Poaching Conviction in Colorado

If you’ve ever thought about trying to pull off dual residency to get resident hunting licenses in more than one state, you’d better think twice before actually doing it. 

Recently, a Georgia man who had once resided in Colorado, was busted for buying hunting licenses and poaching game as a resident hunter but he was a resident of Georgia. This wasn’t an accident, either! To quote an article on www.rmef.com, “It became very apparent through the investigation that Crookston was aware of the laws regarding hunting, licenses and residency. He would have licenses obtained through the license draw sent to a friend’s house in Rangely, Colo. He also had a vehicle that he kept registered to a relatives address in Colorado to keep from raising suspicions from wildlife officers that may check him in the field.”

The poacher, Douglas R. Crookston, “was ordered to make a $500 donation to Colorado Operation Game Thief, pay the $41,735.50 in fines and court costs and forfeit all wildlife seized in the investigation to CPW…Crookston’s conviction makes him eligible for suspension of all hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in Colorado and the other 48 states in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact for up to five years.”

In my opinion, the fine should be way higher! This was intentional manipulation of the system and is poaching, i.e. the stealing of wildlife resources from the public. Things like this really raise my hackles!!! As if issues like point creep and poor predator management weren’t enough of a frustration to us all, cases like this pop up and give the anti-hunters even more “ammunition” to fight the true hunters.

What do you think? Was this fine stiff enough or not?

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