Program offers licenses for reporting poachers

[Ten Bears]

Program offers licenses for reporting poachers

Tuesday, October 19, 2004


By DAVE BUCHANAN

The Daily Sentinel


Psst. How’s about a hard-to-find hunting license, for free? You know, one of the really good ones, like a bighorn sheep or moose or maybe a bull elk tag for unit 10, the kind that takes a dozen years or more to draw.

You can get one of the coveted tags simply by keeping your eyes and ears open and your cell phone within reach.

It’s not really a sweepstakes, although the prizes (to dedicated sportsmen, anyway) certainly are comparable to anything Publisher’s Clearinghouse offers.

The only requirement is you have to be ready to take a stand against poaching and be willing to report the illegal killing of wildlife to the Division of Wildlife.

That’s not so hard, yet there’s still too many unreported cases of poaching occurring across the state, with some of the most egregious cases taking place along the Colorado-Utah line, in some of the most remote country this state has.

A resolution approved in July by the Colorado Wildlife Commission says that anyone providing information leading to the prosecution of a poacher can obtain, free of charge, a license for the animal that was poached.

The new program, called Turn In Poachers (TIP) is meant to supplement the existing Operation Game Thief, which offers cash rewards of up to $500 for poaching tips that can be anonymous.

It went into effect Sept. 1, in time for this year’s fall hunting seasons.

Unlike OGT, however, TIP will offer preference points or hunting licenses to persons willing to testify about the illegal killing or willful destruction of trophy animals under limited licenses, such as bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, bears, deer and elk.

Depending on the information provided, rewards offered through the program could be hunting licenses in coveted game management units.

Hunters participate by calling 1-877-COLOOGT (265-6648), your local DOW officer or the county sheriff.

“It’s an important way to provide an alternative to a cash incentive for turning in serious violations of the law related to the taking of wildlife,” said Eric Harper, assistant chief of law enforcement for the DOW. “This isn’t going to be for somebody who has an illegal firearm in their vehicle. It only applies if there’s an animal either illegally taken or possessed, or for willful destruction.”

Colorado’s TIP is modeled after a similar and very successful program in Utah. But it’s more than simply the cases made; it’s the cases that likely never happened that catches the attention of Colorado wildlife authorities.

“Utah made four or five cases it otherwise wouldn’t have been able to prosecute, but mostly it’s a deterrent,” said Eric Harper, deputy chief of law enforcement for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “It’s rare that one or two individuals actually involved are the only ones who know.”

That’s the thing about poaching and the people who do it — they just can’t keep their mouths shut long enough to get away with it. Maybe it’s ego, maybe it’s a sense of getting revenge.

Now, with TIP dangling a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the next time someone sees a trophy rack unexpectedly appear, there’s going to be some interesting phone calls.

“I think the TIP program will allow our wildlife officers to make more cases and serve as a deterrent for the small percentage of hunters who do violate game laws,” said Wildlife Commissioner Brad Phelps of Gunnison, a strong supporter of the program. “When the unethical few who poach are in the field or when they arrive home, other hunters, neighbors and acquaintances will be more likely to call the DOW because of this program.”

Harper said TIP was conceived by a group of Western Slope sportsmen who saw how well the Utah program was working and asked the DOW to start a similar program in Colorado.

To actually get a TIP license, you must be willing to testify in a case that’s being prosecuted.

The case doesn’t need to result in conviction. The TIP license must be used in the season immediately after the resolution of the case and in the same game management unit in which the violation occurred, if possible.

Of course, you don’t have to take the license or the reward. In 2003, Operation Game Thief received 550 phone tips, of which 299 reports were written up, leading to more than $52,000 in fines.

The DOW reported that of the hundreds of people who called in with poaching tips, only a dozen accepted cash rewards.

The rest went home just as happy knowing that the world was a better place, thanks to a simple phone call.

I'd be tempted to hunt even more remote places for licenses like that.

 

[cjcj]

This sounds like a good way to help with the problem....They could expand this type of program into other area`s of law enforcement.

 

[Elkhunter]

I think it is a great program and will hopefully help with the poaching. I also think that if any hunter out there cherishes what they have with hunting opportunities and wildlife, they should be calling if they know of a poaching incident anyway, regardless if there is a reward of any sort or not. In Wyoming there is a reward system, and Wyoming is the only place I hunt, I would call regardless of the reward. Whether or not I would accept the reward would depend solely on my finaces at the time. This past hunting season, I was huring financialy and would have taken it, but that would not be the reason for reporting someone. I would be making the phone call or report because it is the right thing to do.

 

[ELKCHSR]

That is a great program, I think they need it up here, I would even go a step farther then the cell phone, I have a decent digital camera and GPS and know how to use them. For a hunt like that, they wouldn't have a chance.