A North Carolina man convicted in Kentucky for poaching a 14 pt.buck has lost his world wide right to hunt as part of his sentencing.

Rodney L. Poteat has agreed to pay more than $5,300 in restitution and fees and has been subjected to a two-year worldwide hunting ban after pleading guilty to federal charges of illegally killing and transporting wildlife from Kentucky.
Poteat, 44, currently lives in Salisbury, N.C. U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebell sentenced him earlier this month in Bowling Green federal court after Poteat admitted hunting in Kentucky since 1999 without purchasing the required licenses. Goebell issued the hunting ban as a condition of unsupervised probation.
According to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Poteat transported a 14-point whitetail deer from Hart County to North Carolina on Nov. 27, 2010. He failed to purchase a Kentucky nonresident hunting license and deer permit and also to report the kill and file a report with the department before transporting the deer out of state.

Poachers especially those who kill a “trophy animal” are pretty much low life’s in my view and I’m glad this guy was caught. How he was caught is pretty cool in that other hunters had the buck Poteat claimed he killed in North Carolina on trail camera’s in Kentucky. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife armed with the photos had the info to press Poteat.

Kentucky enforcement officials grew suspicious when hunters from the Hart County area said Poteat claimed that one of his mounted deer was killed in North Carolina. Trail camera photos taken in Hart County showed a live deer with a distinctive antler configuration identical to that of Poteat’s mount.
When confronted with the photos, Poteat admitted his violations and surrendered four deer mounts, two turkey mounts and a bobcat mount. He also pleaded guilty to knowingly transporting a bobcat from Kentucky without purchasing the required license and failure to report the taking of a bobcat.

Courier Journal

While the headline of the World Wide Hunting ban hit many news wires last week the fact that hunters busted this case with trail cameras was not as widely reported. Hunters in general hate poachers and many of us will in a heartbeat will assist law enforcement to bust those who cheat. So anyone thinking about killing a trophy buck illegal you better hope know one has that buck on a game camera anywhere or you may be busted too.

Hawks are protected

For many of us turkey season is just about here and then for others turkey season never ends.

From the time an egg is laid, there is a predator looking for a ready-made omelet. Snakes of all descriptions, skunks, crows, ravens, opossums, raccoons, rodents, dogs and coyotes, to name a few, are on the lookout for a nest and an easy lunch. About half of the turkey nests make it to hatching.

Life is no easier for a turkey poult either. The above listed predators, along with hawks, owls, foxes, and other large predators like cougars and eagles in some parts of the country, will grab a young unsuspecting poult. The point to remember is that all of these predators will take turkey eggs, poults or, under the right circumstances, adults; but most of their diet consists of small birds, rodents and rabbits.

NWTF

To improve your turkey hunting control the predators that compete with you.

Snakes will eat eggs in the nest

Not uncommen for turkey hunters to get the surprise of their life when they call in a bobcat instead of that gobbler

The coyote might not ever get the road runner but they get their fair share of turkey dinners

Box Blind at edge of Cotton Field overlooking a food plot of turnips

The story of this deer season for me and a lot of other hunters in North Carolina has been the story of very wet conditions. Rain and more rain has fallen over the past few months creating wet conditions and causing problems with access to some hunting areas.

That was certainly an issue when I accepted an invite to hunt in Halifax County this past weekend. Rod has been trying to get me to hunt with him for the past few years but our schedules just did not match up until this past week. When I arrived in hunt camp on Wednesday the conversation was the high water in many parts of the land putting stands and access to stands under water making determining deer travel a bit challenging.

I did break out my “Radar” Hat to wear on Friday when the morning temps were in the mid twenties with a pretty good breeze.

Rain off and on as well as wind and temperatures below freezing overnight and only getting to the low 40’s during the day made it a cold raw hunt. I wish the precipitation was snow but that was not the case so rain was what we saw. I absolutely love hunting in cold weather and miss my old New England deer seasons.

I hunted a variety of box stands across the property and while I saw some deer most were way off or around for such a short time I could not clearly identify whether it was a doe or a button buck. Most of the farmland I saw was planted in cotton this year but there were a number of food plots throughout the property. Between the stands and the food plots it was obvious the club members work hard to manage the property and the deer herd.

Rod with a bobcat he took

I had never hunted in Halifax County before but judging by the photos, stories, and racks on the wall I say they got some great deer up there. Hopefully I’ll get another opportunity to hunt up there maybe when the water is not so high and messing up the travel routes. I got to believe our drought is over after this wet fall and I’m hopeful that if this wet pattern continues that we see some of the white stuff falls this winter.

Wisconsin hunter Dave Arendt has killed one huge bobcat that has surpassed the state record and may be the largest bobcat ever taken.

“I had been chasing a big one up in Marinette County that was the biggest paw print I had ever seen,” Arendt said. “This was just a chance occurrence.”

The cat’s track was already 18 hours old when Arendt, on a hunt organized by Andy Dryja, found it. It measured 3 1/2 inches and the stride was huge, Arendt said, comparable to a small cougar.

The bobcat led the hunters on a lengthy chase, complicated by crossing trails with other cats and a coyote. Eventually, the group came close enough to their quarry to release the trailing hounds.

The animal was treed and dispatched shortly thereafter.

A male, the 52-pound bobcat eclipsed the Wisconsin verified record of a 48.84 pound cat killed in Marinette County in 1984.

In comparison, the largest verified cat taken in Minnesota weighed 38.72 pounds.

“One over 40 pounds is the rare thing,” Arendt said. “Bobcat hunters are always looking for those.”

To date, no record of a verified cat that is larger has been found across North America, meaning that the bobcat might find immortality in the record books.

Arendt said the cat has already been placed on the Wisconsin record list, but it will take more studies before it is certified as a national record animal.

Antigo Daily Journal

That is one huge cat. I’d hate to have one that size come in on me when I’m trying to call turkeys.