Indiana Man Illegally Kills 200″ Buck: Did He Get Off Too Easy?

Indiana man illegally kills 200" buck and freezes it to avoid poaching charges. Did he get off too easy in this case?... Read more...

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Should be a lifetime ban. And all residents should get to punch him in the nuts

 

I've always been of the opinion that deer hunters get too worked up and emotionally involved when it comes to their thoughts on sentencing people for wildlife violations. Many folks act as if wildlife violations are worse than human violations in a lot of cases. We want to burn them at the stake for killing a deer.

Not knowing this person's history, I would say the punishment fits the crime fairly well if this was a first-time offense. People get caught up in the quest for big antlers and do dumb things. So long as there isn't a history or pattern of violations I would chalk it up to a pretty big lapse of judgement on his part.

IMO the size of the animal killed should have little effect on the punishment, aside from monetary restitution to the state. A 2 year ban from hunting/fishing/trapping, 100 hours of community service and your name dragged through the mud for being a dumbass seems pretty sufficient to me.

 

Way too light of a punishment. Knowingly killed an illegal buck, then waited a year and attempt to report as legally harvested the next season. He should have received a life time ban. The fact it had 200 inches of antler is irrelevant. However, how about a methodology for instituting fines for poached bucks: $1000 per inch of antlers. That should have been a $200,000 fine. Those kind of fines might actually deter this from happening. Oh, and I lifetime ban from hunting in Indiana.

 

Valid points, and if only the hunting people in society were to hear of this and care, I would agree. But, this has potential to be blown up by anti-hunters and affect all of us in the eyes of society as a whole. Indiana is clearly a 1 buck state. This guy intentionally violated that. Kind of hard to pass this one of as an honest mistake. It is not like he misjudged a rule about minimum antler spread. Or killed a six point in area that requires four points on one side because he misjudged brow tine length.

 

Dont get me twisted I think that someone that illegally kills a monster like that should get a lifetime ban and so should the jackasses that kill every scrub buck that walks by.
These are the people that are killing us ! It's not the guy that passes the good buck because legal light ended 20 mins ago even though we all know you can see long after that. Or the guy that videos bucks for a entire season because he tagged out in October, No its these losers that the public sees and represents us.
The punishment HAS to at least be a GD deterrent. All it cost that guy was his morals and rep. Far too many ppl would trade that to be in the 200 club.
It's time for some damn repercussions people. I spend more than that guys fines on gas just getting to my land during season.
Stop handing out slaps on the wrist and start slapping ppl in the back of the head.

 

I called it a lapse in judgment, not a mistake. Semantics, yes, but worth noting. He got excited when the biggest deer he's ever laid eyes on in his life walked in front of him and he killed it. I don't condone the behavior, but I can't say I don't understand it. As I said - people do dumb things for antlers.

Once the deed was done he may have had second thoughts, as I'm sure many poachers do, but it was too late to go back. The deer was dead and he was headed down the path he chose. Fortunately for us, he was caught. I'm sure there have been plenty of others who weren't.

As for the potential to be blown up by anti-hunters, I just don't see it. There's been plenty of big bucks poached over the years and none of them have become the poster case for Peta. I prefer not to worry about things that haven't happened or have little chance of happening. Peta likes to pick on women hunters or people who kill cute, cuddly things like bears and lions. The general public doesn't get worked up about a big, nasty looking deer.

 

Fear of punishment is rarely a deterrent in any crime. Most notably because the offender doesn't believe he is going to get caught.

As I said earlier, the hunting community at large gets far too emotionally worked up when it comes to these things. A guy, who presumably has never had a game violation before, did a stupid thing and killed a buck when he shouldn't have. Stupid thing to do and he's going to pay a price for it. Could the ban have been 5, maybe 10 years? Sure, I could go with that. But lifetime and fines to the amount they could affect his ability to live a stable life? Nah. I don't see it.

 

Burn him at the stake! Take his life savings and incarcerate him with a bunch of cwd ridden deer.

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Fine Justin I'll concede to a few years as opposed to lifetime but I cannot bend on the nut punch

 

Not knowing the laws in IN I can't really say. But I dont think the size of this deer, or any animal should determine punishment. No matter how we as hunters or the antis hold a 200" deer or a lion "named" Cecil on a pedestal a deer is a deer and a lion is a lion. And without knowing if this is first offense or not I would say seems about right.

I like the nut punch thing Fix came up with tho, just to drive home the point it's wrong lol.

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I'd be okay with a public nut punch for this guy. Although he may not feel it - since after all, he's a numbnuts. :P

 

Just like when a large buck gets hit by a car, hunters morn that more than a distant relative.

 

I agree that this is not likely to be an issue the anti-hunting public will be using as a talking point. I don’t agree it was a lapse in judgement. He had already tagged out for the year. What was he doing in the woods with a bow? That was a premeditated action. He simply did not want to comply with game laws. If he happened to be in the back yard testing broadheads when the buck walked into the yard and he took the shot that might be a situation where I would agree with the lapse in judgement take but I didn’t see that was the scenario. It “feels” like a lenient sentence but I am in agreement with you in that a first offense warrants a reasonable punishment. Let’s see if the name comes up again.

 

bah-dum-dum, pshhhh

Still had a doe tag. So, he could have been out there for doe. And somehow mistaken all that bone for a giant tree on the deer's head.

 

I take

my bow every time I go to the woods... lots of coons rabbits and coyotes to kill. People do hunt for more than just deer..

 

You go ahead and sit in a tree stand and tell a CO that you are hunting coons rabbits and coyotes and see what happens

 

Get a rope!

 

I might have missed it, but did he get to keep it? I would think he wouldn't but never saw where it was said.

On another note, I know a kid down here in Kentucky is looking at some serious trouble, maybe even jail time, over pulling off a main highway at night out of season and shooting a buck with a pistol. It was him and two others boys. They saw deer off the road with their headlights and decided to pull off and shoot one. They got back in their car and went home. Came back to where they shot the deer and the law came. Not sure 100% what happen or if they have yet.

 

I understand that people hunt for more than just deer. If you illegally shoot a deer you’ll be subject to the same scrutiny as the man in this story. We are all subject to the same laws pertaining to the game and fish code. We all have the same responsibility to follow these laws. It’s not a lapse in judgement. If you sit a deer stand to hunt those animals you listed I dare say you may be waiting a long time to have success.