I was just reading through the collared deer thread at the top of the page. Dr. D said 18 collared deer where killed. 13 legal, 4 illegal, and 1 unknown. If I am reading that correctly, approx. 25% were killed illegally. WOW!!! Is that the norm for deer kills...25% illegal? If so, I have grossly underestimated poaching!! I would have guessed less than 5%.

What were the illegal methods used to kill the 4 deer?

I would not be shocked to learn the illegal kill is at 25%, it's a LOT higher than folks think it is.

YEP!

People live sheltered lives!

I don't think the you can make much from data on 18 deer. Not statistically significant.

I realize some areas are worse than others. My area has calmed WAY down. We use to have a GW and sheriff who were partners in night hunting, gill netting, and telephoning. After all, who was going to catch them, right? Well, the GW finally got caught by other GW's and the sheriff got voted out. We went from the wild west to fairly calm...I think.

I've always thought that the illegal kill, by all means, was a LOT higher than 25%, probably over 50%.

I work with some "good old Lawrence county boys". The stories they tell about things they did in some of their younger days will make you think higher than 25%. Thats just night hunting not incluidng the ones killed tresspassing, over bait, running dogs, etc. I would imagine deer kills that are 100% legal without breaking any laws may be less than 25%

Gotta agree. As a whole and perfectly legal I would bet the illegal kills strongly rival the legal kills or surpass them.

I sadly agree I grew up with some sho nuff outlaws and was a bit of one for a time. You might be surprised how many deer are shot in a night by some.

A mortality was considered a �legal harvest� if it was known to have occurred by legal methods during legal season dates. A mortality was considered an �illegal harvest� if the harvest was known to have occurred outside the legal season dates or in an area where the hunter was not authorized to hunt (i.e. safety zone or private property).


So it might not have been at night, just maybe out of season or trespassing. Same thing, illegal is illegal in my book.

Didn't someone have to turn in the collar ? Did they admit to hunting illegally or how was that determined? Did the collar contain enough info to determine that?

That is a good question.

I agree with the way things use to be with illegal deer kills. But the sho-nuff outlaws have died or quit hunting around here. Mostly what we have now is young'uns doing stupid stuff. Except for hunting over bait. I also understand that there is so many rules and regs that it can become difficult to be 100% legal but I THINK when I rarely kill a deer it is 100% legal.

Maybe I'm just not around those types anymore and they are numerous as ever.

from 1980 to 2005, when I was working, outlaw numbers did not decrease at all. Illegal dog hunters just got replaced by illegal stalk hunters who were quieter about what they did.

Spot on.

I agree,there are folks around here that only road hunt and night hunt,never step foot in the woods or join a club

So if 200,000 deer were killed in bama last year. 50,000 were illegal. That is a huge number but for some reason I can believe it. I wonder what the % of illegal hunters got caught last year?

I'd bet less than 5%

I figgered when I was in Greene Co we caught less than 5% of the violations. thats violatIONS not violatORS. One guy might commit multiple violations.

When I had Jeff and Shelby counties we made a list of 20 worst offenders and caught 19 of them in deer season and the last one in turkey season. not sure what % of total violators that was, but then we caught a lot of others also that wern't on the List.

They don't stop just cause the season closes either, some get after it hard in February.