On Tuesday last week, a poacher was dropped off about 4.30pm. His drop-off vehicle was seen.
That evening he shot three of these four stags, took two heads, and wasted the venison.
The Deer Season opens this Saturday … so he cheated the regular deer stalkers.
This individual is well-known to the authorities, for he has been doing this for years.
Three of the stags were shot Tuesday evening (17/2) and discovered Thursday (19/2).
One was shot a few days later and discovered Monday (23/2). All were shot in fields adjacent to a public road, The first 3 were shot by trespassing. The Monday stag was probably shot from the roadside, all stags were found 30-600m off the road.
His motivation was to steal the antlers, some antlers can be valuable … worth up to $600. The motivation is pure greed (a large set of antlers), and results in a great waste (the venison is left to rot)
The thought of trespassers roaming the back roads armed with large calibre high-powered weapons, then jumping the fence and prowling in the dark on private property is disturbing to say the least, if not very dangerous.
The antlers were left on one animal because on closer examination they were deemed to be ugly.
What is so tiresome is the seeming impunity with which these miscreants operate.
The solution might be harsher penalties for starters (no cost to taxpayer), more cooperation between DPIPWE and Police, and more enforcement (expensive).
Tuesday morning at first light (before dawn) I discovered another known poacher lurking on the road.
Thus the Stags are under attack from dusk till dawn. I believe poachers have also recently been active in the Cressy and Highland areas,
• Ian Rist, in Comments: … One terrible experience I had was with Ian Dickinson at ‘Elverton’ at Blessington (my neighbour). We caught some poachers that had shot does and spikies and had left dead and dying deer writhing around in the paddock. We rang the Police but by the time the Police got there the crims had gone … after threatening us with firearms and man-handling and assaulting us. The Police did catch them and charged them. We were to go to court but the criminal that shoved the rifle in my face blew his brains out in a ‘phone box in Invermay some weeks later, spaced out of his mind on drugs.
