I had a thread a while back about self reporting an accidental wild life violation. Most said they would report it. Based on that story you might think differently. I am not saying she should walk free but 6000 dollars is excessive.

Gotta set precedence or people wont care

I get the WON magazine and there is a whole page of cuffs and collars every two weeks. Sure there are a lot of hunters and fishermen but even 1-3 % of the total with all the things they get caught doing does not make us look like a moral and stable segment of our society.
What is the appropriate punishment for wildlife violations? That has been and always will be a debate. I like many feel that dollar fines are too high for many of our violations and maybe seizure and longer loss of privileges would be more appropriate. In the case discussed here the shooting of two bull elk at 150 feet indicates some lack of knowledge of identification or deliberate shooting of the animals. The $6,000 in this case may be some repayment of the high cost to bring the animals here, monitor and do the studies. You can drive recklessly and cause significant damage and may be injury and pay less than some wildlife fines are.

Bryce

These Elk were shot right by our cabin, I was fortunate enough to watch the herd over the summer and into early fall. These were the first elk I've ever seen in the wild in Wisconsin and shared that experience with many friends after we would go out to dinner, my granddaughters are too young to appreciate the significance but I thought it was really special to share that moment with them. Two Bulls might seem insignificant in a highly populous elk area but based on my viewings she wiped out 2/3rds of the Bull population with two imprudent shots. There is a breeding Bull within that herd and the overall herd seems to be doing better than the Calm Lake area- time will tell.

Actions have consequences.


If I smashed my truck into somethimg because I didnt see a stop sign I would expected to pay for damages.

$6000 seems about right for damages and precedence.

How do you mistake a elk for a deer.....twice????

Lady sure got an education.

As dumb as a mistake as it was, it was still a mistake. She turned herself in and she learned her lesson without the fine. I think enforcement needs to realize their number one job...leading education. I draw a line for those crimes driven by lack of education and those that completely disregard the law.

I think her fine should only be for one and likely the outcome should it go before the judge. Frankly the state should let her pay off her fine by doing a few promotional videos on identifying the differences between the species and the consequences of mistaken identity. Instead of running her away from hunting, use her story to help those that come after her.

For those slamming her, she is an honest person that made a mistake and you guys want to throw the book at her, while in the real world we have real criminals that commit real crimes who just get their wrists slapped by a judge only to out and do it again. I think this brining elk back to WI is big waste of money to begin with.

My take is that there are two schools of thought and neither is wrong. Precedence needs to be set for others, criminals and accidental shooters, but yes that fine is very heavy. Regardless, this is why knowing your target and quarry is so important and must be preached. She did major damage to a herd that is already challenged.

If we could manage the wolf population, the elk reintroduction would be a great wildlife success story. There is plenty of forest land in the northern half of the state for elk.

I wonder how much the fine the wolves for killing an elk? Just think, they don't even buy a license.

Garry-

NATIONAL
Texas poacher fined $53,000 for killing elk in Colorado backyards, officials say. This level of fine is not unprecedented in teh wildlife world anymore. Seems $6000.00 I still think her fine is cheap.

I was doing a little more thinking on this. At our school we used to have an honesty clause in our extra-curricular code. If you did something wrong and turned yourself in you have a 2/3 reduction in your consequence. What we learned was only those caught dead to rights and were going to be turned in, in some fashion turned themselves in. Shooting two elk is not something she was going to get away with so turning yourself in and hoping it helps would make sense.

Gee, why didn't they just give her life in prison and $1,000,000 fine to that?

Take her hunting priviledges for 10 years and say a $1000.00 fine. That would have been enough for most.

Its all about recouping as much money from a person that the state can get.

Did they take her gun, vehicle and home also?

So the next WOLF that catches and kills an elk will get the death sentence...….YES!


What would a person from any other state want to hunt in Colorado when something like this is imposed. Liberal DNR there. ALL about $$$$$$$$$$

I'll bet if she would declared that she was a lesbian and wanted to show that lesbian could shoot an animal, they would have paid her doing nuisance work.

Garry-

Levy fines like that and soon there will be a whole lot more people who might consider the possibility or weigh the risks of shooting the game warden too, to prevent loss of everything.

Interesting. Too bad my father didn't hear about this when I was a youngster. A reduction of 2/3 in the spankings I received would have been welcomed. 'Course I'd have to 'fess up to the crime first. Hmmm . . .

How many elk are killed by the wolves up there? 2 a day? 2 a week? 2 a month?

Does this woman deserve a punishment? Sure. But crucifying her for a mistake she owned up to? Meanwhile the state and federal government are doing nothing about the real symptom behind dwindling elk numbers.

I think everyone's ire could be better directed at the real killer of elk.

A suitable punishment to me would be...

• $1000 fine per elk

• Loss of hunting privileges for 2 years

• Mandate she take hunter education again with special emphasis on wildlife ID

• Some kind of community service that would benefit F&G

Mike

WI state law sets the minimum fine for killing an elk without valid authorization at 2000$. I dono where the other 2000$ comes from,( my guess would be for killing an animal out of season/ without proper authorization)

The dnr doesn't determin what is right or wrong for this individual case. She broke the law, the law and its punishment is already written. It may be more harsh than she deserves, but that is for a judge/jury to decide.

Wish people would remember how the judicial system worked before they bash an agency that has nothing to do with setting punishment.

Big differance between dnr wardens and the department heads that are appointed by legislators, even if they are all DNR to you.


Edit:
Wi state law for killing an elk out of season without autherization is a minimum 1000$ fine.

Sporting violations here can go up to $25,000.
Fines for commercial violations(selling stuff illegally) are a lot higher-start at $100,000 +.

Goes back to basic hunter safety. Be sure of your target, and what you are hunting. If you don't know the difference between a bull elk and a buck deer, stay out of the woods. You don't ever shot at a patch of hair or color! Don't feel sorry for the amount of fines applied to this individual.