ENFORCEMENT VICTORY ... BIGTIME BEAR POACHER BUSTED!
Moderator: Excalibur Marketing Dude
-
- Posts: 5701
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:36 pm
- Location: Decatur County, Indiana
ENFORCEMENT VICTORY ... BIGTIME BEAR POACHER BUSTED!
Good news, good news!
Local NC Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Officers caught a longtime professional bear poacher and his cohort in the act here ... heard the shot, arrested the men, found the bear, and found a freezer full of bear paws and gallbladders!
This old boy was in the clink for several years once before for poaching bears and selling parts. I know him well ... no friend, but he's a local. Lives six miles down the road from me. He's everything that the public perceives as bad about hunting.
He'll be off to the hoosegow again ... this time for a longer time. I believe his first sentence was seven years!
Hats off to the wardens! This guy needed to go down.
A tip was his undoing.
Poachers are WILDLIFE THIEVES ... may they all get caught.
Local NC Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Officers caught a longtime professional bear poacher and his cohort in the act here ... heard the shot, arrested the men, found the bear, and found a freezer full of bear paws and gallbladders!
This old boy was in the clink for several years once before for poaching bears and selling parts. I know him well ... no friend, but he's a local. Lives six miles down the road from me. He's everything that the public perceives as bad about hunting.
He'll be off to the hoosegow again ... this time for a longer time. I believe his first sentence was seven years!
Hats off to the wardens! This guy needed to go down.
A tip was his undoing.
Poachers are WILDLIFE THIEVES ... may they all get caught.
Grizz
Thank goodness another bites the dust. Your right Grizzley, they are the blight on the rest of the hunters. The person or persons that tipped them off deserve a pat on the back. Too many times we see suspicious things and not always are they reported. We don't always give praise to the enforcement persons , but this time hats off to you all. Thanks for the information.
Excalibur Exomax and Arctic Cat 400 auto. Life don't get much better than that.
Thats great news Grizz.Get um all.
During dog season here it is buck only except for a few doe tags per camp and we see the carcases of does all the time from the GOOD-OLE-BOYS. we hear the shots and the trucks crank up and race away then the next day we will find whats left.Damm shame
During dog season here it is buck only except for a few doe tags per camp and we see the carcases of does all the time from the GOOD-OLE-BOYS. we hear the shots and the trucks crank up and race away then the next day we will find whats left.Damm shame
Scott
http://www.myspace.com/saxman1
Take a kid hunting
They don't remember their best day of watching TV
Excalibur Equinox
TruGlo Red/Green Dot
NGSS Absorber by NewGuy
Custom strings by BOO
Groundpounder Top Mount
ACF Member - 2011
http://www.myspace.com/saxman1
Take a kid hunting
They don't remember their best day of watching TV
Excalibur Equinox
TruGlo Red/Green Dot
NGSS Absorber by NewGuy
Custom strings by BOO
Groundpounder Top Mount
ACF Member - 2011
Hope he gets the max.......we just had a turkey poacher in VA go to court. For 81 illegal turkey kills he received a hefty fine ($10,000 I think), lifetime ban on hunting the military base where some of the poaching was done and a 7 year ban on buying a hunting license in North America. He also resigned as the county Assistant Animal Control Officer before he was fired. Still don't think it was harse enough, no jail time.
Rich
Rich
-
- Posts: 246
- Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 4:08 pm
- Location: Granby,Qc
- Contact:
There's nothing wrong with poaching.....that's my favorite way of cooking eggs...
As far as poaching animals....that's a big NO-NO.....
As far as poaching animals....that's a big NO-NO.....
ComfyBear
Micro Axe 340, Matrix 380, Matrix 355, Matrix 350, Exocet 200
ComfyBear Strings
G5 Montecs 125gr., SlickTrick 125 gr. Magnums
To thine own self be true.
Remove thine mask Polonius.
Live thy truth, doth not be false to any man.
Micro Axe 340, Matrix 380, Matrix 355, Matrix 350, Exocet 200
ComfyBear Strings
G5 Montecs 125gr., SlickTrick 125 gr. Magnums
To thine own self be true.
Remove thine mask Polonius.
Live thy truth, doth not be false to any man.
-
- Posts: 5250
- Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 10:21 pm
- Location: Virginia
- Contact:
glad to hear! Hopefully all like him will get busted sooner or later! Usually the ones that get caught or hunters that do one little thing wrong or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We all break the law everynow and then and probably dont even know it. I know alot of guys bend that 30mins after sunset rule
it was a guy up here in Va that was obessed over turkeys.. i htink he killed somewhere around 150-200 in 1-2 years? He atre turkey for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.. he even took photos of every bird he killed. I dunno how he killed so many so fast but he needed to be busted big time. If anyone watches Turkey Call on TV they showed the bust on his farm. About 25 game/wildlife vehicles surrounded his farm. He killed some in my county and I know on the court date 15 game wardens were present!
what suks is the ones that break the law big time usually get by for awhile.. but sooner or later they will get busted!
but back to the shooting 30mins after sunset thing.. I lost my license for 2 years for just that. Sunset was at 5:28 and I shot at 5:35 I coulda fought the system and won, but I did my honest time for my mistake. Mainly since I could still hunt land I owned so losing my license didnt effect me any
it was a guy up here in Va that was obessed over turkeys.. i htink he killed somewhere around 150-200 in 1-2 years? He atre turkey for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.. he even took photos of every bird he killed. I dunno how he killed so many so fast but he needed to be busted big time. If anyone watches Turkey Call on TV they showed the bust on his farm. About 25 game/wildlife vehicles surrounded his farm. He killed some in my county and I know on the court date 15 game wardens were present!
what suks is the ones that break the law big time usually get by for awhile.. but sooner or later they will get busted!
but back to the shooting 30mins after sunset thing.. I lost my license for 2 years for just that. Sunset was at 5:28 and I shot at 5:35 I coulda fought the system and won, but I did my honest time for my mistake. Mainly since I could still hunt land I owned so losing my license didnt effect me any
-
- Posts: 5701
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:36 pm
- Location: Decatur County, Indiana
Yeah ... I think we've all pushed the "dark-thirty" envelope ... with or without knowing it. I think many officers use discretion on that one, but I guess there are some hardcores that toe the line on it ... sounds like you got that sort!
I believe there's an essential difference between the mostly honest hunter who bends a rule (intentionally or otherwise) and a purposeful, habitual violater like this bear poacher.
There are folks who break the law at some time or the other, and then there are outlaws. This guy is an outlaw.
I wouldn't call you an outlaw, Crazy ... you were just outside the law that time.
Paid your debt to society, sounds like.
Watch that watch, buddy!
I believe there's an essential difference between the mostly honest hunter who bends a rule (intentionally or otherwise) and a purposeful, habitual violater like this bear poacher.
There are folks who break the law at some time or the other, and then there are outlaws. This guy is an outlaw.
I wouldn't call you an outlaw, Crazy ... you were just outside the law that time.
Paid your debt to society, sounds like.
Watch that watch, buddy!
Grizz
CF,
It was 81 turkeys over 15 years. He was busted due to a tip from another hunter after he shot a bird during last years youth hunt. Pretty said to do that to your kid, what kind of example is that. Here is the article:
ATIP FROM a hunter was the key to unlocking an investigation into wild turkey poaching that resulted in the plea bargain conviction last week of a Caroline County man.
Dubbed a "serial wild turkey poacher" by game wardens, Jason W. Cook, 30, a former Spotsylvania County animal control officer, was charged with 93 criminal counts in Caroline County. He pled guilty to eight of the most serious offenses and was sentenced by District Court Judge Frank Benser to 15 days in jail with the remainder of the six-month sentence suspended upon condition of good behavior.
Cook was also levied with more than $10,000 in fines and court costs, including $3,500 in "Wild Turkey Replacement Costs" for seven turkeys killed illegally in 2006 and a donation of $3,500 to the Virginia Game Protection Fund. In addition, he lost all hunting rights in North America for seven years and the ability to transport any game animals or birds in Virginia for seven years.
He has also been banned for life from hunting at Fort A.P. Hill, where several of the offenses occurred. And he faces 100 hours of community service in Richmond County where other poaching violations took place.
Details of the case were released yesterday by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries law enforcement officers.
Cook left his job soon after being convicted in Richmond County District Court in December on three turkey poaching violations. Richmond County attorney Wayne Emery had volunteered to be a special prosecutor in the case had it reached trial stage in Caroline, according to Sgt. Paul Atkins, a supervisory game warden.
Cook's Woodford house was a treasure trove of turkey parts. A search turned up 81 adult male turkey beards, dozens of turkey legs and spurs and several sets of tail feathers.
Special Agent John Cobb, who investigated the case, said Cook confessed on tape that some 90 percent of the 81 gobblers had been killed illegally over his 15 years of hunting.
What really got the hackles up on the hunter who brought Cook down was alleged activity when Cook had taken his 5-year-old son hunting at Fort A.P. Hill on the special youth turkey hunting day set aside for kids 15 and under each year.
According to Cobb, the source said Cook had taken his child's shotgun and shot the turkey as the youngster watched.
"He apparently did this even though the youngster had learned how to use the shotgun and could put the pellets on the target," Cobb said. "To take a youth shotgun from your kid's hand--we knew what we were dealing with."
Following the tip, game wardens staked out Cook's house and observed him acting suspiciously as he pulled up shortly after sunrise on April 20, 2006.
Cobb said Cook left his driveway and drove across the yard close to a basement door access, then retrieved a wild turkey carcass and brought it inside. He emerged 20 minutes later wearing his Spotsylvania uniform and carrying a black trash bag, which was later found to have the unwanted parts from the turkey.
Confronted later in the day, Cook "denied killing or even touching a wild turkey that day," according to Cobb. A search warrant was then obtained and the case quickly developed.
The bird, it turns out, had been killed in Richmond County that same morning.
Yesterday at the VDGIF's Fredericksburg office, Cobb and Atkins presented a table full of evidence taken from the Cook home. They plan to turn the evidence into a display that relates to the importance of hunter ethics, Cobb explained.
"Over the last three years, we could only find evidence that Cook had legally checked one turkey," Cobb said. The legal annual limit is three birds, but Cobb said Cook confessed, after being read his rights, that in April 2006 alone he killed nine turkeys and had shot at and missed three others.
Cobb said Cook boasted, "I can promise you that's it right there; you just can't get any better than that."
Cobb said Cook confessed to taking as many as 12 turkeys in a year and as many as four in a single day, although at least one of the photos taken in evidence shows him posing with a dog and five freshly killed turkeys. Numerous other photos of Cook alone with multiple birds were also collected in evidence. Some photos with turkeys show him in a uniform with a badge, partially obscured by leafy camouflage.
"I asked him why he did what he did, and he told me, 'The adrenaline rush,'" Cobb said.
"This plea agreement was two months in the making," Cobb said, adding the state agreed to drop lesser illegal possession charges related to many of the turkey beards found.
Cook's sentence also called for writing a letter of apology. Part of his letter to the "Sports Men and Women of the Commonwealth of Virginia," read: "My goal was to go as often as possible during spring turkey season and try to be successful. I did not realize I may be taking opportunity away from others however looking back now I realize I made a mistake and I am truly sorry for it."
Cobb, Virginia's Game Warden of the Year for 2006, said: "You usually never want to see people lose their job over a hunting violation, but [Cook] was in the wrong line of work. He had to have known better about what he was doing every day."
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007 ... 007/264725
It was 81 turkeys over 15 years. He was busted due to a tip from another hunter after he shot a bird during last years youth hunt. Pretty said to do that to your kid, what kind of example is that. Here is the article:
ATIP FROM a hunter was the key to unlocking an investigation into wild turkey poaching that resulted in the plea bargain conviction last week of a Caroline County man.
Dubbed a "serial wild turkey poacher" by game wardens, Jason W. Cook, 30, a former Spotsylvania County animal control officer, was charged with 93 criminal counts in Caroline County. He pled guilty to eight of the most serious offenses and was sentenced by District Court Judge Frank Benser to 15 days in jail with the remainder of the six-month sentence suspended upon condition of good behavior.
Cook was also levied with more than $10,000 in fines and court costs, including $3,500 in "Wild Turkey Replacement Costs" for seven turkeys killed illegally in 2006 and a donation of $3,500 to the Virginia Game Protection Fund. In addition, he lost all hunting rights in North America for seven years and the ability to transport any game animals or birds in Virginia for seven years.
He has also been banned for life from hunting at Fort A.P. Hill, where several of the offenses occurred. And he faces 100 hours of community service in Richmond County where other poaching violations took place.
Details of the case were released yesterday by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries law enforcement officers.
Cook left his job soon after being convicted in Richmond County District Court in December on three turkey poaching violations. Richmond County attorney Wayne Emery had volunteered to be a special prosecutor in the case had it reached trial stage in Caroline, according to Sgt. Paul Atkins, a supervisory game warden.
Cook's Woodford house was a treasure trove of turkey parts. A search turned up 81 adult male turkey beards, dozens of turkey legs and spurs and several sets of tail feathers.
Special Agent John Cobb, who investigated the case, said Cook confessed on tape that some 90 percent of the 81 gobblers had been killed illegally over his 15 years of hunting.
What really got the hackles up on the hunter who brought Cook down was alleged activity when Cook had taken his 5-year-old son hunting at Fort A.P. Hill on the special youth turkey hunting day set aside for kids 15 and under each year.
According to Cobb, the source said Cook had taken his child's shotgun and shot the turkey as the youngster watched.
"He apparently did this even though the youngster had learned how to use the shotgun and could put the pellets on the target," Cobb said. "To take a youth shotgun from your kid's hand--we knew what we were dealing with."
Following the tip, game wardens staked out Cook's house and observed him acting suspiciously as he pulled up shortly after sunrise on April 20, 2006.
Cobb said Cook left his driveway and drove across the yard close to a basement door access, then retrieved a wild turkey carcass and brought it inside. He emerged 20 minutes later wearing his Spotsylvania uniform and carrying a black trash bag, which was later found to have the unwanted parts from the turkey.
Confronted later in the day, Cook "denied killing or even touching a wild turkey that day," according to Cobb. A search warrant was then obtained and the case quickly developed.
The bird, it turns out, had been killed in Richmond County that same morning.
Yesterday at the VDGIF's Fredericksburg office, Cobb and Atkins presented a table full of evidence taken from the Cook home. They plan to turn the evidence into a display that relates to the importance of hunter ethics, Cobb explained.
"Over the last three years, we could only find evidence that Cook had legally checked one turkey," Cobb said. The legal annual limit is three birds, but Cobb said Cook confessed, after being read his rights, that in April 2006 alone he killed nine turkeys and had shot at and missed three others.
Cobb said Cook boasted, "I can promise you that's it right there; you just can't get any better than that."
Cobb said Cook confessed to taking as many as 12 turkeys in a year and as many as four in a single day, although at least one of the photos taken in evidence shows him posing with a dog and five freshly killed turkeys. Numerous other photos of Cook alone with multiple birds were also collected in evidence. Some photos with turkeys show him in a uniform with a badge, partially obscured by leafy camouflage.
"I asked him why he did what he did, and he told me, 'The adrenaline rush,'" Cobb said.
"This plea agreement was two months in the making," Cobb said, adding the state agreed to drop lesser illegal possession charges related to many of the turkey beards found.
Cook's sentence also called for writing a letter of apology. Part of his letter to the "Sports Men and Women of the Commonwealth of Virginia," read: "My goal was to go as often as possible during spring turkey season and try to be successful. I did not realize I may be taking opportunity away from others however looking back now I realize I made a mistake and I am truly sorry for it."
Cobb, Virginia's Game Warden of the Year for 2006, said: "You usually never want to see people lose their job over a hunting violation, but [Cook] was in the wrong line of work. He had to have known better about what he was doing every day."
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007 ... 007/264725
-
- Posts: 5250
- Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 10:21 pm
- Location: Virginia
- Contact:
Grizz, oh I know.. we all mess up from time to time. I just considered that my time for anyting I had done before that. We get wiser as we get older I was young and stupid at the time LOL
Rich, thanks for the info! I thought the guy had killed more but still. He needed to get busted. He's one reason in certain areas around here in Richmond County that you dont see any birds. I kill my limit and thats it. I like to think you owe the birds some respect and its not fair to others and the birds to wipe them all out just cause its a rush
Rich, thanks for the info! I thought the guy had killed more but still. He needed to get busted. He's one reason in certain areas around here in Richmond County that you dont see any birds. I kill my limit and thats it. I like to think you owe the birds some respect and its not fair to others and the birds to wipe them all out just cause its a rush