Thank a Poacher!

A young whitetail buck, hearty, healthy, and bursting with energy was busily engaged in the frantic activity of the rut.  Then his path crossed with that of some poachers.  With a sound somewhat like that of a limb breaking the bow unleashed its deadly dart and a split second later an arrow carrying a broadhead sliced through the upper part of buck's right leg.  Moments later the poachers sped away leaving their damage behind.  Now learning to deal with his disability the buck limps along on three legs and tires easily.  At times he will be seen kneeling to pasture and frequently lying down to rest. 

Will he recover or will he be crippled for the remainder of his life? Only time will tell.     

Murder in the Meadow

My early Sunday morning was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.  Answering it I found Willard on the other end informing me that he had just discovered a nice buck lying dead in the creek bottom meadow.  Although I had observed this buck numerous times I had yet to encounter him in a good photographic situation.  Now all hope of a future encounter was dashed.

The arrow points to the dead whitetail lying in the field.  The killing shot was delivered from near the camera position.  As can be easily discerned, the house in the background could easily have been in the line of fire.  This building is a hunting camp and during the summer members use it as a country getaway with families vacationing here, and that was the case last night when the thoughtless predators unleashed their deadly projectile into the darkness.

The buck lies in the meadow; an unnecessary wasted life. 

My finger points to where the bullet entered the buck's skull.  With no obvious signs of injury I had to look closely to discover the tiny spot of blood at the base of the bucks left antler.  Pressing my finger into the area forced blood and brain material from the tiny hole where the bullet had passed through.

Undoubtedly the buck collapsed instantly upon impact, the result of massive brain trauma, as the wildlife criminals watched while illuminating him with their powerful spotlight.  Moments after the shot they drove off without any attempt to retrieve their kill. 

The unsettling images posted here are the result of Thrill Killers; criminals who maim and kill wildlife simply for the excitement of watching a creature suffer or die.  People who perpetrate these crimes have no appreciation or concern for nature and her wild creatures; and very little for their fellow humans that they share this planet with. 

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Response to Anonymous

Deer Poached by Jacklighters

Recently I received two Anonymous comments on a post made back in 2007. The post, Jacklighting, Tools of the Trade, dealt with the illegal act of shinning a spotlight on wildlife during an attempt to unlawfully kill it.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Jacklighting, Tools of the Trade":

who really cares if someone lights a deer deer they just create problems for insurance companys and motorists. the tags someone gets accounts for a deer who cares where or how they choose to fill it. its a waste of tax money and a waste of police time their are more serious crimes being commited in the usa someone shooting deer after dark is a pety thing to waste time and money on.

Posted by Anonymous to Country Captures at Sat Nov 28, 12:04:00 PM EST

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Jacklighting, Tools of the Trade":


i forgot to add something it is illegal as well to deseve someone. and always enjoy the story of the man who sued minnesota game authority and won 10,000 dollars for their use of fake deer to deseve him into shooting. deception is the lowest life crime in the world especially in a marriage. why would law enforcment want to use low life and illegal tactics

Posted by Anonymous to Country Captures at Sat Nov 28, 12:13:00 PM EST

Anonymous asked who cares.
Well I suppose that folks in their homes have no expectation of safety and should accept bullets whizzing through the air during all hours of darkness when the criminals cannot see what is behind their living targets. Ethical hunters should not care that a thief is killing the animals that they are hoping to bag legally during the hunting season. Landowners are not to care that bullets are being shot into the dark fields where their livestock is grazing nor are they to care that poachers are trespassing upon and damaging their properties. As for insurance companies, I really don’t believe that they care one bit about deer populations. Insurance companies assess premiums based upon risk. High insurance rates are a problem for motorist, not for insurance companies.

Secondly (deer) tag is mentioned.
In my years of conservation law enforcement my experience was that is was problem enough to convince some otherwise lawful hunters to use their tags during lawful seasons & hours. Never once did I encounter a night poacher using their deer tag. The poachers kill is unregulated and unaccounted for; a situation that if allowed to get out of control would negatively impact the success of wildlife management programs.

Thirdly, a waste of police time and tax money

Conservation Officers in Pennsylvania are just that, Conservation Officers, not general police officers. Their duty is to enforce the conservation laws of the state. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is responsible for the management of the state’s wildlife resources both game and non-game. The PGC is funded primarily through the sale of hunting license along with monies derived through the sale of minerals and timber from the lands owned by the commission. Also the agency received funds collected by the federal government from taxes on outdoor sporting equipment. In short the PGC receives no general tax fund monies and is funded by hunter’s dollars. The appointed commission members oversee the agency and formulate regulation governing hunting within the framework of Pa Title 34. In short Anonymous, ethical hunters do not agree with your opinions.

Anonymous considers poaching to be a petty thing.
Well there is nothing petty with stealing wildlife from the citizens and endangering their safety by blasting away into the darkness.

Lastly you are so pleased that a poacher “beat the system” in Minnesota .
It took me a couple of reads to understand what you were attempting to say in this comment. Apparently our public school system failed you during the years you were incarcerated there. No one is deserved (deceived?) to illegally shoot at a deer from a vehicle unless they were previously inclined to poach. This court decision may have been handed down in Minnesota but here in Pennsylvania the use of decoys to thwart road hunting is alive and well and the charges stick, as well they should!

The attitude toward wildlife expressed by anonymous is a common attitude among wildlife criminals who abuse our precious wildlife resources. That those who harbor these attitudes are in the minority is a blessing.

Profile of a Jacklighter

Jacklighters come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and occupations however the majority of jacklighters I have encountered in over two decades of conservation work fit within the following profile.

Age - Early twenties to mid thirties
Sex - Male
Occupation - Construction/ Industrial Laborer

Motivation - To kill something!
Target - Any Deer

Common Denominator - ALCOHOL!!!

In all the night shooting cases that I was involved with in my time with the PGC only once did I have a case where alcohol was not present! Alcohol lubricates business and it also steels the nerve of the jacklighter.

Jacklighters seldom work alone, usually two or more individuals are involved in the violation as one of these escapades requires that many task be accomplished. Driving, shinning the light, looking for deer, and shooting; not to mention watching out for the Game Warden! Although the shooters are typically male it is not unusual for a woman to be present. Typically it is a girl friend and it is not at all unusual for his wife to be sitting at home not knowing what her husband is up to. Typically the group will number two to three but I have encountered as many as six participants in a singe case.

Jacklighters are a wary group and are usually on guard for anything out of place. At the least sign of trouble they will typically flee at the highest rate of speed they can muster, frequently tossing the weapon out the window the first time the following officers headlights looses contact with their vehicle. The typical rifle used is a cheap Marlin .22 Magnum with a cheap scope. This makes for a disposable weapon whose cost is much less than the cost of the fines if caught.

As I stated earlier any deer is the typical target and to that most kill does and fawns. The methods of retrieval vary as some will immediately drive into the field and load while others will flee the area and return later when things have quieted down. Others kill for killings sake and could care less about the dead or injured deer they leave behind.

Over the years we often heard hunters complaining about the spotlighters killing all of the big bucks. There is no doubt that a few poachers do exclusively target large bucks however they are a select group and usually are the most experienced and illusive of all the night poachers. A few of this group hunts for antlers only and will quickly decapitate a buck and flee the area leaving the headless carcass for the vultures to find the next day.

The above photograph was taken during a nightcase a few years ago. Three individuals spent New Years Eve on a deadly shooting spree. As was usual they were using a Marlin .22 magnum and had killed two fawns by the time one of my fellow officers apprehended them. A local resident had reported their activity and had given headquarters a very good description of the vehicle. Even with the rifle, spotlight, and two dead deer the suspects tried very hard to convince us that the deer had been taken legally in Maryland. As the hour was quite late and rigor had not yet stiffened the deer’s bodies, we were not about to be easily convinced.

Sadly not all cases end this way, usually the poachers get away………..

Jacklighting, Tools of the Trade

For those unfamiliar with the term, Jacklighting is the act of unlawfully shining a light on an animal in an attempt to kill it. While spotlighting (the act of shining a light on wildlife) is legal in Pennsylvania within certain hours; the possession of weapons capable of killing game is not, with few exceptions.

As a young Deputy Conservation Officer I was assigned to work under a District Officer who had came to the conclusion that jacklighting was to be our major focus. He reasoned that jacklighting; while very prevalent at the time was a socially unacceptable violation and one we could do something about. At the time we were a force of nearly a dozen officers with a county of four hundred square miles. By concentrating our efforts in a particular area on any given night we were able to increase our odds of apprehending jacklighters significantly. The following is a short story about one of the more unusual apprehensions from those early years.

Thanksgiving had just passed and our rural county was experiencing its annual population increase as hunters arrived. As some hunters cannot wait until the season; we officers were working patrols all throughout the nights. On this particular night a fellow officer noticed a vehicle spotlighting after hours along a secluded forestry road that follows a mountain top for many miles. As he could watch the vehicle’s progress from his vantage point some ten miles away; we decided that I would attempt to get into position for the stop. I knew it was a long shot as I had many miles to cover so I felt no need to hurry.

Time flew by as I traveled the country roads and some forty five minutes had elapsed by the time he informed me that I was getting near. The suspect’s vehicle had been moving south the entire time and as I had entered the south end of the road a head on encounter was about to ensue. As I needed to observe the spotlight coming from the vehicle prior to the stop, I pulled over and shut down.

In a few moments I could see their vehicle slowly approaching as they shined the spotlight into every nook and cranny in their attempt to locate deer. I can imagine their surprise when their night took a turn for the worse as I activated the red lights.

Soon the incident was under control, they looked on in astonishment as I removed the loaded rifle that had been between the two occupants, along with their spotlight. They had felt secure in this remote area while they went about their deadly task. Little did they realize that what appeared to them to be heavy forest along the road was only a thin screen of trees that allowed an officer, miles away, to follow their every move as they searched for a buck.

Neither could they have imagined that I had traveled twenty two miles, much of it over back country roads, to be in position to apprehend them.