Night time hunters doing well

[Buckeyearcher]

I just have to rant about the poaching going on in my neck of the woods. Every time we get a hint of a nice buck in my area he is poached. I admit I am envious of those who pass up 140 caliber bucks to shot 160's and 170's cause I'm telling you that is laughable in my area. If a buck hits 100 he is prime to be shot at night.

We found 3 bucks shot the weekend of November 11 near me including one that was gutted and drug out near the road 30 yards from where I park to hunt. These are just the ones we found, no telling how many they shot and got away with. I personally think there are many hunters out searching for bucks at that time because it is the peak of the rut and the bucks will not leave a hot does side.

I have just lost the drive to go back out anymore this year as I know in my gut that a buck of any caliber is already dead in my area. We have several hundred acres that is being managed for older class of bucks but this has just seemed to attract the night owls.

I use to have to worry about road hunters in gun season but it is now night hunters during the rut. With trail cams we know what we are growing in our area, but for several years now it is amazing how these bucks have been mysteriously disappearing never to be seen again anywhere. Man, I wouldn't mind if it was some others hunters taking them but I talk to all the folks in our neighborhood and have a good handle on what is being taken legally.

It was really maddening when I would get a buck on trail cam for the first time and he would be dead 3 nights later. Heck they were dying faster that I could check the trail cam pictures as I usually only check them on weekends.

Sorry for the rant, but I have been holding this in for a couple of weeks.

[Darron]

I hear ya, I witnessed our neighbors cleaning a hen turkey during gun season. Called the game warden, left a message, and did not hear back from him:irked: Usually during deer season I see flocks of turkeys that reach 40+ birds, this season I only saw 5 total in 3 days. :confused: Whether it be deer or turkeys, people are poaching them out of season. I am sure the county GW has his fair share of complaints, but I thought he would have called by now.

[Lance]

I here you, we hunt Harrison/Tuscawraras counties and we've had a real battle going with this the last 5 years. We chased off one of the neighbors on a quad with a gun from where we hunt. We've really been bending the ear of the ODNR wildlife officers and they've actually put out a decent show of force around us at times the past three years and we're finally starting to see some bigger deer. The guy that lives on the farm is is also very active in trying to keep people out but it's pretty tough to do on his own. Were trying to get them to bring down the robo deer and I think they may one of these seasons soon. Everytime they've come down in around us they seem to hit plenty of violators.

[10Gauge]

our new philosophy is shoot the poachers.....just kidding but wouldn't it be fun to scare the hell out of a few?!?!

Good luck with it guys, I feel your pain.

We had trouble with loggers poaching deer in the daytime with firearms and caught them red handed (loading the buck into a truck) in early October and the ODOW did not respond to our calls or our TIP?!?! It's bad when you have eye witnesses willing to testify and you can't get someone to take a report!

[Dissident]

Like the song by Ray Charles says, "The Night Time is the Right Time"!
Unfortunatlly this mantra holds true for poachers and low lifes that are either too stupid or unskilled to get a deer the legal ways.

[OldSchoolSpringer]

Ive hunted Harrison County over 20 years but not the last three.
Basically its free for all for poachers. ODNR only even atempts to get blatent ones and cant handle the rest.
Locals run the show down there.

[traphunter]

all these poachers and people still think we dont need more game wardens!!! That makes absolutly no sence to me.

[countyroad]

During the week of gun season I saw several vehicles drive down a nearby rural gravel road very slowly. Most the vehicles that drive by are local, and I know them. During gun week I saw many new/different vehicles. I actually saw one car run off the road and go down in a ditch. I don't know how in the world they managed to drive it out. We did find a dead deer off the road with the skull plate cut off. Who knows if it was just dropped off there or if it had been killed there.
I'm not saying that all the vehicles going by were up to no good, because I will often drive around some just to drive around. I'd like to put my renzo decoy out and see how many holes develop. It'd probably end up looking like the area road signs.

[TritonBill]

I grew up in Harrison Cty and hunt there. I took a 16 year break from it all (no hunting) and just started back up last year for bow and gun seasons. Back when I was a kid at home we had all kind of hooligans in the local area around Hopedale that you couldn't trust any further than you could throw! I thought a lot of that seemed like it had been cleaned up but I guess not!! ?? We definately all need to band together to defeat morons like this and call in stuff when we see it. I've began spending a lot more time down there again now that I'm back into hunting. We run a few people off our place now and again. This year there were no problems of trespassers on our property that I'm aware of.

[MASHUNTER18]

harrison county, they are to busy patroling faith ranch roads during gun season to help anyone else out........

Iv seen blatent afternoon road hunting down there more then one year. I didnt even go this year, only had one property to hunt, stayed around home for gun season...

[coonskinner]

this is very disturbing,i'm very suspicious as it is when i see a big boy thats been kilt...:eek:

[OldSchoolSpringer]

Last I heard is they wont patrol it because Faith Ranch refuses to prosecute anybody. They are afraid ever since deer where poached and left dead in there driveway as intimidation of the locals.
One year I paid there fee, Untill i saw army of ATV's with spotlights and guns heading out to poach there alfalfa fields while I was walking to my vehicle in dark.

[coonskinner]

pretty sad that people will do this...i know it happens...i guess some will do anything to be a sucess...an to impress:mischeif:

[traphunter]

I hope I never catch anyone doing that crap. It would be ugly.

[eschatts]

Many years ago in a neighboring county a particular game warden was poaching deer at night from his vehicle. He was spotlighting the fields and killing deer. This went on for some time and finally they caught him. Needless to say, he is no longer a warden.

Ed

[OldSchoolSpringer]

Thats nothing i could tell you 10X worse things ive seen down there.

[Ross Co. Bowhunter]

My trail cam got four pictures of a truck at 1:00 am driving in a place they were not suppose to be:eek: , not to mention to get there they had to drive through a bean field:tsk: . I told the landowner about it and give him copies of them. One of the pic you could even read the plate:D . Not sure what if anything he did with them.

[TIP]

I was talking to a co-worker last nite and he told me he knew of a 15yr boy that has poached 15 antler bucks before gunseason started in Lawrence Co.
:coco: