Poachers beware

[archerycrazy]

Representative Russ Jones of Yuma is moving forward wtih House Bill 2396. Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club proposed this legislation in response to a bighorn sheep poaching case that was prosecuted in the Yuma area. The perpetrator was fined a little more than $700.00 and received no jail time. YVRGC requested that legislation to enhance the penalties for the poaching of Trophy and Endangered Wildlife be brought forward. A stakeholder committee will be formed in the near future.

The intent of the bill is to give the prosecuters and courts the option of prosecuting the most egregious cases at the felony level. Currently, most cases can only be prosecuted at the Class 2 Misdemeanor level.

This is a work in progress. Please look at the bill and provide comments or recommendations.

[Gr8 White Jr]

$700 for poaching a bighorn? Thats it??? Unbelievable! That SOB should be sitting his sorry butt in jail! I am 100% for guys like this being prosecuted at the felony level.

 

 

-Tracy

[MangeyJoe]

$700 for poaching a bighorn? Thats it??? Unbelievable! That SOB should be sitting his sorry butt in jail! I am 100% for guys like this being prosecuted at the felony level.

 

 

-Tracy

+1 I thought Bighorn sheep especially would be a definate felony. I would also want that to be enforced.

[missedagain]

Representative Russ Jones of Yuma is moving forward wtih House Bill 2396. Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club proposed this legislation in response to a bighorn sheep poaching case that was prosecuted in the Yuma area. The perpetrator was fined a little more than $700.00 and received no jail time. YVRGC requested that legislation to enhance the penalties for the poaching of Trophy and Endangered Wildlife be brought forward. A stakeholder committee will be formed in the near future.

The intent of the bill is to give the prosecuters and courts the option of prosecuting the most egregious cases at the felony level. Currently, most cases can only be prosecuted at the Class 2 Misdemeanor level.

This is a work in progress. Please look at the bill and provide comments or recommendations.

 

 

I am not familiar with this case but usually the real punishment comes from the game and fish in the form of their civil penalties not the judicial systems fine.

[AZLance]

You can have all the laws you want on the books, and tripple the fines and punishment, but it will have NO effect on poaching if there are not enough wildlife officers out there to patrol. That is the case right now. There is not even one officer for every unit. The Game and Fish is underfunded and understaffed. Also you might want to look at the priorities the department has. Instead of doing a survey on the leopard frog, or chasing down kids on ATV's, those resources could be better used to fund the enforcement of the wildlife laws.

[Coach]

Wow - that's a surprise. As much money as hunting and fishing generates in this state via license, tag and application fees, you would think we'd have more than enough money to effectively fight poaching.

[yumabowhunter]

Nice to see Yuma in the news for something positive. I think stiffer penalties is a great idea for the idiots wanting to poach.

 

 

[BikerRN]

As much as I dislike poaching I'd ask you all to look at the consequences of such a law.

 

Poaching for profit, or taking game out of season should be a felony, but what if someone shoots a trophey buck during hunting season, but oops, they shot a mule deer instead of a coues? Is that someone you really want sitting in a prison with child molesters, rapist, and murderers? There is a tendancy of late to enforce laws far beyond what the originators of the law intended.

 

Also, given the tendancy of the new breed of Centurion, many of them don't look at things and use discretion. In fact it's almost impossible to use discretion anymore. Supervisors want to see arrest and cases cleared. They don't want to hear how you had some guy and let him go for a minor offense, only to maybe give you information later because you were square with him. Sometimes a LEO cutting somebody a break is what they need to get on the straight and narrow. I caught my share of breaks as a kid.

 

Don't believe me? How about the kid that was arrested for assault for luanching a spitwad at a classmate?

 

Biker

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Don't believe me? How about the kid that was arrested for assault for luanching a spitwad at a classmate?

 

Didn't hear about this one.....do you have any details????

[BikerRN]

Don't believe me? How about the kid that was arrested for assault for luanching a spitwad at a classmate?

 

Didn't hear about this one.....do you have any details????

 

 

Boy, 13, faces 8 years for spitwad (Convicted of two felonies in California)

 

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/683648/posts

 

While the one child losing an eye is tragic it was done, to my knowledge, without criminal intent. The things that you and I did as kids, many of them are criminal now. It's getting ridiculous.

 

I don't want to give law enforcement more laws to ply their trade by when common sense has left the equation. We have criminalized behavior that for many of us was part of growing up. Stupid? Yes, without a doubt. However stupidity in and of itself shouldn't be criminal. Sometimes bad things happen unintentionally. That's not a matter for the criminal courts as far as I'm concerned.

 

There are many more cases of this nature, like a young pre-Jr High student arrested for sexual assault for kissing a classmate. I think it was a child in the K-3 grade range, IIRC. Now, if a law like this gets passed it leaves too much discretion with the prosecutor and will go far beyond the intent of the law. What if you shoot a trophy deer, in season but wrong species? Felony? That's a mistake. We are human and some of us are prone to mistakes.

 

Just because we make mistakes doesn't mean we belong in prison. There is a difference between an honest mistake and knowingly breaking the law. Sadly the ones making those decisions, what if any charges to proceed with, are often out of touch with reality.

 

Biker

[youngbuck]

I see both sides to arguement. I do think it is BS, a guy gets a 700$ fine alone for poaching a sheep. Some guys pay 10's of thousands of dollars for a sheep hunt. 700$ is awfully cheap for sheep hunt. The bigger problem is the "corporation or big box" mentality. Just like all the large big box retailers. Everything has a policy. Everything has to be done by the book, that some peron or comitte came up with. The executive branch needs to enforce the laws(using some common sence) and the judicial branch need to INTERPRET (very key word) and apply the law (using comon sence once again). THe executive branch needs to write laws that are enforcable and applicable. Some how ALL 3 branches have lost their common sence and have to do everything "by the book". They have lost their ability to look at individual cases and do "what is right". My sence of what is right may be different than others though. I wish we could go to a one law system; Don't be a dumb butt, punishable by what ever "seems right" That would give way too much power for one group of people, be it enforcers or interpreters.