Its a deer...they make millions of new ones each year.

Dove season opened.[/quote]

I thought about that. Then I also though how many dove hunters are hunting on a Thursday in the middle of the day? Also it's right next to the road come look at it before you head home for the afternoon. I'm just a little upset in the manner it was handled. The one guy said he was headed to shanks for a meeting or something. Well in my line of work if I'm headed to the shop for a meeting and something happened in the field on the job site guess where I'm headed first.

Excellent post, I couldn't agree more.

"I thought about that. Then I also though how many dove hunters are hunting on a Thursday in the middle of the day? Also it's right next to the road come look at it before you head home for the afternoon. I'm just a little upset in the manner it was handled. The one guy said he was headed to shanks for a meeting or something. Well in my line of work if I'm headed to the shop for a meeting and something happened in the field on the job site guess where I'm headed first."

Exactly. I taught all the officers I supervised that they worked for the sportsmen of the state (our budget came from hunting, fishing and trapping license sales) and their top priority was to quickly and professionally respond to any poaching complaint, thoroughly investigate it, and report their findings to the complainant. Failure to follow-up on their cases professionally was not tolerated. I also taught them to treat everyone (even poachers) with dignity and respect. It's very important to earn and maintain the public trust. If I supervised those two officers they would be facing corrective action - without some very good reasonable explanation of why they were delinquent in their duties. I had to fire two young officers who repeatedly failed to live up to that standard.

It's completely different, not even close to the same thing.

I'll just go by PA's laws and regulations but I'd bet most states are similar.

Killing a possum in your chicken coop is legal without any government permission. Our Game Commission offer tips on how to catch, kill and dispose of them. They have little to no value as food (unless you are a hungry southerner) and are not classified as game, therefore Wanton Waste laws do not apply.

Killing a deer for crop damage is legal but regulated. Permits and reporting are required. There are programs in place where farmers can apply for and receive permits for hunters and/or themselves to use outside of the regular hunting seasons. In all these programs PA's version of Wanton Waste does apply. Our regulation reads; It is unlawful for any person who kills or wounds any game or wildlife while engaged in any activities permitted by this title to refuse or neglect to make a reasonable effort to retrieve, retain or lawfully dispose of such game or wildlife.

I'm thinking there was little effort made in this case.

I, by no means, condone poaching! But to get to the brass tacks, the only difference between possums and deer are the value the state agencies see in them quite frankly. Talk about laws and refs all you want, but it all comes down to $. Just sayin

Shot.

[quote=Dan Barnhurst]Anyone that thinks it's ok to intentionally gut shoot an animal and let it wander off, suffer, and go to waste just plain disgusts me! Repugnant!

"Mind your own business" indeed! This should be every honorable man's business. There are two types of illegal behavior - Mala Prohibita = bad because because government says so, and Mala In Se = bad in and of itself (morally wrong). This (if it was intentionally gutshot - which it appears to be) is definitely the later! Anyone that condones it should be doing some soul searching


Agree 100%.

Yep. If they thought they could make a dime regulating possums they would.

I agree. I was simply pointing out that killing a deer for crop damage is not anything at all like shooting a possum in your chicken coop. And that is due to those laws and regulations.

Salvage the meat. What a crock.

Everyone like bacon, right?

Come on down here to the south where hog eradication programs pile up the bacon by the ton. Call all your friends and neighbors and tell them of all the free bacon for the taking.

See how many show up.

Unless it's fried up fresh from the pan and hand delivered it's no takers.

When it comes to animal damage control dead is dead in my book and any outdoorsman with problems with that is a vagina.

Now that said intentional gut shot or letting the general public in on the act is just bad form.

Letting any animal suffer a slow death so you have less work is disgusting.

That's the problem,at least in some places.I've seen where farmers complain to the DNR non stop about deer and geese in their fields but ask for permission to hunt and its "No"

Should be illegal to protect a crop from any damaging animal if the landowner refuses access to hunters.

What makes hunters so special?

In my experience hunters are the one single group least qualified to resolve a wildlife problem.
To solve a population issue the first to go must be the prime reproductive females not the horns. It must be done now when the problem is occurring not sometime in the future when it is convenient. Nor should the problem be relocated somewhere else for future recreational opportunities. Loud noises, stomping around the place, joy riding all over the place, cameras, feeders and trash in the woods are all counter productive in killing the maximum numbers in the least possible time.

That and most hunters can't shoot well enough.

Now trappers on the other hand come alot closer to understanding this.

It galls me that folks think they have some sort of inherent right to access the property of others.

You make some good points warrior.

Update- I called both agents around 5 pm no answer...I sent them both a text said I was (in the the trapperman appropriate language not happy) that they were not answering. I also told them I was really not happy that neither of them came out to Investigate a deer I belived to purposely gut shot. One called back 15 min later very apologetic and said he would be out tonight to do his due diligence. This is all the further I can take this matter and I hope they do their job and take it seriously. I believe in the system for the most part, this is why I involved them in the first place. His reassurance that he was on it brought a calming feeling to me. I almost lost all hope very quickly.

I'd say the doe died of covid then!