Illinois assigned six officers to temporarily investigate hunting violations emphasizing non-residents, and the results were shocking.
Poaching seems to be as popular today as it has ever been. With technology, social media, and other factors, it also seems to be much easier to get caught. Illinois Department of Natural Resources sent out a group of six officers to investigate and temporally oversee hunting violations in Illinois this past January of 2017.
Their main focus was that of mostly non-resident hunters that would be visiting Illinois for archery and firearm whitetail seasons. With the diligent work of the officers, there were 66 cases generated for unlawful hunting violations.
Of those 66 cases, there were 153 citations issued, 41 warnings, and 41 mounts seized because of the illegal harvest of deer.
According to the Illinois DNR, these citations consisted of 85 Class A Misdemeanors, 49 Class B Misdemeanors, and 16 Petty Offenses.
Charges vary from the unlawful taking or possessing of whitetail deer, hunting without permission from landowners, failure to report harvest, the unlawful use of another’s permit, and hunting without a license (resident and non-resident).
It is a shame to hear stuff like this. When traveling to other states to hunt, I know things can happen quickly and you can misunderstand or interpret the rules and laws. But more times than not, there is some sort of foul play and intentional wrong involved. It’s up to everyone to know the rules, and ignoring or being ignorant of them counts as guilt.
Everyone makes mistakes, but based off all of the comments, people have no sympathy for these matters and demand harsher penalties.
The picture above shows some great deer among those that were seized as part of this investigation. It looks as if these officers were very busy. The search was aided by 20 different states and enforcement agencies.
It’s time more outdoorsmen get a clue and quit abusing their privileges.
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