Poachers talk too much

A guy e-mailed me, and was looking for a scarce book. He wanted to buy a copy, and I didn't have one to sell. We traded e-mail three times, just chit-chatting, and he proceeded to tell me about a big buck he shot last year.

This guy has bought a couple of books from me, is as honest as the day is long in his daily business job, and wouldn't think of cheating a friend. If he came to my house, and a $20 bill was laying on the floor, he would pick it up and hand it to me.

Good hunters like Rob Keck (above) do not need to break the law to shoot a good buck.

He could have not said anything, put the twenty in his pocket, and no one would have been the wiser. But he's not that kind of guy.

Except, he apparently cheats when he hunts. If he has a good buck pinned down, and the animal walks past him 10 minutes after legal shooting time ends, he would still take the shot.

That's what happened last year. He heard a buck grunting nearby, and he kept waiting for the animal to show up. The buck finally made his move, he said, 20 minutes after shooting time ended.

"The buck was following a doe," he said. "She led him all over the place, and soon the doe came past my stand and stopped. I knew the buck was nearby because I could hear its tending grunt. He was close."

The doe moved on, and he said the buck stopped in the same spot as the doe. It stood there, and all he could see was its bone-white antlers. He came to full draw, aimed at where he thought the chest was, and let fly with an arrow.

The buck ran off, and he quickly lowered his bow to the ground, and climbed down. He left his bow at the tree, and took up the blood trail. The buck covered 200 yards before it died. It was a gorgeous 10-point, and he asked if I had killed a 10-point that year.

His comment about poaching a big buck made me angry.

"No," I said, the anger audible in my voice, "I did shoot a very nice 9-point and a beautiful 8-point two years ago, but then, I don't break the law and didn't shoot my bucks after legal shooting time had ended.

"You are an honest man in many other ways but you'll cheat by shooting deer after dark. If someone called you a thief, you'd get madder than hell. But a game thief is what you are. I'm very disappointed in you, and wish you wouldn't have told me that story."

He didn't realize that shooting game after dark is stealing ... from every citizen in this state, and from the state of Michigan. Will you or I or the state miss that 10-pointer? Most likely not but that's not the point.

But if we compound that 10-point by all the other opportunistic honest hunters who cheat by breaking our fish or game laws, how many good breeding bucks have we lost? And how many, pray tell, small bucks will do the breeding. Small bucks and small does beget small fawns which often do not have the genetics to grow large antlers.

He was angry and hurt by my comments, and mentioned he would never buy another book from me and I told him that was good because I didn't plan to sell him any and didn't need his money. The truth of the matter is that I'm sure that a few others who have bought a fishing or hunting book from me over the years may have been guilty or a similar game-law violation.

I suspect that some people who read my daily weblog may have broken a fish or game law on purpose. And that is sad.

The difference is that most people don't say anything about their fish and wildlife crimes to me. My stance for many years has been the same when it comes to fish or game-law violations. I call the conservation officer or some other law enforcement officer if there is any evidence of wrongdoing. This guy is from out of state, and except for his story, I couldn't prove a thing.

Do I enjoy registering complaints? Absolutely not, but some time ago I wrote about fishing and hunting apathy. That apathy runs rampant with opportunistic poachers. No one wants to rat out Uncle Harry for the late-summer doe hanging in the barn, and buddies, friends, neighbors and relatives refuse to turn in old Bob who picks up some extra beer money by shooting and selling deer to out-of-the-area hunters.

No one wants to gripe too much about ol' Kenny, one of the best walleye anglers on the St. Clair River, who catches a ton or more of big spawning walleyes in April or May and sells them to restaurants for big money. He's a bit hard up, you know, and needs the extra cash.

Well, Kenny can do the same thing as the rest of us do. He can get himself a job or a second job, save some money, and be a legitimate, upstanding citizen rather than a thief who steals our natural resources.

Keep any personal poaching stories to yourself. I’m not interested in hearing them.

E-mail me, and ask to buy a book but please don't tell me about how you broke the law last year. I don't want to hear that sad story one more time. I am less than sympathetic for those who get caught.

In fact, I always root for the conservation officer. Will that cost me a book sale now or in the future? I don't know and don't care but perhaps it will teach the poacher a lesson they need to learn.

Most people I know are honest, and don't have to resort to breaking the law to shoot a buck. I root for them to succeed, and know they won't bend the law just to have bragging rights to something they don't deserve.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors