Another Poacher

[Turtle]

JACKSON -- Chris James of Horton pleaded guilty Monday to illegally killing a trophy buck in the archery season last fall.
James admitted he shot the 24-point whitetail before he purchased a hunting license.
District Judge Michael Klaeren sentenced him to a mandatory five days in jail, plus a $1,000 fine to the state wildlife fund and a $300 fine to the county.
"Just as important, he loses his hunting privileges for the rest of 2008 and the next three years after that," Assistant Prosecutor Nick Mehalco said after the plea.
Klaeren said he will allow James to serve his jail time on weekends.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers saw the pictures and story about the giant buck in the Citizen Patriot on Oct. 26.
James told a reporter he shot the buck with an arrow at dusk on Oct. 24 and tracked its blood trail several hours in the dark, returning the next morning to find it.
An investigation revealed James did not purchase the archery license until the morning after he shot the deer.
While agents built their case, James entered the rack in big-buck contests. It is one of the largest ever taken by a Michigan bow hunter.
A Commemorative Bucks of Michigan scorer awarded it 218 points, making it the second- or third-largest ever recorded in archery season.
Conservation officers seized the antlers in January, when James was charged with the misdemeanor.
The deer rack is the property of the DNR and will likely be on display at either a state park museum, wildlife office or other DNR facility.
A friend of James said he would make no comment.






Sad Don't know why someone in that position would seek out publicity and attempt to take pride and recognition for what he done. Just do it legally in the first place and don't put yourself in this type situation.

[buckfever]

Thats crazy. Glad to see he got busted. You can tell he forgot to use his head. You would have thought he would at least been smart enough to change his story since he did not have a license.

I wonder what the genius would have done had he shot a doe? Risked getting caught driving it home or just left it in the woods for the coyotes?

Hats off to the game wardens for using their heads.

[joel the signman]

the greed over over antlers is getting out of hand if you ask me.I dont think his punishment was tough enough

[Hunting Man]

Glad he got caught! I agree until the fine is considerable $$$$, people will take the chance to hit it big in the antler money lottery. I remember a few years back a well know archer in Michigan attempted to submit a record book buck. The buck was huge and would have shattered Milo Hanson's current record buck. After people saw the pictures and noticed things didn't look right, ex-rays were requested and he withdrew the buck for record consideration. Hanson's attorney got involved at some point and things got very quiet.

[Turtle]

Here's link with pic

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/...ris_james.html

[joel the signman]

thanks for the link.nothing like having the facts

[BruceBruce1959]

Originally Posted by joel the signman

the greed over over antlers is getting out of hand if you ask me.I dont think his punishment was tough enough

I agree with Joel on this one, This guy isn't getting a punishment at all, what he got was a Leniency. A mere spanking.
The Poachers will never stop as long as the courts just pat them on the hands and send them off so easily.
All over a set of Scoring Antlers, This is why I am totally against record book hunting.
I don't believe any Game animal should ever be harvested simply for it's scoring ability.
just offering my 2 cents....

I think poaching and big antlers really having nothing to do with each other. More does are poached every year than antlered deer. Poaching is poaching. If you are a "if its brown its down" guy thats ok but why would you want to dictate how others hunt? If I get what you are say right, your saying that Trophy hunting leads to poaching? Question, If there was a basket 6 standing there and a 180" which one would you shoot? If the weights were about the same. So what if some hunters take it one step farther and only shoot book deer. I'm not getting bent out of shape or anything, I just putting it out there to think about. Legal and ethical is legal and ethical, illegal and unethical is illegal and unethical. and thats my 2 cents

[BruceBruce1959]

In just this case alone Antlers had everything to do with his intent to Poach this Deer.
I do agree however there are probably more Doe's poached than bucks and I think that's only because Doe's are more apt to wander out into the fields quicker than the bucks do, The Doe's just make themselves the easier target for poachers. But again I think in this particular case this guy only wanted that scoring Rack I'd bet a bundle if it had been a Doe he would have passed on it.
Now to answer your question, I would take the one that I know I could down the safest. The 180" racks are awesome but the Antler size is only a bonus to me.
I know in my lifetime of hunting I've passed on several huge racked deer, they just didn't offer a good safe shot.
I can't begin to tell you how many huge racks I've seen bound off because I jumped them out of their beds but again I'm not about to let the sight of a huge rack cause me to start pumping lead out there with hopes that I hit the running brown spot, that's just not me but some (not all) trophy hunters only see antlers and begin shooting without hesitation and that's just not cool to me but they are the ones that have to live with the results of their actions.

Book Deer? a Book Deer to some hunters might be a 150 class deer or better but what about a youth hunter that takes a 180 lb. 4 pointer..
The Book would say, It's only a 4 pointer doesn't qualify to be in the books and that to me is wrong. I think rather than have trophy books there should just be "State Record Books" because the way I see it, they're all trophy's

[Hunting Man]

It's all about antlers and money and record books! If it was only a doe maybe the local news paper writes a small article, not that poaching does is different under the law, but only the big bucks make the news because its about BIG BUCK'$. I've never heard of someone trying to put a doe into a record book and making national news!Poaching does is about meat and killing, poaching big bucks is about money!