First the Disclaimer...there will be no pics of poachers or any possible evidence. There will be no names or locations. Just a story about poachers getting nabbed red handed and going to jail. 
Tonite like every Sunday, I headed for the river to hunt. I got to my gate and noticed my lock was gone and the chain wrapped around the gate to make it look closed. Also noticed very prominent tracks heading in and not out. Tracks from a larger vehicle than the four wheeler I had driven in recently. I make a quick call to assure nobody was down there that belonged and got confirmation that there was nobody there that had permission. I opened the gate and blocked it with my truck. Then I made a couple more calls for some local help and game warden help. After hanging up with the game warden, I walked up the road a bit and saw a white truck about a mile away and headed my direction. It was inside our property. A few minutes later, they were close enough that I could see a Hispanic male in the bed of the truck with a long gun. I couldn't see the driver. About 100 yards out, they spotted me and stopped. They began to talk with each other as if deciding what to do. They were blocked in with no place to go but run. Well they chose to keep easing forward. The man with the shotgun put it down and was just kinda staring at me. I finally waved at them to come chat. They did.
When I got to the window(yes, I was armed), there was a young Caucasian kid driving. I asked what they were doing and where's my lock. The hispanic man says, "well we were just cruising around!" I said well you've chosen to cruise around in the wrong place and that they've been on camera(showed them the camera and it's temporary location) and they were busted. I then ask again where my lock is. The driver pulled it out of his pocket. It had been cut with bolt cutters. I asked them to come around to the back of my truck and they did. At this point they both start asking what's gonna happen. I say I don't know but what I do know is the family that owns this place and all the others around are sick and tired of the theft(I lost 3 cameras about two weeks ago), poaching and trespassing going on around there so it's really up to them.
Fast forward about 5 minutes and my civilian help shows up. It's our neighbors farm hand and he is one rough and rowdy fella. He starts dog cussing these guys in a way that would make a sailor take notes. It was so ugly, I walked off for a couple minutes. Turned out he was extra excited because he'd caught another group joyriding on his bosses property the day before.
About the time the dog cussing stops, two game wardens show up and take ID's. They then separate them for questioning. Turns out the kid is a minor and the Hispanic man is old enough to know better. They both admit that "cruising around" equals hog hunting. Gun, lock and bolt cutters are then seized as evidence.
Question now was what to do with them. Well it was a simple phone call to the landowner whose exact words were, "im pressing charges on their asses!" That was great to hear. Well, I guess they had to let the kid go as he was a minor. It was his(or his mamas) truck they were in. I did enjoy listening to the game wardens phone call to his mama, explaining what he had been doing Today. Hispanic gentleman was cuffed and hauled to jail after a long discussion with a third warden regarding some unknown details.
After all was done and everyone left, I got to hunt for a little over an hour and even saw pigs. Didn't get a shot off but I did see some.
The bad guys don't win every time.
Tonite like every Sunday, I headed for the river to hunt. I got to my gate and noticed my lock was gone and the chain wrapped around the gate to make it look closed. Also noticed very prominent tracks heading in and not out. Tracks from a larger vehicle than the four wheeler I had driven in recently. I make a quick call to assure nobody was down there that belonged and got confirmation that there was nobody there that had permission. I opened the gate and blocked it with my truck. Then I made a couple more calls for some local help and game warden help. After hanging up with the game warden, I walked up the road a bit and saw a white truck about a mile away and headed my direction. It was inside our property. A few minutes later, they were close enough that I could see a Hispanic male in the bed of the truck with a long gun. I couldn't see the driver. About 100 yards out, they spotted me and stopped. They began to talk with each other as if deciding what to do. They were blocked in with no place to go but run. Well they chose to keep easing forward. The man with the shotgun put it down and was just kinda staring at me. I finally waved at them to come chat. They did.
When I got to the window(yes, I was armed), there was a young Caucasian kid driving. I asked what they were doing and where's my lock. The hispanic man says, "well we were just cruising around!" I said well you've chosen to cruise around in the wrong place and that they've been on camera(showed them the camera and it's temporary location) and they were busted. I then ask again where my lock is. The driver pulled it out of his pocket. It had been cut with bolt cutters. I asked them to come around to the back of my truck and they did. At this point they both start asking what's gonna happen. I say I don't know but what I do know is the family that owns this place and all the others around are sick and tired of the theft(I lost 3 cameras about two weeks ago), poaching and trespassing going on around there so it's really up to them.
Fast forward about 5 minutes and my civilian help shows up. It's our neighbors farm hand and he is one rough and rowdy fella. He starts dog cussing these guys in a way that would make a sailor take notes. It was so ugly, I walked off for a couple minutes. Turned out he was extra excited because he'd caught another group joyriding on his bosses property the day before.
About the time the dog cussing stops, two game wardens show up and take ID's. They then separate them for questioning. Turns out the kid is a minor and the Hispanic man is old enough to know better. They both admit that "cruising around" equals hog hunting. Gun, lock and bolt cutters are then seized as evidence.
Question now was what to do with them. Well it was a simple phone call to the landowner whose exact words were, "im pressing charges on their asses!" That was great to hear. Well, I guess they had to let the kid go as he was a minor. It was his(or his mamas) truck they were in. I did enjoy listening to the game wardens phone call to his mama, explaining what he had been doing Today. Hispanic gentleman was cuffed and hauled to jail after a long discussion with a third warden regarding some unknown details.
After all was done and everyone left, I got to hunt for a little over an hour and even saw pigs. Didn't get a shot off but I did see some.
The bad guys don't win every time.
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