No Good 2 bit Poachers

[Broz]

This is a longshot but thought, what could it hurt? I was visiting with Sgnt. Dave Lowen a Montana Game Warden and he is working a case of a poached Mountain Goat. It was a young Billy and it was shot and the entire carcase left. It was shot in the Elk Horn mountains up Indian Creek just north west of Townsend Mt. To you guys that have came to any of my shoots it was just above the range by the lime plant quarry. I realize not many of you are in this area but if by chance you hear anything please contact Dave Lowen 1-800-Tip-Mont. He would really like to solve this case and any little tid bit could help.

I really don't understand why any low rent SOB would do this. I guess so he can brag to his buddies, beat his chest and tell everyone what a great hunter he is. Very sad that there are scums like this that call their selves hunters.

Thanks
Jeff

 

[JeffP40]

I thought the radio article said it was a young bighorn male. It spoke of them just getting recovered from a big die-off several years ago. I wasn't aware of any goats in the area. Still ****es me off tho. Can't stand jerks just screwing around.

 

[trebark]

Season on poachers is January 1 to December 31 and can be taken by any means necessary.

Hope the culprits are caught. They make the rest of look bad.

 

[Broz]

I thought the radio article said it was a young bighorn male. It spoke of them just getting recovered from a big die-off several years ago. I wasn't aware of any goats in the area. Still ****es me off tho. Can't stand jerks just screwing around.

I was shown the horns. It was a young Billy mountain goat. The game warden did say that they are just starting to recover there. But it was indeed a Mountain Goat.

Jeff

 

[SidecarFlip]

Jeff...

That crap goes on everywhere. It's demented human nature.

 

[bigngreen]

Between the wolves, grizz and idiots the outlook in some areas is bleak for some of these species.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Between the wolves, grizz and idiots the outlook in some areas is bleak for some of these species.

Look at it this way.... If the current political climate remains unchanged and civility keeps degrading, at some point the species may change again......

Living close to a large population center may have it's advantages.....

 

[Broz]

Living close to a large population center may have it's advantages.....

or not. I will take my chances out here with a few good neighbors 5 to 6 miles away.

Jeff

 

[LRSickle]

Broz, I think the problem is the lack of fines and penalties. It's cheaper to pay the fine than go through the hastle and cost of tags and a good outfitter. If you have the nuts and no conscience, you'll probably get a lot of trophies before you get caught.

Kirt Darner made ALOT of money off his poaching. Endorsements, speaches, sales of book and other products...etc. His fines were big I'm sure, but I bet what he raked in during his career more than offset them.

How about the infamous "Serial Poacher" Donald Eugene Lewis? He was poaching elk in our petting zoo called Yellowstone Park. He shot at least 12 elk that they got on film. Who knows how many else? How many did he leave to rot? He made money off of his poaching too I sure. He was quite famous for poaching in other states as well. He was only charged $15,000 and, get this, they let him keep his trophies! This guy should never hunt or even touch a gun again.

How much time and money would we have to spend on scouting, outfitters, DIY hunts, etc, to get the same number and trophy quality as these two loosers? I say the courts should be a lot harder on them. Enough so you wouldn't even dare consider poaching.

 

[HARPERC]

Be careful what you wish for LRS, intensifying penalties to the felony level mostly just gives the authorities leverage to make a guy plead guilty to something lesser he did not do. After having a case tossed here the "WILDLIFE" department spokesman as quoted front page local paper "We don't care about the law-we're going to keep writing the tickets as most judges will keep accepting them, and most of those cited will just pay the fines". I just sat through hunter safety, and the local agent noted they have trouble getting local prosecutors to back them. Seemed like a decent fellow, neither the time nor place for the history lesson. Speed trap mentality easy revenue for strapped departments, and counties.
I share your thoughts on the high end guys, but my experience is they rarely feel the impact of these laws nor does it deter them.
Curiosity do you know the specifics first hand regarding Darner? I've tried looking it up and closest I get is an angry ex-wifes statements?

 

[LRSickle]

I do know quite a bit about Darner. I use to hunt with an editor for Outdoor Life, Rich LaRocco. I've spent time at Darner and Pauls's house while Rich was ghost-writting Darner's book. Rich was initially the one that suspected Darner and started the investigation. Rich has been asked a million times about Darner so he wrote an article and put it on his website. He is a booking agent for hunts now. Here's the article... hunts.net, big game hunts, Hunts.Net
Incidentely, I've hunted with Rich many times and he is a 100% good, honest guy.

 

[HARPERC]

LRS
Good read thank you very much!

 

[NONYA]

Im thinking Bighorn......
http://helenair.com/news/state-and-...cle_15d63d5b-6a44-59e7-b905-005360552e1b.html
You must have mistaken the small horns of a 2yr old BH for a goat...

 

[Broz]

Mtn goats in the elkhorns?Im thinking Bighorn......
Bighorn ram poached near Townsend
You must have mistaken the small horns of a 2yr old BH for a goat...

You guy are correct, it must be my mistake. The horns were very small, so Nonya you are probably correct.

My appologies for the mis-imformation. I guess with some of our other discussion I mixed them up.

Either way, sad somebody would shoot the ram for no reason, and I hope they are caught.

Jeff