Poachers...

[ThorTso]

I am indeed very fortunate to be able to go on safari only 1.5 hours away from home. A very wealthy friend of mine has his own game farm and I visited him this weekend. We received word Saturday afternoon that a Kudu (large antelope) was caught in a poacher's snare.

We felt sick. We arrived and the Kudu was kicking and struggling like crazy. The wire used for the snare was very thick and strong and the pliers on my SAK just could not cut through. The poor animal died in front of us in a matter of a minute or so, as it had been struggling a few hours, and there was nothing we could do.

Well, we dragged it off to the truck and took it to a local butcher. Man is this thing heavy or what!!! Especially in 40 degrees C!!!

Anyway, my lesson was that I do not go into the African bush without my original Leatherman Supertool again. I feel that if I had had a normal large pair of pliers, then the animal could have still been alive today.

Have any of you had similar experiences?

 

[coyotlviejo]

The closest I've come to the poaching scenario is every year in deer camp during the night before opening day for archery season we usually hear gun shots. People go out and drop their animals the night before and then poke an arrow into the hole the next day. It's a lousy hunter and a poor sportsman that has to stoop to such lows. I wouldn't mind having their truck in my sights some day...

About the lack of gear when you need it, the closest I've come was when I stumbled into a marijuana garden by accident as a kid. But what I wanted was a big gun and eyes in the back of my head. It's freaky when you realize that some pot-head might be looking down his barrel at you.

 

[Ming65]

Hey coyotlviejo I had a similar experience last year. We have some places in Oz that really are the middle of freakin nowhere and I was in such a place when I cam across a very cleverly concealed garden of dope plants.

The words from the Steve Earle song sprung into my head "I learned a thing or two from Charlie don't you know, you better stay away from Copperhead Road ....."

I backed out of there very carefully.

 

[Ming65]

Back to your original topic Thorsto. That sort of cruelty saddens me.

I also agree about the Leatherman. As much as I'd like to recount story after story of how my big bush blade saved the day. My stories of that type nearly always star my original leatherman which is now 15 years old.

 

[alco141]

some guys carry a small pair of vice grip pliers with side cutters for this kind of work instead of a leatherman. makes me very sad to here about this type of thing.

alex

 

[riddlinsrt]

I have also found myself accidently in the middle of a magic garden.
In my neck of the woods boobytraps are very common security measure, so that was what made me sweat. I had my M14 Bushgun so I wasnt really worried about much else.

I have riden with a local game warden and chased a few poachers. Cant stand a damn poacher.

 

[ThorTso]

Thanks guys. I have become more tolerant about hunting when done properly and for the right reasons. It is often necessary to cull certain species as a result of over-population. Poaching on the other hand, is both cruel and it is plain theft.

I will definitely have some heavier pliers/sidecutters when going into the bush again. Poaching is a problem here as a result of poverty etc.

 

[bruce]

While motorcycling in the Idaho desert I followed a trail up a dead end wash. At the end were two buck deer, dead about two days, with their antlers removed -- nothing else was taken, not even the steak meat. Reported it to Fish and Game but never heard anything else.

I was once called as an "expert witness" where a hunter had shot a deer with a rifle and thrust an arrow in th wound. I worked at a small, family owned, meat processing plant that accepted game animals for four months of the year. The difference in a gunshot generated wound and an archery generated wound are dramatic and are easily distinguishable. The energy deposited in flesh by a bullet creats a large "shock bruise", a circular pattern of blood soaked, distended but intact tissue around the destroyed tissue in the wound. The caliber of the round, distance fired from, and location of impact all contribute to the size of the shock bruise. I've seen them as little as 5 inches in diameter to almost a foot! An arrow just doesn't make that same kind of a wound. Even if an animal runs with the arrow, with the broadhead continueing to destroy muscle tissue with each step, the wound is more localized and doesn't exhibit the shock bruise. This bruise is probably developed by the temporary, but extended cavity caused by the energy in the bullet.

So poachers beware! There is technology to help ensure you see "striped sunlight" if you shoot your "archery deer" with a gun.

Bruce

 

[Benjamin Liu]

Back when I was 10 I caught a couple of poachers in my back yard going after my ducks or geese. They saw me and ran. They cut our fense even though it wasn't hard to get over it, and were using shotguns which was pretty stupid if they expected not to be detected. Domestic ducks and geese don't really fly that well and a .22 or even an air rifle would have worked. They were successful on several occasions, though, so I guess they waited until they saw us leave or used a quieter weapon for their other hits. Now that I think of it yelling at 2 armed punks engaged in criminal activity probably wasn't the smartest move on my part.

 

[Jim Craig]

This year somebody shot nine caribou, and left them near the highway. We only can assume it was done to attract grizzlies, which seems to have worked. There have been tons of sightings since September. Jerks.
They probably wouldn't like it if somebody poached them!