Here we go again, two more poachers caught and convicted, this time in New Hampshire. According to the WCAX website, last October 21-year-old Joseph Townsend and 25-year-old Richard McNeil shot and killed a moose, after killing it they later returned to process it in the field. When caught by the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game it was found that neither of the two had a hunting license, let alone a moose tag!
Moose hunting in New Hampshire is done through a lottery draw in which only 515 permits are issued each year. These two stooges pled guilty on January 21st, 2009 to several charges in which Mr. McNeil was ordered to pay a fine of $1200. Mr. Townsend wasn’t as luck as his partner, he paid fines of $180 for hunting without a license, $1200 for taking game without a license, and another $1000 to the Fish and Game Department.
If your a regular reader of this blog you know how I feel about these meaningless fines. These two should be put in jail or the fines should be a lot stiffer! $2380 for the one poacher and another $1200 for the other one is not nearly enough to deter someone else from taking one of these great animals. If only 515 permits are issued each year, it is like hitting the lottery to get one of the coveted tags. It would probably cost more for someone to book a hunt to Canada for a moose. In my eyes this is not a deterent.
