Anti-Poaching Legislation Watered Down
An outcry from hunters and anglers has not prompted the Legislature to pass the anti-poaching bill they wanted.
A proposal to take away poachers’ guns, pickup trucks and other equipment died in the Senate Resources and Environment Committee last week. A substitute bill is expected to be acted on by the full Senate next week.
“There is no question in our minds that to really put teeth in this kind of bill, confiscation is needed,” said Fred Christensen, president of the Idaho Wildlife Federation.
Hunting and fishing groups united last fall in a major effort to change Idaho’s poaching laws after large-scale deer and elk poaching cases from Salmon to Owyhee County.
“They didn’t give any consideration to the confiscation (bill). They just shot it down,” said Bill Goodnight, a hunter and fisherman working on tougher poaching legislation.
But Sen. Stan Hawkins, R-Ucon, said confiscating equipment is not as simple as it seems. There are no guarantees a poacher is driving his own car or using his own gun, which means someone else could be penalized.
Hawkins also said confiscation raises the issue of equity. One poacher could lose a $35,000 vehicle while another would lose a beat-up pickup.
The substitute bill is still alive with amendments being made. It calls for increasing civil penalties in flagrant poaching cases, imposes lifetime revocation of hunting and fishing licenses and adds several kinds of fish and wildlife to the civil penalties list.
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