There is a debate over at KentuckyHunting.net over whether armed trespass should be a felony in Kentucky. For the way my brothers in the Commonwealth react to poaching, I’m surprised the state kept it a hanging offense.

As it stands right now, getting caught trespassing/poaching will get you a sizeable fine. The second offense gets you a heavy fine and confiscation of everything the CO can lay his hands on (truck, rifle, atv, etc.) The third offense is all that over again with bigger fines and the chance of doing jail time. That seems like a fair penalty structure. I personally would not want to get bagged on a second offense– that sounds like a real day wreaker.

I’m with those that see this as a problem with enforcement. I don’t think any county in the Commonwealth can be effectively covered with the current complement of officers. If I could set policy, I’d leave the punishments where they are and hire more men.

I like game wardens, in fact I love game wardens. I’ve hunted with game wardens. Game wardens can come by for coffee anytime. I wish I had a whole parking lot full of them on Opening Day. I’d pay for the coffee and donuts gladly. They work better keeping out poachers pound-for-pound than rotweillers, and out-of-work in-laws. I wish I had an ugly daughter I could marry off to one.

I had my first visit by the game warden last April– just a friendly hello and a quick check of licenses and tags. That’s over twenty years of hunting in 7 states with no checks. In that same 20+ years of trying to be squeeky clean, there were times when I probably could have been nailed for a minor infraction (i.e. unsigned tag, or having a round of birdshot in my pocket by accident). All that is lost revenue. What’s more I could have been up to all sorts of things far worse that would have never been seen.

When I call the cops in my suburban home and say I’ve got a prowler walking through the yards, I usually have two squad cars respond in less than 5 minutes. One car takes my information, and the other goes and hunts down the perp. At the farm, I could have a party of five shooting it up in the far pasture, and not get response from anyone for days.

Does Moultrie have a feeder for game wardens? If so, where do I put it so that I can attract the most number of game wardens? What kind of feed do you use? How do you set the time? Dawn and Dusk?

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