LOGAN, Utah (AP) – For years, Lucy Peterson Watkins and her husband watched two bucks in North Logan from the comfort of their home.
“They grew up here and spent a lot of time on our 11 acres,” Watkins says. “They would come within 15 to 20 feet of us and just browse around.”
In September, one of those bucks, nicknamed “Narrows,” was found with an arrow wound on a North Logan porch and had to be put down. While there is no suspect in that incident, Narrows’ larger companion was also shot, and police are planning to press charges against a suspect in that case.
The incident exposed non-hunters’ raw emotions toward some hunters.
“It just really bothered people when these two bucks were slaughtered as they were almost tame,” Watkins says. “We have had a continuing problem with hunters that started stalking these two bucks a few years ago.”
Within the hunter community, there’s been a clear voice of discontent toward those who poach and hunt unethically.
Robert Schmidt, a wildlife manager and hunter education instructor, worries that unethical hunters leave a black mark on the entire hunting community.
“I’m always concerned that when people see or hear or experience something that is illegal or unethical (they will consider it) part of hunting, where I would say: That is not hunting. That is something else,” he said.
Berniece Cronquist, a local hunter, takes issue with some hunters.
“I have a real problem with the way a lot of people hunt these days,” she said. “They only care about the size of the rack, they do not have concern for any other animals in the area – or people, for that matter. I believe poachers are immature, selfish people who have not been taught the real reason for hunting and taking care of our forests and mountains, not to mention taking care of our wildlife.”
Rather than hunting for sport or trophy animals, Cronquist and her family take a very traditional approach to hunting.
“We hunt mainly for the meat,” she said. “We had six children at home and we (would hunt) to feed them good, nutritious meat. … We also enjoy the time spent out in the mountains with our family and teaching the younger ones now how to take care of nature and not ruin it.”
Whether you’re hunting for a trophy or for food, there are very clear rules. Permits, game seasons and weapon restrictions are just some of the ways hunting is regulated, and poaching penalties can range from minor infractions to felonies. Buwt why are regulations and enforcement so important?
“We all own an undivided share of the wildlife,” said Schmidt. “The state manages it in our name because we can’t all manage our 1/three-millionth share of every (animal). An animal doesn’t belong to a person until it is ‘reduced to possession.’ If a deer hunter legally goes out and shoots it and attaches their tag, because they have a license, it changes ownership from the state to themselves. When that change in possession doesn’t happen, basically it’s stealing … from all of us.”
Beyond legal and ethical issues, regulations are also in place to ensure the sustainability of wildlife populations.
Schmidt says that in an unregulated system, animals disappear, but in a regulated system the animals people hunt will be around for “our children’s children.”
“In this country we’ve learned the hard lesson of what happens when there is no control,” he says. “We’ve lost some species from this planet forever, like the passenger pigeon.
We came close to losing some other species. We came close to losing bison. We came close to losing pronghorn. We came close to losing elk.”
Schmidt says it was only once the state stepped in, with ethical hunters, that a system was set up to ensure the long-term survival of wildlife.
Dennis Austin, a hunter and retired biologist from the Division of Wildlife Resources, adds some historical context.
“When the pioneers came out here they didn’t have regulations,” he says. “And the Native Americans that lived out here, they didn’t have any regulations either.”
According to Austin, estimations of wildlife populations around 1900 were 25 elk, zero moose, and about 10,000 deer statewide. Regulations were technically in place in Utah around 1907, but “probably 1913 was when we really started management.”
“The concept of management is really important,” Austin says. “You have to have some regulations to be able to manage your populations.”
While the Division of Wildlife Resources and other enforcement agencies do their best to catch poachers through checkpoints, decoys and other methods, the biggest way poachers are caught is through concerned citizens.
“The first and biggest way that we (catch poachers) is concerned citizens,” says DWR conservation officer Chris Schulze. “We simply couldn’t do our job without the concern of citizens and sportsmen coming forward, doing the right thing and bringing things to our attention.”
What are some ways to identify a poacher? There are no clear signs, but if someone “is acting suspiciously or erratically, that could be an indication that something is going on,” Schulze says. “We always encourage people to be vigilant.”
If you believe a wildlife violation is taking place, don’t make contact with the person – “there’s too many things that could happen.” Instead, inform law enforcement right away and don’t hesitate to take snapshots and jot down license plate numbers.
The person you catch just might be Narrows’ shooter.
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