How much is your Buck worth?......

[Esox]

Well, some of you folks may know about this one, some may not. It's from Ohio. A couple of poachers jacklighted this buck, at night, from the road with a rifle, back in November and were caught by ODNR and convicted of the crimes... Unfortunately no jail time was given. However, but among the fines, court fees, loss of the deer, hunting license and privlages, community service and loss of firearms and all other equipment involved in the illegal activity ordered for each of the criminals was a value of "restitution" for loss of wildlife.

This to me is very interesting....Many states have come up with a "value" for wildlife and typically the established Wildlife Value is somewhere in the order of $500.00 for whitetail deer. But Ohio has calculated a formula for the recovery value of such a big buck.... The formula is base upon the gross score of the antlers exceeding 125 Boone andCrockett (inches).

The formula is:

Recovery Value = ((gross score -100)squared x $1.65) + $500.00 (the Value derived in the established Wildlife Value Formula)

So what does that all mean. Well in this case just the Recovery Value of this buck was $12,988.00....

Another poacher caught by ODNR with a buck that scored 175 6/8 cost him $9719.00....

Hopefully that should make people think twice about poaching... Well, maybe not, but I think it's step in the right direction...

So the question is (just for fun), using this formula, "How much is your buck worth?"

Mine are priceless.....

[Shotnbeer]

Ist buck I shot... Priceless. Scrubby 5 point. But I'll never forget it. Shot many others since and if I sit a minute and have a sip I might be able to remember them. But your first buck is like your first love.

[Grizzly Adam]

So the question is (just for fun), using this formula, "How much is your buck worth?" Mine are priceless.....

Well, I'm all for sentimentality, Esox, but if you wanna give me $12,988 for my biggest deer mount, then it's sold!

Matter of fact, buddy, since it's you ... I'll let you have it for a flat $12,000.

[wabi]

I think Ohio is once again setting a trend that will probably be copied by a lot of other states in the future.
Big bucks = big bucks, and that's well known.
Now there is a substantial price to pay if you take a big buck illegally in Ohio, and none too soon! There have been many cases in recent years of poachers killing a lot of record bucks illegally. Those deer were essentially stealing from every licensed hunter who respects the law and hunts legally! If I buy my license & tags, hunt ethically and legally, and go after the one big buck hanging out in my area but some poacher kills him illegally, he has just cheated me out of having a sporting chance.
I hope Ohio's new restitution fees put a serious damper on poaching trophy bucks. We have a few good bucks in Ohio, and we should have a "level playing field" to compete on for the chance at tagging one. I somehow think spotlighting with a high powered rifle gives a poacher a bit of an edge over me hunting with archery during legal hours, and that's been an all to common occurrence in my part of Ohio!

[wabi]

Oh.........
And most of the bucks I tag when calculated by that formula.............
well, the state would probably owe ME money!

[Esox]

Here's another way to look at it. According to the Ohio DNR formula the replacement value of a buck depends upon the size of the rack...
For example:

Score Value

125 $1,531.25
130 1,485.00
140 1,985.00
150 3,140.00
160 4,625.00
170 6,440.00
180 $11,060.00

Interesting, but I'm not sure how I feel about this. It seems that there should be a factor added in for genetics loss as well... They do that with race horses.... I know there is great interest by State and Federal agencies on determining the value of natural resources (in this case a deer) for natural resources damage claims, but that might be a different formula. I wonder if this is how the deer farms might determine the value of their deer stock.....

Anyway, I do know one thing I don't have any bucks of value except for eatin'....

[Shotnbeer]

My buck $2.95 still priceless

[mikej]

great idea, hopefully it will discourage some poachers

[Esox]

Oooops my chart is off:

125 = $1531
130 = $1985
140 = $3140
150 = $4625
160 = $6440
170 = $8585
180 = $11060

... I was given the bargain basement prices.....

[huntfishfam]

That formula is missing one calculation, they missed X2 at the end.
Sean

[Kenton]

Now there is a substantial price to pay if you take a big buck illegally in Ohio, and none too soon!

Sorry Wabi but I don't think this is a substantial price. These fines are only 2 or 3 times what one would pay for an outfitted hunt, and it is my belief that if someone is willing to jacklight a deer and shoot it with a rifle, they have probably done it more than once. These "punishments" aren't strict enough, because in 3 or 5 years these people (i use the term lightly) are still going to be allowed to take part in the hunting season. It is a step in the right direction and I applaud the ODNR for trying to combat a big problem in Ohio but it simply isn't enough.

[Cossack]

Great idea. Mn has a price system too but it's not that heavy. Drat!
Had he shot it on a pay to hunt game ranch it would have likely cost the same.

[wabi]

kenton,
I agree the fine could be higher, but it's a huge jump in comparison to what it was a couple years ago. I like to see the officers/courts confiscate weapons & vehicles in the cases, too.
The court needs to revoke all hunting rights for many years, and they time should only start counting down after all fines & court costs are paid in full.

A big problem in my area is the poverty level. They get a fine, and the court allows them to make small payments spread out over months or years. What they should do is freeze and/or seize all assets and sell them at a sheriff's auction if the fine isn't paid in a reasonable time.

A $10,000. fine doesn't mean much if they can pay $10./week on it and go on with life as before.