|
|
Gone But Not Forgotten
By Mark Melotik
The allure of giant antlers can make people do crazy things — and I’m not just talking about getting up at 3:30 a.m. and treading out into the cold to sit for hours on end.
While the vast majority of deer hunters are law-abiding sportsmen who care about the animals and their habitat, there are a few who fall victim to temptation and break the rules. There are also those who simply make mistakes, like unknowingly crossing a property boundary in the timber.
If it sounds like I’m making excuses, I’m not. Every buck taken illegally is a lost opportunity for everyone else who plays by the rules. But it does happen, and sometimes the deer are extra special.
If you’re wondering how Buckmasters Trophy Records handles the cases of poached bucks, you’re not alone. We were just asking ourselves that same question. We’ve had an informal policy of removing illegally taken bucks from the book, but that means some special deer have been deleted and forgotten. We wanted to do better.
So, going forward, illegally taken bucks will remain in the BTR record book, but the hunter’s name will be removed, and the owner of the rack will be changed to the wildlife agency of the appropriate state.
There’s a real giant on its way to the courts as we speak. We hope we don’t have to make this deer the first official example of the new policy, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it. Whether the hunter is found innocent or guilty, rest assured the buck will remain in the book.