What to do now?

[Buckly]

Not saying this is the case but, I’ve seen deer piled up in thick stuff by back roads because the town or County was using it as a roadkill dump figuring nobody would notice

 

[b116757]

Crossbows are the new poaching tool of choice that has gotten / will get plenty of use by the slobs. Perfect weapon for poaching.

Guys I know of that dabble with poaching are pretty sold on 300 blackout bolt action rifles subsonic ammo running a can. But I guess if the poachers are sporting they may use crossbows

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Guys I know of that dabble with poaching are pretty sold on 300 blackout bolt action rifles subsonic ammo running a can. But I guess if the poachers are sporting they may use crossbows

Hope it shoots backwards next time they fire it. Losers

 

[Telemark]

Crossbows are the new poaching tool of choice that has gotten / will get plenty of use by the slobs. Perfect weapon for poaching.

Any evidence for this? I haven't heard of poachers using crossbows in significant numbers, and it doesn't seem like a very effective choice for a poacher.

 

[hillrunner]

Guys I know of that dabble with poaching are pretty sold on 300 blackout bolt action rifles subsonic ammo running a can. But I guess if the poachers are sporting they may use crossbows

This is my fear. I haven't heard of any of it my areas yet, but I would think a suppressed rifle with a thermal or night vision scope would be a poacher's dream.

 

[PatinPA]

This is my fear. I haven't heard of any of it my areas yet, but I would think a suppressed rifle with a thermal or night vision scope would be a poacher's dream.

This is 100% true. But where I live and PA in general we have so few game wardens or deputies that it really doesn't matter. A poacher needs to be really dumb or just have bad luck to get caught. I live right beside a small town and it's not uncommon to hear gunshots in the middle of the night that are maybe a mile away or less. If they're even relatively competent poachers they're not going to get caught.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Wow 4. Could they be roadkilled or shot for sure? I swear there have been an abnormal amount of roadkills around me this year.

there are 4 houses along that 3 mile stretch of road...VERY DOUBTFUL that those would all be roadkills...

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Not saying this is the case but, I’ve seen deer piled up in thick stuff by back roads because the town or County was using it as a roadkill dump figuring nobody would notice

that actually happened in this same spot 2 years ago..we found a tarp with a bunch of dumped deer in it, some missing the heads, backstraps and rear quarters...but the brilliant dumpers left a tag in one of the ears of one of the doe...the game warden just laughed when they picked up the remains and told us they would be getting a substantial fine following the warden's visit..on top of it they hadn't signed the attached tag which only added to the fines...

 

[TWIG]

Any evidence for this? I haven't heard of poachers using crossbows in significant numbers, and it doesn't seem like a very effective choice for a poacher.

Crossbows have been used for well over a decade in my area. Find multiple bolts every year that were fired from roadways.

 

[Bill Loser]

I once stumbled onto a poaching set up in SE Wis, this was probably 10 years ago. Found a pile of corn (think like 100 lbs or more), a ground blind made of sticks and logs, spent rifle casings (at the time rifle was not legal in this area, it was shotgun only) and about 12 deer laying around, most had backstraps cut out but some had nothing removed, all does and fawns.
I called the dnr and was told basically to mind my business. I couldn't believe it, they just did not care at all. This was on State Forest land.

I've owned my land for 7 years now. This season is the first one that I haven't had trespassing issues. A group liked to come here and drive out the whole corner, 4 different landowners none of us give any permission and we all look out for each other. These guys are brazen, I caught them one year and confronted a couple. When asked what they thought they were doing I was told " f#@$ing doing a deer drive, what does it look like?" Apparently one of the guys worked for a farmer who rented some of the crop land on one of the landowners land 10 years prior to this!! He thought that this gave him free range to do whatever he wanted.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Guys I know of that dabble with poaching are pretty sold on 300 blackout bolt action rifles subsonic ammo running a can.

Don't know what any of that is, honestly. I'm old school with model 721 Remingtons in several calibers. I don't poach - so not up on any of the latest gear for that. (Not saying you poach BC you know what poachers are using !!!!! ) I'm just not up on the "latest" in hunting gear generally. I have plenty of outdoor toys - so not shopping usually.

Any evidence for this? I haven't heard of poachers using crossbows in significant numbers, and it doesn't seem like a very effective choice for a poacher.

Yes - dead deer, bolts found nearby. Reports from game wardens in our mountains. For the areas I hunt - remote mountains, a crossbow is perfect. No noise, easily shot out of a vehicle window, usually fatal if the poacher is any good with it. Shoot, drive off - come back later (usually after dark) - pick up blood trail to your deer. No gun blast to draw attention / run from. If I was so inclined, I could have killed many deer from a vehicle window using a crossbow over the years. EASILY. I'm an honest sucker - I love the challenge of a fair hunt.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

that actually happened in this same spot 2 years ago..we found a tarp with a bunch of dumped deer in it, some missing the heads, backstraps and rear quarters...but the brilliant dumpers left a tag in one of the ears of one of the doe...the game warden just laughed when they picked up the remains and told us they would be getting a substantial fine following the warden's visit..on top of it they hadn't signed the attached tag which only added to the fines...

Geniuses, right?? Pack on those fines!!!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I once stumbled onto a poaching set up in SE Wis, this was probably 10 years ago. Found a pile of corn (think like 100 lbs or more), a ground blind made of sticks and logs, spent rifle casings (at the time rifle was not legal in this area, it was shotgun only) and about 12 deer laying around, most had backstraps cut out but some had nothing removed, all does and fawns.
I called the dnr and was told basically to mind my business. I couldn't believe it, they just did not care at all. This was on State Forest land.

I've owned my land for 7 years now. This season is the first one that I haven't had trespassing issues. A group liked to come here and drive out the whole corner, 4 different landowners none of us give any permission and we all look out for each other. These guys are brazen, I caught them one year and confronted a couple. When asked what they thought they were doing I was told " f#@$ing doing a deer drive, what does it look like?" Apparently one of the guys worked for a farmer who rented some of the crop land on one of the landowners land 10 years prior to this!! He thought that this gave him free range to do whatever he wanted.

100% amazing, Bill. Makes you wonder .......

 

[b116757]

I have very little tolerance for poaching or trespassing it’s pretty aggravating to put in the time, effort and money I put into property management only to have some clown spotlighting kill trophy class animals on my place. I’ve found two dead bucks in the last ten or so years on the one farm and those are only the ones I’ve found who knows how many have been killed.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

On a lighter note, i had some recent excitement with spotlighting at my place.. My little cabin and yard where I keep equipment is right next to the road. I have a cell cam pointed parallel to the road looking at my cabin. I was starting to get a surprising number of videos that showed a light from the road when deer were in the yard. At first I thought no big deal, deer cross and dip into my yard when cars are approaching. After watching some of the videos, i noticed the lights occasionally turned off and then back on indicating someone was flicking the spotlight on/off. I got in touch with the local warden and sent some of the videos.

After a day of getting worked up about this, it clicked. I have a standard SD card no-glow camera pointing in the general direction of the cell cam and a good portion of the time it was also triggering and taking video. While you never see a glow from this camera with the naked eye, the sensor of the cell cam damn sure picks up the "no-glow" IR flash. Was embarrassing to text the warden to tell him i'm an idiot and apologize for wasting his time.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Honest mistake while trying to protect your property. I'm sure the warden has had worse happen by poachers and other scofflaws.

 

[PatinPA]

On a lighter note, i had some recent excitement with spotlighting at my place.. My little cabin and yard where I keep equipment is right next to the road. I have a cell cam pointed parallel to the road looking at my cabin. I was starting to get a surprising number of videos that showed a light from the road when deer were in the yard. At first I thought no big deal, deer cross and dip into my yard when cars are approaching. After watching some of the videos, i noticed the lights occasionally turned off and then back on indicating someone was flicking the spotlight on/off. I got in touch with the local warden and sent some of the videos.

After a day of getting worked up about this, it clicked. I have a standard SD card no-glow camera pointing in the general direction of the cell cam and a good portion of the time it was also triggering and taking video. While you never see a glow from this camera with the naked eye, the sensor of the cell cam damn sure picks up the "no-glow" IR flash. Was embarrassing to text the warden to tell him i'm an idiot and apologize for wasting his time.

I laugh because I had the same thing happen to me. Had a camera pointed at a scrape but also the hard road and kept seeing a "car" flashing headlights. Took me a while to realize it was the other camera I put up to see if anyone was walking in from that direction.