That sounds like an awfully specific memory.

Illegal is illegal. When you set a precedent by making exceptions, the next exception is well on it's way, with more sure to come.

Same reason I like how the NRA fights to have no exceptions made to the 2nd.

My first teaching job was in DEEP east Texas. I had families that lived off the land, for real.

They didn’t go to the store. If they didn’t raise it, kill it, or catch it, they didn’t eat.

One of my favorite stories to tell my hunter ed students is that I had students that shot the “robot deer” that game wardens use to catch poachers.

I’m not for poaching, but I do understand people that are in poverty doing what it takes to survive.

If it came down to it I’d harvest animals to feed my family.

On the other hand, some entitled so called hunter that really wants to shoot a trophy and will poach to do it, I have ZERO tolerance for that!!!!

Other countries have seen a lot of animals become endangered because of poaching, People are going to eat whatever it takes. Hard to see that when you are born in America.

For sure! Africa comes to mind. 1st world people trying to fix 3rd world problems!

Not weighing in on poaching. It's hard to give advice to break the law.

I will say that our ministry in Wise County, Feeding Wise Kids, is now feeding about 400 kids a week over the weekend when there is no free school lunch or breakfast. That's just one Texas county and not a particularly heavily populated one at that.

Every school in our area has a list of homeless kids and on-the-edge kids. We are definitely not feeding every kid on free or reduced lunches, just the kids identified by teachers, counselors, and case workers as being at-risk of hunger and food stress. Last winter at Christmas break, we had some donated McDonald's gift certificates to put in their food backpacks. We got stories from teachers about 2d grade little girls crying because they could go to McDonalds for the first time ever. It seems that they always heard other kids talking about eating there, but their families had never had the money to go.

We have gotten feedback that a lot of kids who act out on Mondays were starved from missing meals on the weekends. Now they are not the problem kids any longer. And we have had parents leave the program because their situations have improved and they want to move out of the way so another family gets fed.

Sure, a lot of these poverty issues stem from parents' bad decisions, drugs, alcohol, etc. But it's hard to let an innocent child go hungry, whoever is at fault. I guess until I have a hungry child crying because their belly is empty, I am not qualified to answer whether there is ever an excuse to poach.

Not gonna lie, I did a lot of poaching during my teens and early 20's but out of necessity. For a period we were broke and hungry and I was the only one with the ability to put food on the table. I worked 2 jobs and couldn't keep up after paying bills. I killed deer from the road, I spotlighted deer and jumped a lot of fences. I brought home bull reds that weren't tagged, and kept undersized specs. Nothing went to waste, I cooked & served all of that meat and we needed it. At that period of my life we were in a bind. I don't regret any of it. Will my kids poach or break the law? Hell no, they don't have to. Do I still? Hell no.

It's all fun and games until some POS shoots a lawman. I hope they catch that piece of crap that shot our officer. I bet that chicken $hit reads this form and I want you to know your gonna get caught.

There will always be poachers, and there will always be Game Wardens trying to stop them, and it's a never ending cat and mouse game, but shooting an officer trying to do his job is crossing the line.
We have laws, and it's never ok to break them, and a Game Warden doesn't know if you are just hungry and have had a bad break, or if you are a murderer as well.
God Bless those who put their lives on the line every day.

I’m a little behind on my boat payment. I guess I should rob a bank “out of necessity”.

Did you try approaching any local landowners, telling them about your hard times, & ask permission to take any deer or fish?

As a landowner, if someone approached me with a story about their family starving, I would gladly let them take game, & would even help. But poaching from other people without their permission is entirely different. I’m glad you got out of the bad predicament & doin well today.

Good on you, sir. That’s how charity is supposed to work.

Why would it be ok for some of these parents to break some laws (poaching), but not other laws (like bank robbery)? When you start sayin people can break whatever laws they want because of hard times (when in reality, many of the people are too lazy or stupid, or spend money on cigarettes, scratch off tickets, meth, & new tats) it’s a slippery slope.

It amazes me that we need a license to hunt/fish, drive a car, or carry a gun. But nobody needs a license to pump out as many kids as they want.

Just a play on words lol. A term me and my Pops use to describe someone who thinks they are a heck of a lot smarter than they are.

No. That was a long time ago, before it was a felony.

Not a good comparison at all. Shooting deer to feed your family and robbing someone to pay for a luxury item are two different things. This was 20-25 yrs ago for me.

A neighbor who we trust has called us a few times for someone shooting a hog from the road. We don’t live on this property, it’s a hour away.

Honestly, as long as it’s not deer season and as long as they go and retrieve it’s not that big of a deal

We’ve never called the GW over it because the people who live around there id consider on the lower income level and they have 100 percent retrieved the pig

I think it’s happened 3-4 times in 10 years I know of

I’m sure it’s happened more

A deer and I’d be pissed.

Or you could be a 16 yr old kid like I was who lost his folks and older brother, and little brother was too young to work. Nobody else around to help, in other words on your own. That 16-18 yr old kid worked two jobs, volunteered to work rain outs & holidays, and yes he broke the law road hunting and spotlighting to feed his family. In his mind at that time he was doing what he had to do to put food on the table, period. That was a long time ago, things are different now.

Sorry to hear that about your hard times, that is truly a hardship. I would wager that most poachers don’t have it anywhere near that hard. The vast majority are meth heads, lazy white trash, or just some [censored] who gets a thrill from poaching.

yep, you have to do what you have to do sometimes ... I agree, that was a long time ago and our family knew families in dire need and we took care of them, again, this was 50 years ago when times were different and not near as people were looking for a free hand out that had high level of self respect just on tough times.

interesting thread & views.

I’ve been in law enforcement since 1987. No, I wouldn’t be surprised. There is no excuse for poaching.

Many years ago, my Brother, now deceased, lived outside of Jasper and pretty well lived on venison. But, wouldn't shoot a deer out of season. A State Biologist came to him and needed tissue samples from various deer. He asked my Brother to get him some samples from about 6 deer. My Brother asked him how he could do that legally. The guy replied that the GW said that he bought quite a few licenses and was feeding several needy families. It got done.

Sounds like deer laundering.

I took a guy hunting a couple of times, veteran and retired LEO. I was amazed at how well he could try to justify illegal hunting.

We saw a large group of hogs on the side of the road and he said, "Let's stop and shoot them."

I replied that they were in the ROW and it was illegal to do so.

He said, "Nobody wants those hogs around. We'll be doing folks a favor."

I said, "It is illegal and they aren't even by a property we have permission to hunt."

He said, "If a deputy or game warden stops us, we will just explain that we were hunting responsibly {he actually thought this was a responsible act} and were careful how we were shooting."

I said, "How can you justify breaking the law like that as 'acting responsibly.'"

He said, "Well, it is stupid law."

I thought he might have been joking until he wanted us to trespass and hunt a property next to one where we had permission because, "That is where the hogs are coming from."

So apparently in his mind, poaching is okay if nobody wants the animals, doing folks a favor, if you do it responsibly and are careful, because the laws are stupid, and because that is where the hogs are coming from.

We don't hunt together any more.

Totally agree with this. I have known of so called hunters using other hunters tags, that is poaching and not cool from my perspective