How much is to much?

[rumple]

Since the topic was brought up about idiot shed hunters that are doing damage to wintering animals and their area, how much would you be willing to "give up" in order to have the land and animals have more protection?
Would you be ok with area closures?
Late start dates for shed hunting?
A shed hunting season?
Paying a fee, license, to go out and shed hunt?
No motor vehicle access to ceratin areas?


How srong do you feel?

 

[antlerman73]

no season or fees , but the rest is just fine with me

 

[Huntemup]

As I said in another post, I already feel that we're regulated to death on OUR public lands...and I'm even against motorized vehicles off road, but I believe that's already a law that's in place in most states. However, I would like to see our government agencies (BLM, NFS, Game & Fish, etc.) actually define wildlife harassment as it fits this day and age, and bust those who truly harass wildlife. I believe the consequences need to be tough enough to actually make people stop and THINK before they act inappropriately and selfishly. Monetary fines alone don't seem to cut it with most people, so maybe some serious "unsuspended" jail time and the confiscation of personal property (in addition to a HEFTY fine) will wake some people up. Maybe.

Maybe more of us need to start carrying our camcorders & cameras with us so when we see harassment, we can provide the proof to the authorities. Then we need to somehow hold the authorities accountable for following up on valid leads that we provide (maybe harass them to death!). Self-regulation may be our best bet.

But I think we really have to be careful when requesting more regulations on our public lands...things are getting scary enough as it is!

 

[dug]

I wonder if the punishment included getting your hunting or guiding license suspended along with a fine if that would help people think twice?
I know people who will chase elk herds through trees to see if it will knock their horns off and that is just wrong.

 

[BrianID]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-07-06 AT 03:37PM (MST)[p]Good questions.

IMO shed seasons don't work. It just keeps the honest guys out of the hills. It is too hard to enforce. They have to be caught with a shed on them to be prosecuted. Shed poachers mark GPS coordinates of sheds or stash sheds. They just have to wait until after the season opens to take the sheds out of the hills. It is almost impossible to catch guys that do this.

IMO area closures and restricting motorized access are the most effective. IMO closing an area to humans is a good solution when shed hunters are causing significant harassment of animals on the winter range. Closed areas are much easier to enforce than a shed season. If there isn't enough enforcement of the closed areas then it will just be keeping the honest guys out of the hills.

I would be against a shed-hunting permit. IMO the only thing that a shed hunting permit would accomplish is creating extra revenue for the F&G, DWR or whatever it is called in your state.

 

[predator]

How about education alongwith the above? Do you think that we could get to the thinking part of the bad guys brains by teaching them just how critical Mar-April are to the survival of the animals whose sheds they seek? Perhaps put it in more simple terms that the more harassment, the less survivability, the less sheds next year?

I dunno, I guess logic escapes some folks, despite our own good intentions.

 

[Roy]

It is kind of like keeping thieves from "casing" houses and stores. You really can't do anything until the law is acutally broken - I'm sure Predator will attest to this. How many people have you ever been able to arrest on "Suspicion of Contemplating Armed Robbery"? I am sure you know they are doing it and it is a vital part of your investigation but until the law is actually broken - you can't do a whole lot. On public land the public has as much right to be there as the deer do even. There are a few idiots who push them too hard too early. I used to work for the Forest Service on a trail crew and one of our trails went through some elk calving areas and there was nothing we could do really to keep people out of there during that sensitive time other than not clean the trail until later in the year, however it was one of the few trails we could access early in the year (late spring) so we had to clean it first because we couldn't get to a lot of the other trails due to snow levels. The elk calve in this area as well because their is no snow. You can't move the elk and you can't hold back the public from public land if they are not actually breaking the law. I also agree with Pred. - we need to educate and let people make their own choices and hope they make the right one!

ROY

 

[dug]

I agree with education, hopefully people will just make the right choice.
I know one thing I do is when I am out looking and and I see some deer or elk, I just walk away. I try not to bother them and not spook them. Just walk another way, there are still going to be sheds out there to find. We see how many white ones we find every year. So I try not to spook them, just let them go and walk in a different direction.

 

[lv4huntn]

I agree with BrianID, I have posted on here about how I feel when it comes to harassing deer on the winter range. I dont like it. I am glad to see that one area where I live was completely shut down for the first time to all human activity. Of course this has just re-routed the people to the surrounding areas. I think the best thing to do (without going into to much detail) is to close areas to human activity during the winter months, plain and simple. Of course there are not enough officers to make an honest effort of enforcing this. That is why I think there should be an organization of people, volunteers, (shedhunters, hunters, conservationists, volunteers, good guys, etc...) who are willing to pick up the slack. They can recieve some sort of deputy power and actually write tickets and help enforce trespass laws. I know tons of landowners that would love to do this (voluntarily) just to keep the people at bay. There are obviously more issues surrounding this and I know you cant obviously take care of all the country out there, but it would do a big number on control.
Dan