers are one of the best and worst parts of hunting.
Decent people give in to temptation fairly often. Doesn't make it right but its a fact. No idea if he is a bad guy in general or if this incident is an exception. As for getting caught, he either knowingly chose to take a huge risk or as Jaq stated, he's not very bright. Looks like he will be held accountable.
Neat deer, I saw it at the Expo. As someone alluded to above, this one deer getting poached may not be the worst threat to hunting when looking at what else was happening there.
The guy full well knew what he was doing and then took it to the taxidermist in Utah knowing there was a lot less of a chance getting caught. There is scuttlebutt that the taxidermist is the one who put it on display at the Expo and not the hunter. Since he had a tag and it was used for the wrong species he may not get the huge penalties that everyone is calling for. If he doesn't IMHO the locals should press the USFWS to cite him under the the Lacey Act. That would be cut and dried with him taking it across state lines to the taxidermist to lessen his chances of being found that it was poached.
Pretty sad when people have no respect for game laws. How they can look themselves in the mirror is beyond me. And how can they look at a mount of an animal taken illegally and not feel guilty every single time for being a cheatin' poacher also baffles me.
Poaching can always be found at the intersection of obsessive horn porn and narcissism.....and it seems to be on the rise.
The Statute he should be charged with is a Misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no less than $5K or more than $10K and/or a year in jail. The number of years he can lose his hunting privileges is up to the Judge and whatever is assessed should be honored in all of the 44 Wildlife Violator Compact states. If, by chance, the Feds charge him with a violation of the Lacey Act he is really in for it big time if what I mentioned already isn't bad enough. With his position as a PE teacher and coach, he'll probably also be shunned from that small tight knit community, so whatever family he has will probably also pay for his egregious indiscretion!
Nate appears to be a dumb ass!
if you ever get tempted to shoot a really large trophy animal illegally know that you will never really be able to brag about it to anyone or show them
if you do .... you'll get caught, eventually
He is vid of him in the velvet
About the 2:45 minute mark
Nicknamed Rudy
Enjoy
Good luck, Robb
"He is not dumb he is a college grad. and a school teacher in Big Piney WY.
He is flawed. I would not want him around my school!!!!"
Not to be overlooked. We all are but trophy animals seem to bring out the flaws of many.
Bringing this back up because he is to be sentenced today according to the NDA email I receive weekly.
The ironic thing is he already a took a slammer typical Mulie in September. Sure he was convinced that taking this huge buck would make him famous -- now he is infamous and his name will forever be associated with cheating. Sorry to see that he was seduced by the "dark side." Personally think that hunting shows are partly to blame. They've severely skewed trophy expectations and play a big part in the "200+ Inch" mania sweeping the country. However, that class of deer is quite rare, and most of us without TV shows are not going to have land owners and outfitters inviting us to come and shoot the biggest buck they've ever seen.
Also, off the top of my head can think of at least 3x Hunting TV personalities who were caught poaching on their TV shows. 1x was early on and his show immediately dropped over outrage from the hunting community. The other 2x were more recent big names in hunting TV, and while they were clearly guilty of fairly egregious poaching (worse yet -- poaching for profit), outrage was summarily "hushed-up" in the hunting community and both of those guys are still very popular mainstream hunting personalities. Sadly, I recently witnessed hundreds of people standing in line to worship and have their picture taken with them.
Point is -- if we want to instill integrity and honor within the hunting community we need to hold ALL hunters accountable.
Not a sentencing. He pleaded NG. The drama continues.
http://blog.eastmans.com/world-class-buck-poached-jail-time/?utm_source=Eastmans.com+Monthly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=591a176c43-E_News_August_208_19_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_aec388f646-591a176c43-9828170
Word is that he hadn't told or shown any of his best friends that buck. Rather, he took it to the Utah taxidermist figuring that he had a better chance of slipping through the cracks and the taxidermist is who actually placed it on display at the Expo with his name and score on it. When someone in the area that the buck lived and had pictures of it over a month after it the general season closed saw the buck on display the G&F was contacted. It just so happens that the guy is a friend of the local GW up there who already knew he had taken that big velvet buck on his general tag and it didn't take long for the six top LE Investigators to be called in on the case. It's not surprising that he entered the not guilty plea, as it's a standard procedure to buy time. Now he'll be involved in a pretrial conference where all the marbles will be laid on the table and he and his attorney will have to decide to change his plea and take what the Judge gives as a penalty or risk a trial by Judge or Jury and get nailed to the cross.
I'm confused. Did he plead not guilty or guilty ?
He entered a "not guilty" plea at the arraignment yesterday, but according to earlier reports he had admitted his guilt to the G&F when they seized the mount and sent it to their Lab for forensic testing. It's not unusual and just buys him some time before the next pretrial phase where he'll be meeting with the Prosecutor when they start talking deals they might make to avoid a trial.
Thanks for clearing that up Topgun.
Is he currently charged with a Lacy Act violation? Isn't that Federal jurisdiction anyways? Will he end up with two different trials?
He can't be charged with a Lacey Act violation by the Feds until he has gone through the state system and a violation of state law is found and completed at that level. Many people feel that he should be at a later date when the state case is completed and he either pleads guilty or is found guilty. Unless something really goes haywire he should have a state game law violation and then the Feds can decide if they want to file Federal charges. He appears to have taken it to Utah to lessen his chances of getting caught, so I hope he burns in the Wyoming case and then gets clobbered for a lot bigger charges under the Lacey Act.
"I mean don't get me wrong I'm not holier than thou I can honestly understand a guy being tempted in the right situation while he's out hunting or something. Not saying it's right, but good people have been known to get themselves in sticky situations. Before we all cast the first stone....."
Reminds me of the old story about Winston Churchill asking some Upper Crust lady if she would sleep with him for a million British Pounds and she allowed that yes, she thought she would. Then he asked her if she'd do it for ten and she asked "what do you think I am, a prostitute?"
"We've already established that. Now we're negotiating price."
There's a difference between throwing stones and calling a spade a spade.
You either have it in you, or you don't.
It's horn porn, it's the "Pro Staff" patches, it's the money to be made on endorsements, it's the pipe dream of having your own TV show... It's just plain Ego...
And it's not just about "bone collecting", either. Like the guys who'll go out and poach a deer "to put food on the table", rather than swallowing their pride and heading to the local food pantry or applying for some form of assistance. There are always ways to rationalize just about anything.... Just a shame that the culture around hunting has shifted to where the greatest admiration seems to be directed towards least deserving of it.
Well said GF. And pertinent reference to the Churchill story.
I love the way the SOB was caught - nice going all the way around. You always wonder whether revocation of hunting privileges will do much - lack of authorization to hunt didn't stop them in the first place.
I lived in a town where one of the locals who was running a poaching operation ended up doing serious time (it was really egregious). EVERYONE knew about it and his kids were always prefaced with "they have the dad who got caught poaching."
I've been saying for some time that jail is probably the only thing that carries adequate impacts to MAYBE deter someone who is wobbly should I/shouldn't I.
It's sad how Fish and Game offices are full of amazing animals that were poached. A sobering reminder of hunters' responsibilities and failures.
I saw there is some new developments in this case. Looks like his attorneys have pushed out the court date by trying to find an expert to see if its a hybrid mule deer/whitetail. Unreal. He even drew a tag for the unit that he poached the buck from and is able to hunt this year!!!
Hmmm.... I think the courts are being patient with this guy because they've got such a solid case against him. Or maybe they're just allowing time for all the farmers and ranchers to finish up their harvest so that they'll be available for jury duty!
I just don't know what the Defense thinks they stand to gain by (maybe) getting him off of one count (of the MANY which I hope are headed his way) on a technicality. Maybe they're playing the lottery hoping for a reduced sentence...
But frankly, I don't care what the DNA report says, and I don't think a jury will, either - the TAG says it's good for a whitetail ONLY. That means the hunter had a responsibility to properly identify the species of the animal before squeezing the trigger... and you just can't argue that a Reasonable Person exercising Reasonable Caution could Reasonably mistake that animal for a whitetail- no more than they could mistake it for a doe. Therefore, Guilty beyond a Reasonable Doubt.
And I'll tell ya - if I were ever to cross paths with a hybrid deer when the tag was for one species & not the other, you can bet that I'd have pictures of the intact animal, clearly showing the features that helped me to determine that I was doing the right thing. You know, like if this clown were to claim that he took the deer for a whitetail because it had a big white flag on its backside...
One thing that surprises me, though... What's with the velvet? Do the monsters like that just tend not to get to every last bit of it? Or maybe he's atypical because of hypogonadism and he just didn't have the testosterone level to be bothered...?
That mount sucks horns look good but face of that deer is nothing like the real buck
P.s. theirs more poaching going on then we will ever here of, but this is a no brainier case, let's have a public hanging !!!!
Lots of time depending on where the buck lives they may not get all the velvet off. Just not enough things to rub on. or the areas you circled were just hard to scratch off. My bigger buck was still packing strips of velvet....
As far as the case goes. they need to just make it happen and get the SOB
The right to a speedy trial applies all the way around. Maybe the Natester knows he's going to lose his hunting rights for a good long time and wants to get one more chance to 'legally' harvest an animal. I'd love to be the prosecutor when that clown tries to convince a judge or jury he couldn't tell it was a muley.
Is the taxidermist charged with anything? Bring in a mule deer in with a whitetail tag on it would seem pretty simple. I know a lot of states the taxidermist has to have his ducks in a row or else.
My guess is they're trying to forensically prove it has some amount of whitetail genetics. Then he walks.
Bucksnort32, it's better than a lot of mounts I see posted on here...But still not great. Carry on
Yes I agree taxidermy man!!! I'm as picky as it gets, I dislike bad work!!!!
There is so much about this that boils my blood. I have read everything there is to read about this case and I am sickened that this guy is even allowed to hunt at all until his trial is over. I'm guessing that's why he pled not guilty, is to pro long his trial so he could get in one last hunt. NOT OK!!!!!!! So lets give a "murder" more time to commit another offense, GOOD ONE! I'm praying they can move forward with the Lacey Act and give him the punishment that fits the crime. Also, WTF is wrong with the Taxidermist that took on this mount? The season closed for the Mule hunt on Oct 8th and he did not take it to Utah until Nov 27!!!! DING DING DING If he had shot it when the tag said he did then the cape could NOT have been used, it would have been trash! Scrappy, they did the genetic testing and it was a Mule Deer, DUH, there is no question there, look at the pics! I may be just a "dumb" girl (yes I am a female) but just looking at the pics of this beautiful animal you can obviously tell it is NOT a white tail!! I have hunted in Wyo and ID my hole life and to hear of poaching of any kind breaks my heart, I'm just hoping that there is some kind of justice, make this guy pay!
If he thought it was a WT, why'd he take it to a Utah Taxidermist?
He's screwed.
I'm more concerned about ISIS
It sounds like this wasn't a one time mistake or lapse in ethics and judgment. This was an elaborate plan to cover up a deer that he knew he hadn't taken legally. Now he is playing the Clinton card and acting like it was just an honest mistake that anyone could have made with no bad intent. He's innocent until proven guilty but there is a lot of smoke here.
