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Wired Arrow Outdoors’ owners, pro-staff, charged with illegal harvest of 18 deer

nitro27

nitro27

5 year old buck +
‘Wired Arrow Outdoors’ owners, pro-staff, charged with illegal harvest of 18 deer
BY RALPH LOOS
December 3, 2014

Springfield — An Illinois Conservation Police investigation into the Wired Arrow Outdoors television show has resulted in the company’s owners, pro-staff members and guests being charged with 134 wildlife violations, including the taking of 18 deer illegally in Illinois. After viewing videos of hunts that aired on the Sportsman Channel or were uploaded to www.YouTube.com, Conservation Police determined that hunting and filming were conducted on properties in the Chicago region without permission from landowners making hunting permits invalid. Hunting and filming allegedly took place on properties owned by several private companies, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and the Village of Lansing.

During the investigation, it was determined the pro-staff members had unlawfully harvested a total of 18 white-tailed deer, including 10 bucks and eight does, nearly all of which were aired either on the Sportsman Channel or the Pursuit Channel. On Sept. 16, 2014, a joint operation involving several state and federal agencies was conducted to interview all pro-staff members who had previously hunted in Illinois. Charges include violations documented from the 2012 and 2013 deer seasons.
 
Hahahahahaha!
 
So they may have been hunting areas they "thought" were public, but were private?
 
Not that I'm making excuses, because they should have individually done their homework, but I wonder how many of the prostaffer's even knew they were in violation? I'm betting many of them just got called up by the company's owner to do a video hunt and were told they had permission to be on those properties. I wonder if those high profile "staffers" will have their hunting privileges taken away for 3 years in IL and all of the reciprocity states? I'm thinking that number will be zero. Slap on the wrist fine and let them back out there, hopefully some of them will have learned a lesson, but I doubt it. Money talks and BS walks.
 
So who are the Prostaffers? Any names that we may know?
 
The names I saw don't throw up any flags for me, but I don't watch these shows very much at all. I wonder if the show will be cancelled or if the network will let it slide like they did with Uncle Ted's shows?
 
I think the reality is that a LOT of big whitetails are killed under similar circumstances. Metro areas are some of the only places where bucks can get old enough and live relatively stress free lives to grow that kind of bone. It still takes a lot of luck for that buck to be on your 5 or 10 acre piece of land. There was a picture posted recently on the old site of a guy in MN that "kills a booner every year" in the twin cities metro according to his brother that posted the picture. I hunt the metro, I can count on one finger the number of Boone class bucks I've seen from stand in 30 years. If I scouted from my truck with a spotlight all summer, then snuck into city parks and small parcels of private land I bet I could improve my hunting success considerably. Those are the rumors I've heard about that particular individual.
 
i used to hunt in 'burbs....there was always lots of grey area when it came to private land permission, distance from occupied structures, public land not open to hunting etc. I knew the 2 WCO's that covered my area pretty well through my job at the time. they both told me "off the record" that they really did not pursue violations on hunters that dealt with access to land to hunt unless they were trespassing on private property, didn't have licenses, weren't tagging deer, were using bait etc. Basically they conceded that there weren't alot of accessible acres and there were entirely too many deer. This same area had USDA snipers come in to "cull" deer last winter (which was an utter failure btw). they have since opened up much more of the public land to hunting and reduced the hunting setback from 150 ft to 50 ft from a building.
 
kabic said:
Looks like more than just hunting on the wrong properties ...haven't read it all yet but a least one of them didn't even have a license.

http://www.cinewsnow.com/news/local...ed-for-134-wildlife-violations-284639021.html
Click to expand...

David Porter · Michigan Technological University
"Wired Arrow Outdoors" investigated for 134 wildlife violations

I am the father of one of the young men charged in this case. The real shame is that these folks did their 'due diligence' to find the land owners. After an exhaustive search with no luck some local officials recommended they hunt the properties. The properties weren't posted, and the hunters received no complaints. Then the Conservation Police contacted the land owners in March, 2014 when they started their investigation. The law states in 520 ILCS 5/2.33 (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33) sub-paragraph t. that Hunting without permission is prohibited, but it also says, "Before enforcing this Section the law enforcement officer must have received notice from the owner or the owner's designee of a violation of this Section." It appears that the law enforcement officer provided notice to the owner rather than the other way around. Maybe the article should include how the authorities twisted the intent of the law to chase after some very honorable young people. How about both sides of the story??
Click to expand...
 
McLovin said:
There was a picture posted recently on the old site of a guy in MN that "kills a booner every year" in the twin cities metro according to his brother that posted the picture. I hunt the metro, I can count on one finger the number of Boone class bucks I've seen from stand in 30 years. If I scouted from my truck with a spotlight all summer, then snuck into city parks and small parcels of private land I bet I could improve my hunting success considerably. Those are the rumors I've heard about that particular individual.
Click to expand...

I must've missed that one - can you post a little more info on that one?
 
Maybe they show air a show about what really happened.
 
I am applying to their prostaff. Sounds like some good ground and the stands will likely be empty.
 
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