When it comes to deer hunting there are so many ways to get more than your allotted deer, poaching deer is not necessary to get meat.

with as many welfare programs an food banks as there is in this country there is no good reason to take the chance an trespass or shoot off the road to feed your family .

I think now a days people do it for the excitement. Like speeding or stealing a candy bar.

If a person can’t afford to feed their family, then they really can’t afford to get caught poaching.

Some of my earliest memories are of my dad going "hunting".....of course back then I had no idea it was illegal or even what poaching was. We lived in western Louisiana not far from the Sabine river and our back yard was literally 60,000 acres of timber company land and was free for the public to hunt....during season of course.

I still remember that old head lamp...I think it was made with the guts of a hard hat, a light taped to the front and wires ran down to two large 6v batteries. Back then it was either road hunting or riding off from the house on horseback. Several of his biggest bucks were shot at night off a horse and all the ones in velvet were. He always said you could get closer to them on horseback than you could walking through the woods.

A lot of things were different back then, you could still legally hunt with dogs during season and the first buck I ever killed was shot ahead of a pack of hounds...legally. It's interesting to look back and see how attitudes, laws, morals, and ethics change with time especially around hunting. It wasn't that long ago hunting deer with dogs was legal in East Texas.

Why did he poach...who knows....was there a thrill involved, I'm sure there was...were we poor...... I guess that's open to interpretation . I'd say almost every meal we ate was something we killed, caught, or grew. Deer, hogs, ducks, bass, catfish, white perch (Crappie), purple hull peas, crowder peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, mustard greens, turnip greens made up the majority of all meals and there was always more than enough of them so, no I never considered us to be poor. At the time I was about 3 or 4, he was 19 or 20 and I"m sure a lot of people looking in from the outside would have considered us lacking, but as a kid and even now looking back with plenty to eat, clothes on my back, and a few sticks and toys to play with I wouldn't have changed a single thing. It made me who I am. Sometimes I wish my kids had less so they'd appreciate more.

Obviously poaching is wrong and honestly I cant think of any "reason" to poach. I will say this though, there are a lot of things that all of us do that are wrong just because man says one may be illegal doesn't make it any worse than some things we do that aren't, regardless we'll pay for them all one day.

our kids didnt know how poor we was... & like you back in the day hunting was about en & chillen. now its all about the Big Bucks. We had a $7.22 hr total income, as said in other posts, only reason got on lease was the 24-7-365 hog hunts. it was a family, camping with chance ta put on the & in the freezer for less than a buck a day. Seen the games played on leases, way before got on HF people pay ta hunt legal, then pressured by others what is a trophy judged by antler size. As posted many times, twas a Blessing when a WMA open up just down the road, low-income workers cant afford ta compete the the high prices...
the so called hog (problem) is perfect example. Land owners making money on leases, deer, quail, dove, exotics, why not hogs... as pappy say's: Hunting has become a Richmans Sport. poaching tis a Richmans word. i pay for my food-stamps.

edit: watching Jack Hanna show, bout poaching elephants, all about the ivory, isnt that what the trophy hunter pays big bucks for ?

I wonder how many of us would not be here had not an ancestor poached some of the king's game to feed his family. And I ain't gonna pass up the opportunity to point out that the safety net is paid for by stealing from paychecks via taxes.

Most poaching done nowadays is just idiots being idiots. They do deserve what they get from the law. However, the general attitude of looking for a handout 'cause you are temporarily failing at life is more dangerous to us than poaching.

Long thread. I wouldn’t hold anything against someone who shot an animal to feed their family.
I’ll take it a step further and say I have a lot more respect for a kid selling drugs on the street than I do for the trash that lives off my tax dollars for years on end.

Once he is arrested he is living off your tax dollars for a long time.

At least the sons of btchs tried.

Maybe they should try following the law & gettin a real job?

If a man or woman us down to poaching as the ONLY option to feed their kids, I can look the other way.

I catch a poacher on my place, we will be having a short conversation before I call anyone. They give me any other answer than they have starving kids, and we will be waiting on L.E. to arrive.

That's crazy talk right there. Some of you are sure generous when it comes to thieves.