Post by ridge on Apr 27, 2017 4:16:05 GMT -5
This past evening I listened to a podcast debate between Dr. Jim Brauker and Richard P. Smith on Hunt2Fish Outdoors. It was dated April 25. In this debate, Richard made the point that deer are needlessly lost due to mistaken identity. Some were left. Some resulted in tickets and warnings. Jim remarked that he had seen no such evidence.
Here is that evidence as written by Richard in Outdoor News
Illegal buck kills increase in APR counties
March 13, 2014
Richard P. Smith Contributing Writer
According to Lt. David Shaw, DNR law enforcement supervisor at the Cadillac DNR office, the possible penalties for shooting an illegal deer during 2013 were up to $1,000 restitution, five to 90 days in jail, loss of hunting privileges for the year of the violation and three additional years, and a fine of $250. Due to more stringent penalties for illegally taking a white-tailed buck, which were approved this year, restitution for an illegal buck of any size is now a minimum of $2,000 and loss of hunting privileges for two additional years.
Shaw’s district includes seven of the 12 counties where mandatory antler point restrictions went into effect last fall. Leelanau County is also in his district, and 2013 was the 11th year APR has been in effect for that county.
“For those seven counties where the new regulations went into effect last year, we received 53 complaints of APR violations,” Shaw said. “These were either hunters who made a mistake and were reporting themselves or calling in about another hunter. Many of the calls were from hunters self-reporting.
“There were 35 tickets issued in those seven counties for APR violations and 46 verbal warnings issued. Most of the verbal warnings were for hunters who self-reported,” Shaw said. “In no cases did we let the people who shot illegal bucks keep the deer.”
A total of 81 deer were confiscated for APR violations in those seven counties. All of the deer were donated to needy families, according to Shaw. He added that officers in the district found additional bucks with sub-legal antlers that had been shot and left where they fell when the shooters discovered the antlers were too small. . .
“I’m a hunter myself, so I understand what hunters face in the field when it comes to counting points. I shot a 6-point in Gladwin County last fall, where mandatory antler point restrictions aren’t in effect. I probably would not have shot that buck if APR had been in effect. I could see the buck had antlers, but I’m not sure I could have counted the points. It had a small basket rack.”
Even though APR has been in effect for many years in Leelanau County, mistakes on antler points still occur there, too. Shaw said five complaints about APR violations were received in that county last fall, five tickets were issued, and five verbal warnings were given.
Three counties where APR went into effect during 2013 (Antrim, Charlevoix, and Emmet) are in Lt. Jim Gorno’s Gaylord district. He said there were eight APR arrests in those counties, 15 warnings, and 14 deer were seized. In some cases where young or handicapped hunters were involved, warnings were issued, but deer were not seized.
Sgt. Glenn Gutierrez is the law enforcement supervisor in the Roscommon district, which includes two new APR counties (Kalkaska and Missaukee). In those two counties, Gutierrez said five tickets were issued for APR violations, three warnings were given, and three deer were seized.
The total number of illegal deer for all 12 counties, in which the shooter was identified, comes to 112 or an average of 9.33 per county. An additional 10 deer were known to have been illegally killed in Leelanau County. These numbers only represent a portion of the illegal kills that occurred, according to Shaw.
“We obviously don’t come in contact with all of the violations that occur,” Shaw said. “We only have one or two officers per county. There are a lot more violations going on that we don’t detect. We simply don’t have a good grasp on the violations that we don’t see.”
[The following are my words as written on M-S.]
This article is 3 years old. The "mistakes" continue. The DNR continues to amass the evidence of mistaken identity. Will hunters and the deer herd continue to pay this price for MAPRs? We can close our eyes and ears to the evidence or we can listen to the DNR and to the hunters that have witnessed it.
Here is that evidence as written by Richard in Outdoor News
Illegal buck kills increase in APR counties
March 13, 2014
Richard P. Smith Contributing Writer
According to Lt. David Shaw, DNR law enforcement supervisor at the Cadillac DNR office, the possible penalties for shooting an illegal deer during 2013 were up to $1,000 restitution, five to 90 days in jail, loss of hunting privileges for the year of the violation and three additional years, and a fine of $250. Due to more stringent penalties for illegally taking a white-tailed buck, which were approved this year, restitution for an illegal buck of any size is now a minimum of $2,000 and loss of hunting privileges for two additional years.
Shaw’s district includes seven of the 12 counties where mandatory antler point restrictions went into effect last fall. Leelanau County is also in his district, and 2013 was the 11th year APR has been in effect for that county.
“For those seven counties where the new regulations went into effect last year, we received 53 complaints of APR violations,” Shaw said. “These were either hunters who made a mistake and were reporting themselves or calling in about another hunter. Many of the calls were from hunters self-reporting.
“There were 35 tickets issued in those seven counties for APR violations and 46 verbal warnings issued. Most of the verbal warnings were for hunters who self-reported,” Shaw said. “In no cases did we let the people who shot illegal bucks keep the deer.”
A total of 81 deer were confiscated for APR violations in those seven counties. All of the deer were donated to needy families, according to Shaw. He added that officers in the district found additional bucks with sub-legal antlers that had been shot and left where they fell when the shooters discovered the antlers were too small. . .
“I’m a hunter myself, so I understand what hunters face in the field when it comes to counting points. I shot a 6-point in Gladwin County last fall, where mandatory antler point restrictions aren’t in effect. I probably would not have shot that buck if APR had been in effect. I could see the buck had antlers, but I’m not sure I could have counted the points. It had a small basket rack.”
Even though APR has been in effect for many years in Leelanau County, mistakes on antler points still occur there, too. Shaw said five complaints about APR violations were received in that county last fall, five tickets were issued, and five verbal warnings were given.
Three counties where APR went into effect during 2013 (Antrim, Charlevoix, and Emmet) are in Lt. Jim Gorno’s Gaylord district. He said there were eight APR arrests in those counties, 15 warnings, and 14 deer were seized. In some cases where young or handicapped hunters were involved, warnings were issued, but deer were not seized.
Sgt. Glenn Gutierrez is the law enforcement supervisor in the Roscommon district, which includes two new APR counties (Kalkaska and Missaukee). In those two counties, Gutierrez said five tickets were issued for APR violations, three warnings were given, and three deer were seized.
The total number of illegal deer for all 12 counties, in which the shooter was identified, comes to 112 or an average of 9.33 per county. An additional 10 deer were known to have been illegally killed in Leelanau County. These numbers only represent a portion of the illegal kills that occurred, according to Shaw.
“We obviously don’t come in contact with all of the violations that occur,” Shaw said. “We only have one or two officers per county. There are a lot more violations going on that we don’t detect. We simply don’t have a good grasp on the violations that we don’t see.”
[The following are my words as written on M-S.]
This article is 3 years old. The "mistakes" continue. The DNR continues to amass the evidence of mistaken identity. Will hunters and the deer herd continue to pay this price for MAPRs? We can close our eyes and ears to the evidence or we can listen to the DNR and to the hunters that have witnessed it.