that is truly an absolute shame to lose some true beasts like those

it would be great if the so called hunters were apprehended

sad truth is that they likely will not and if they are - we may discover that the punishment was not severe enough

thanks for the photos, the updates and the sad news....

After watching the most recent episode of "Wild Justice" last night, I have a lot of confidence in the chances of these guys being caught.  The way the Fish and Game officers teamed with the other local law enforcement agencies to combine information, and ultimately find "their" guy, was truly impressive!  The two arrests that they made on poachers were pretty sad.  I can't believe the nerve of the first guy!  He actually thought that the agents should have given him a warning for poaching two pregnant does (one of them was pregnant with twin does and the other had a buck fetus).

I can only hope that someone saw something suspicious and there are enough leads to eventually apprehend these dirt bags!

If these people spend have as much time trying to do things the right way as they do trying to be sneaky and illegal, the state game commissions would be able to focus money and efforts in a more positive direction.

 Thanks for sharing!

Truly a shame. an animal like that could have been the story of a lifetime for someone. Kid on a first hunt with his dad or Grandpa. I hate to hear about these stories and the sad thing is these people just wasted a great animal and will go unpunished. If they do catch them hopefully you'll hear about it and be able to share the news.

Yeah, it's creating quite the buzz in my neck of the woods.  The sad thing is that just a couple miles from where these bucks were taken are some large tracks of public land available to hunt.  Portage does have a large amount of woods and AG land within the city limits and it is common to see deer with big racks roaming around.  However, I haven't heard of the poaching problem inside city limits like I have this year.  My dad was a police officer for 30 years in Portage and he used to always tell me about the monster bucks he would see when working midnights.  

It would be nice of the city would offer some sort of lottery hunt, perhaps archery only, inside city limits to help control the deer population.  They could charge a substantial fee for these special permits and give some lucky hunters the chance for some magnificent harvests.  Not to mention, lowering the amount of car/deer accidents that occur every year.  Perhaps, it would curb behavior like this if a legal opportunity were out there.  

Wow, that is truly a shame!  Those are a couple of monster bucks!!!!

I haven't killed a deer in 8 years, and eveyone knows I'd like to, but to stoop to this low??? Ugh......

Yes, truly a shame what those people did. I know here in Ohio you are fined by the size fo the buck according to the Boone&Crockett scale. There have been a few monsters poached here over the last couple of years and besides the usual losing hunting rights, having your firearms and hunting accessories confiscated, and possibly jail time. They have instituted a sliding scale fo what the fines will be. There have been a few 200 inchers poached and I know the fines were upwards of $15,000. Ohio just put this law into effect a couple of years ago. Does any other state do this?

As a hunter, it's disappointing to hear about these cases. It's a testament that the punishment isn't enough to deter these criminals. I know NC laws don't deter poachers.
From talking to a warden, I found out most poachers pay a very minimal fine. In some instances, the vehicle and weapon used are confiscated but he said, in all the cases in which he was involved, not once was a vehicle retained after trail to be sold at auction. Before 9-11-01, all the firearms were sold at auction, but since then, theyhave been melting them down.
So there really isn't a deterant to make them stop because I would think a poacher wouldn't use an expensive gun and scope to break the law. Iwould imagine them buying a used gun from the pawn shop or an individual who needed money, most likely the latter.
Our state has two avenues in place to thin the urban deer population.
The first is urban deer archery program. Cities, which have an over-population of deer, sign up to allow bowhunters to hunt within city limits. Then, any landowers within city limits are allowed to have bowhunters on their property. I don't know if it hasbeen a big success or not. I haven't heard much either way.
The other solution they have instituted is letting police officers hunt with shotguns. One town I know of is letting 3 officers hunt on their days off. They only hunt in the am and only 3 days a week, Mon-Wed and Fri. No hunting is allowed after lunch so there isn't a possibility of children playing while the officers are hunting.
I'll gave to see how it works out.