Poaching
Archived Posts from this Category
Archived Posts from this Category
This article was in the ToledoBlade on Dec 8, 2006. This guy even had a 9 year old youth with him when he shot the deer. This is just the kind of negative thing that paints all hunter’s in a bad light. As you read the article note that he is a repeat offender and the authorities know him well. I think the punishment for a repeat offender should be much stiffer; as the negative impact this one guy had on our sport can not be regained with the punishment he received. He single handily had an emotional impact on a young hunter, killed a true trophy whitetail buck that some honest hunter deserved to harvest and hunting got a black eye with some guy shooting a deer illegally while trespassing on private property.
Deer poacher who bagged record-size buck gets 90 days, plus fine
By STEVE POLLICK
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Steve Niese, 24, of Leipsic, has been convicted of three charges related to poaching a record-size buck in Hancock County during the statewide youth gun deer-hunting season, which was conducted before the state’s gun deer season, which ended Sunday.
Mr. Niese was charged with shooting a deer with a rifle - not a legal deer-hunting weapon in Ohio - plus shooting a deer with a gun during a closed season and of hunting without permission on private land. He was sentenced in Findlay Municipal Court to 90 days in jail with 60 days suspended and fined $550. His hunting privileges were suspended for three years. He was also ordered to forfeit a .30/06 rifle and the deer.
Kirk Kiefer, state wildlife officer in Hancock County, said the charge of shooting a deer with a rifle was a repeat offense.
“I gave him his eighth, ninth, and 10th tickets,” Mr. Kiefer said. He has been cited seven times previously for wildlife violations.
The wildlife officer said the case evolved from a tip from the Putnam County sheriff’s office, and that Mr. Niese, who apparently had a 9-year-old with him, saw the buck, and returned to his truck for a rifle to shoot it for himself.
The deer, Mr. Kiefer said, has a potential record-book score, initially measuring 173 inches total, green, or undried. Antler size shrinks somewhat after drying and final scoring is not done until then.
“Maybe the guy thought it was a good time to poach a deer because Ohio State and Michigan were playing,” Mr. Kiefer said. “Unfortunately I’m from Indiana and could care less.”