Poaching

"A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than by a mob of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact."

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

I don’t know about all of you, but I for one am getting really sick of opening up the newspaper every day to read about another case of poaching. Wyoming Game and Fish has already reported that cases of serious big game poaching were up by 50 in 2008-2009 from the year before. Many suspect that the number of poaching cases will be up from that this year. Talk to hunters around the state and many will tell you they are noticing more and more illegal activity. An example for those of you that hunt on the Greys and have not gotten the memo, opening season is on the 14th to those special folks that regulations do not apply to.

I do not think I can convey in words how much contempt and disdain at a personal level as well as we as an organization have for the killers committing these acts. Yes, it sounds rather PETA- like to call it killing but these guys are not hunters and I would never want what they do compared to what the rest of us do each fall. They do not care about the management of our wildlife, otherwise they would follow the rules. Many times they are just shooting something to shoot something, leaving the meat to spoil and sometimes not making sure the animal is dead therefore leaving it to die a long painful death.

Now, none of this is meant to criticize Wyoming Game and Fish as they are doing all they can. This is where we can help them and in the process protect our wildlife. Let me be heard loud and clear: If I catch you poaching, you bet your life I am turning you in. I do not faithfully buy a tag, abide by the opening and closing dates, shoot the correct animal for the tag I have purchased, shoot the correct gender for the tag I have, etc. to have some killer think he or she is above the rules and poach the animal that could have potentially been mine. I turned in my first such killer when I was 15 (a girl in my class bragging to me about hunting elk without a license; after I had spent the whole weekend stomping around looking to get an elk and did not get one. So an especially bad time to be bragging about this to me) and will continue to do so.

Killers beware that we hunters are sick of you and your behavior. You are taking away our opportunities to get that big buck or bull, you are giving hunters a bad name when you leave meat to spoil, shoot cows for the “fun of it,” and just don’t follow the rules in general. We are looking for you and believe me more and more of us are willing to turn you into Game and Fish.

Find more information at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wpr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1730909.

Courtney Amerine, Field Organizer
Wyoming Wildlife Federation