Poachers boat sold

The poachers boat that was up for bids was sold by the Wisconsin DNR for $10126. Hope this makes people think about not stealing from a resource. Especially when you see your rig being sold for a greatly reduced price, and you don’t get anything from the sale. HaHA!!!

I just hope the (fill in the blank) who lost the boat did not buy it back…..

J.

Even if he bought it back he now would have 2 payments per month for the same boat.

Aren’t the offenders barred from making offers? I realize you can’t put a trace on everyone to make sure the person is in no way connected, but I thought there was something legal preventing that………….anyone?

I was told by a couple people that knew the violators that they WERE bidding on the boat. So they must be able to????

Steve Vick Everts Resort Manager

I guess I could care less if the [censored] was the one buying the boat back. He just paid a 10K fine in my mind plus whatever other penalties he incurred. I’m sure the wrathe his wife put on him was the worst. I was gonna start this in a new thread, but I’ll see what type of responses I can get here.

I agree, take the boat and any other equipment used to “steal” from the rest of us. Sell it, I don’t care. What makes me mad about the whole process…. They let these idiots back on the water. I would like to see the offenders who grossly abuse the limits/posession rules banned from holding a fishing or hunting license for 5 years. I’m not talking about the guy with the trout here. We’re talking about the SOBs that take 100+ filets over there posession limit. I also think we should have “reciprocity” among neighboring states. Don’t let the buttheads in if they have been convicted of gross abuse of limits.

What do you think?? Am I way off base?? I’d sure like to here what others think.

waterfowler,

This was discussed in depth when this story first broke last spring. You will be hard pressed to find anyone on this site who would disagree. Loss of license for a long time and agreements between the states to not issue license.

I would also add one more thing….Put the violator’s picture up on the DNR website. Just like the St. Paul police do to people who violate city prostitution laws. Embarrassment and Ridicule are great deterrents!

J.

I would agree that suspending fish and game “priveleges” would put a lot more teeth into a gross poaching violation. You can always earn more money, but unless you change your identity you will not be able to partake in any of our beloved endevours. I for one, never ever want to lose my privelages as an avid outdoors person. Just my take….any other comments?

~~~~~alkfish

I agree with you guys……….a LOT! I would love to see them embarassed and “made to suffer” – so to speak – over the loss of gaming priviledges. There’s just no acceptible excuse for gross violation offenses. Should we formulate a petition of this nature and mail it to our politicians? Maybe the only way to make the change is to “plant the seed”.

I fished an ice tournament a few years ago in forest lake. The winner of the tournament was found out to have lost his fishing license in Wisconsin.(he was a resident of that state.)He was disqualified and the first place prize went to the third place winner. ( second place winner was with the first and also disqualified.) you dont even want to associate with pepole like that! SWANY

Hello all. I must say, I’m delighted and encouraged to see that so many of you care so much for our resources. I hate to sound like a broken record, but as Smokey the Bear would say, only you can prevent poaching. The case that we made this past spring and the one just made the end of November (each involving 100’s of fish), were only possible because of sports men & women like you making “the call.” I would like to add that both of these groups have been coming to Pool #4 for over 20 years, and I suspect have been poaching in that manner for about as long. That should warm everyone up; it sure raises my temperature.

Where am I going with all this? First, I want to say “thank you!” to all those who help us fish cops. Secondly, I would like to answer some questions that were raised in these postings & put my two cents in: (1) Did the poachers buy their boat back? Yes. The law allows that. I was disapointed too, but as Waterfowler said, it’s an additional $10,000 fine. (2) Are the “idiots” going to be back out on the water? Yes. The law allows that. Now let me explain, in addition to the monetary penalties, their fishing & hunting privilages in Wisconsin were revoked for three years. The key words there are revoked in WI. A WI court can’t revoke them in MN also. Part of the Miss. River is in MN & part is in WI. They can not fish on the WI side of the River nor can they possess fish on the WI side of the river period! The only thing the law allows them to do is use boat launches on the WI side to access and travel to & from the MN side of the River. When they travel back to the WI side and take out, they have to take the most direct HWY route back to MN period! (3) Where’s the State Boundary? Below Lock #3 the State boundary comes through the middle of the roller gates, travels down to the Vermilion River and goes up the Vermilion and around Diamond Island, then comes back out at the “Wildlife League Beach,” where it then follows the middle of the main navigation channel down to Red Wing. I’m guessing most of you thought the main channel was allways the Boundary. That’s not the case. They have to stay on the MN side and that is a very limited area. We’ll be out watching like hawks this spring and throughout their whole period of revocation. If they’re fishing on the WI side, it’s a trip to jail. (4) There is no “reciprocity” for game fish violations that I know of. There should be.

Well for my two cents, I would like to have seen life time revocations on this group and others like them. However, I do agree that the Court struck a reasonable balance between loss of possessions & privileges, and monetary penilties. A $1900.00 fine, loss of all fishing poles, revocation for three years, and confiscation of a friends $12,000.00 fishing boat has got to make a differance on a person. That’s what I’m hoping anyhow. But if these types of violations continue, then so will the penalties continue to increase as well. That’s if you as sportsmen want it to increase. There was one defining fact that made a big impact on what the Court was willing to charge and what I feel the Court will do in the future. Remember all those letters I received with your opinions on what should be done to the poachers. Well the Court listens to that type of input. The good sportsmen that wrote those letters made a difference! Well, I’ve certainly rambled on enough here. If you want to make a difference, become involved in some manner: turn in poachers; write letters to your warden & courts when a poacher is caught; write your legislator asking for law changes & stay with it. That’s how most of the game laws came about. Thanks for listening, Wisconsin Conservation Warden Marty Stone.

Great Post Warden Stone. Thank you for the update.

In a way, I guess it is good the guy got his boat back. We all know exactly what that rig looks like!

Thanks again,

Jon J.

Warden Stone, doesn’t the DNR’s of the states that share bounday waters get together periodically to discuss bag and size limits that are the same for both states to make enforcement uniform and easier? I and other contributors to this board would like to see a similar arrangement worked out for game law violators. If a violator loses his hunting and fishing prevliges in one state, it should carry over to the bordering state.

Thanks for the great report. Its really nice to know that there are DNR people, such as yourself and the others that helped you in this case, that really care about the fishery AND that cares about the fisherman and their feelings and concerns about protecting our fishery. You have taken alot of your time to inform us about everything and that is much appreciated. Thanks, Bill and Nate

Leo Kam. The DNR’s do get together for that reason. There has been take about a “violator pack.” Other States have it for big game. I don’t know of one for game fish though. I know Wardens have asked for it, but it never seems to go any further than that. If you are on that board or contribute, ask for this law change. In WI it would require a vote by the legislator & signed by the governor. It’s a process that needs public support & push.

Great post Warden Stone! I would definately love to see the states work together more on a poachers pack. If a bunch of neighboring staes could ban together and revoke licenses for ALL states, it would be ground breaking work on the fishing enforcement side.

I will be calling my state elected officials here in MN and try to explain how important it is to pinch these slob sportsman and protect our valuable resources.

Keep up the excellent work warden!!!!!

~~~~alkfish

Thank you for the reply. Along with you wardens, we as fishermen and hunters need to apply pressure on our state ligislators to take these violaions seriously. Hopefully they might be able to work something out similar to traffic violatiion

convictions, whereas, neighboring states have reciprical agreements with each other to report traffic convictions of out of state drivers to the drivers home state.

Hi Warden Stone, Thank-you for taking the time to keep us informed and updated on your work in the field and in the courts. We all appreciate the long hours, and as a group of concerned sportsmen and women, we will continue to keep our eyes open and help out whenever we can. thanks again. Jack.

we are all in this together… and we all need to work together to enforce the laws and see to it that poachers like these are caught, and caught again if needed……..