Bowsite.com

Poachers busted

An outfitter from out of state leased a bunch of public access WIHA ground in Kansas. Talked the landowners into getting a better cut. Hired these locals one was a young kid ( he got the most charges) who met the outfitter at a trade show in Nashville. In the end they ruined hunting for generations in this part of Kansas. 26+ sections of WIHA are now gone and sour taste was left with most landowners.

Greedy scum

"Many of the deer were also taken without a permit. Of the 13 deer scored, the game wardens identified an average antler size of 173 inches. "

Lots of greed to go around.

Did the outfitter get busted too?

I don't understand how a person has 18 wildlife charges, they plead guilty to 6 of them, and the punishment is the cost of a guided whitetail hunt and one year of no hunting. That's basically a good ROI on his investment.

Average antler size 173”. They were stealing/killing some big deer. I suppose muleys. Glad they got caught and hope there’s more that get caught and punished in this ring.

The fines are a joke.

I've said it for years, the capitalization and commercialization of hunting will ultimately be its demise.

Matt

Grey ghost ,yep for sure.

Hell, that article doesn’t give a lot of details but the fines are certainly a joke for what sounds like a lot of really good deer being killed…

Surprised they didn't list all of the perps.....I wonder why? Someone famous or a TV personality maybe?

Edit added: Out of curiosity, I sent the KDWP Public Affairs folks and email to see if they will be releasing the names and disposition of the other 6 people.

The main guy got a $45000 fine and lost hunting rights for 10 years. That is no joke.

$45,000 seems inexpensive for over a dozen deer where average in 170s. If the outfitter got $5K a hunt then did not even equate to disgorging the revenues from this scheme. Forfeit the vehicles, guns, all revenues the outfitter and the team involved in this crime earned during the scheme, right to hunt, fish or trap in KS ever again, right to outfit or hold any professional license in KS ever again plus tack on contributing to the delinquency of a minor for having a kid do the dirty work. Was the hunt zone public land or private? If private and funds were paid to the private landholder by the government and the landowner did not proactively report the illegal cutting then the landholder loses all funds paid. If was public land then the entity in charge of managing the land should be held accountable if they did not discover the cutting and report within 30 days. If hunting was allowed even one day after the illegal cutting was reported then that entity needs held accountable. When there is no stick, you get a lot of people saying "that is not right but not my business" and "well, damage is done so what can you do but say, 'Oh well.' " Bullsh*t. Make it hurt to do dumb sh*t.

The person with the most charges was a kid. Some of land owners were in trouble and have since auctioned their property off.

Just got a reply back from the KDWP. Below is the meat of it. Time for the Bowsite detectives to launch into action.

"To answer your question, that is not information we plan on sharing at this time. Having said this, that information is publicly-accessible via the county court through which the case(s) are being tried."

Commercialization of hunting could not happen without the NEED FOR BIG TROPHIES.

Not to poke a bees nest but I see a lot of people equating the size of the deer to the size of the punishment and fines. For me, poaching is poaching period. The fines and punishment should be equal whether they poached a doe fawn or a mature buck. If they poached 10 deer then 10 times the fines and punishment. If they gained any thing from assisting in the crime then forfeiture of all gains also.

As Barney Fife would say, "Nip It In The Bud".

Copperhead, BIG deer draw more out-of-state hunters, hence more revenue. So the crime scales (or should) to the size of the deer poached.

I know at least one guy who travels from MA to Kansas every year and spends $$ to hunt those big boys. No idea what the non-res license fee is, but multiply it by several thousand and it would hurt them to lose it all.

Copperhead I see a big difference in poaching a big deer and doe because you need to feed your kids at home.

Treewalker I hear your point but compare it to what penalties are being handed out for crimes in other parts of society it fairly stiff. With that said I believe we need to be tougher on criminals across the board.

One problem is in some counties there are judges that do not take game violations as serious as the folks here do. Elections have consequences.

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