Poached Buck

[mabr]

Musky Buck, Page 66 #2 in regs,

LOL also if you rode in my boat you wouldnt need to be worried about the CO checking us!!!!

[Musky Buck]

Just the same I'd take you anytime muskie or walleye fishing. Co checking you ? You got that 300 merc or something lol, my 60 4 stroke merc wouldn't outrun much on my 1660 classic tiller. lol. I'm glad they changed that tagging law, it's tough enough at times on dry soil, I liked the old school early 80's metal tag that locked when closed. I guess I'm either lucky to have belt whipping grandpa's or others are less fortunate to not have had to toe the line the way I had to, when you start out deer hunting at age 13 like it used to be A. You can't drive where you need to go and the B. is you rely on adults to help you out so I had zero choice but to follow their lead. Now 25 years later, I'm glad I did because I can look at the antlers on my wall and know they were lawfully taken, I have a brutal conscience that beats me up and down, grandpa helped beat some of it into me lol and I love them both for the lessons I learned or they learned me. lol

[Chef]

I wonder if our alleged Poacher has been on here reading these comments.

I wonder what's going through his mind...

[LightningBG]

Lets look on the bright side...

For all we know, this deer could have ran out in the road the very next night. Some 16 yr old girls driving her Miata blasts the deer. Car explodes into a million pieces. Girl doesn't make it.

Maybe, just maybe, God willed him to take this deer and save that girls life. Sacrificing his reputation for her life. Maybe.

[BobT]

Musky Buck, Page 66 #2 in regs,

LOL also if you rode in my boat you wouldnt need to be worried about the CO checking us!!!!

I don't worry about the CO checking me anyway or anytime. I've been checked by Jeff around here so many times that we are on a first-name basis. I was checked twice on the same day by two different COs while ice fishing. I bought my shelter license that day since it was the first time out that winter. It also happened to be the last Saturday of the walleye season. That following spring Jeff swung by my boat on three consecutive outings on Osakis. What are the odds? Last winter he stopped by and visited with me on a little lake about 2 miles from my home called Guerney Lake. I was surprised he even bothered with that little wide spot in the Sauk River. I was checked by two COs once while goose hunting. I don't dare do anything wrong and neither does anyone that is with me.

[jkcmj]

For awhile I was pretty disgusted with this post, but have found it very interesting. I can tell you that part of what is good about this country is the ability to debate, and look at all sides of an equation before anything is settled. Sometimes you won't change someones mind on a issue, but plant a seed so they think before doing it again. Eventually people will come around on most game laws if they see the value for the animal population and for the hunting community at large.

I hope that our friend in Cannon Falls does see and take time to read this post, it may do him some good.

Now if they start down the sterilization road in this state, I may have to put on my robin hood costume

[mabr]

Bob, I should have clarified what I meant when I said to Musky Buck, he wouldnt have to worry about a CO checking us.( If only I could express what I mean in writting id stay out of alot of trouble) It wasnt that I would be faster or they dont check me. I meant that there wouldnt be any concern of finding anything illegal in my boat, freezer, truck or home.

I was checked twice on the water this past summer, once last deer season and I have to say Our CO's are the best Ive ever run across anywhere in the country and Ive been checked by alot of them in my travels. Great group of guys and gals if anyone ever asks me.

[BobT]

Quote:

If only I could express what I mean in writing I'd stay out of a lot of trouble

I understand completely!

[delcecchi]

In Minnesota back in the 60's there wasn't any of this buck tag doe tag nonsense. DNR said it doesn't matter.

Then the DNR changed their mind. Suddenly shooting a doe was verboten. Now there are some places and people who think shooting the wrong kind of buck is bad and you should shoot does instead.

And you are reefing on the uncles who kept a doe instead of either wasting it or turning the kid in? What year was this?

Please.

[broken_line]

you can look the sunrise or the sunset on this story.. im agreeing with LightningBG, it still doesnt make it right on the guys part..

but it could have happened.

[Musky Buck]

I know what you meant mabr, some can't see the forest only trees and some see the trees and never the forest. I knew you meant you follow what rules there are for a given season of fishing and hunting. After reading cuffs and collars, I wish the CO's didn't have to police so called adults so much. It blows me away that someone can hold there head up high when they had to cheat to get a desired result generally selfishness is 1 of the top reasons. 3 Examples. Wheel of fortune, are the 2 losers genuinely happy for the winner? Casino's, are you genuinely happy when someone next to you gets a jackpot? Mature buck, are you genuinely happy for them or do you wish it were you holding those antlers ? The poacher from this thread seems to have a me, me, me and we'll never know how many deer or other species including fish that he wiped out. Going to be tough for those locals to muzzleload when the deer they've been dreaming about is belly up already. Just the hope that buck is maybe around I bet made those locals jump outta bed when the alarm clock sounded off. I bet they wake up a bit slower now.

[candiru]

Was this deer taken with a gun? Hardly a "gray" area. From the Star Trib:

If the world-record eight-point buck was not taken with a bow in Goodhue County, as first reported, more charges could be filed.

Department of Natural Resources enforcement officials now believe that the world-record eight-point buck poached this fall in Goodhue County was killed with a firearm, not a bow, according to sources familiar with the agency's investigation.

Testing of the animal's hide points to a firearm killing, said one source close to the investigation.

Enforcement officials also are weighing whether the big buck was killed near the town of White Rock in Goodhue County, as earlier believed, or instead might have been poached with a rifle or shotgun, perhaps from a rural Goodhue County road, the source said.

The firearms season wasn't open when the animal was killed.

The DNR said last week that Troy Alan Reinke, 32, of Cannon Falls said he killed the buck with his bow on Halloween evening. Reinke told the DNR that earlier this fall he also had killed a smaller buck and a doe with his bow, officials said, failing to tag either.

Reinke could legally kill only one deer with his bow, and his failure to tag the first two rendered the trophy buck poached. The DNR said it confiscated meat from the three deer from Reinke's home and also took the big buck's antlers.

The DNR wouldn't confirm whether its investigators have found gunpowder or similar residue on the buck's cape. Assistant Goodhue County attorney Dave Grove said Wednesday that he has spoken to the DNR about its investigation, but that conservation officers haven't given him test results confirming a firearm poaching of the deer.

If he receives such results, Grove said, "I would have to review [the information] to see if the charges would have to be amended."

The antlers of the big buck are believed to be the highest-scoring eight-point whitetail rack ever taken anywhere by a bow hunter -- or would have been, had the animal been killed legally.

Reinke has been charged with 13 misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors and faces fines of $2,000 or much more, as well as jail time, if convicted. He could also lose his hunting privileges.

According to a complaint filed in Goodhue County, Reinke told DNR conservation officers Tyler Quandt and Kevin Prodzinski that he killed the buck just before dark on Halloween evening, and that his cousin Matt Pientenka and Pientenka's girlfriend helped get the big deer to Reinke's house.

Reinke told the officers that he butchers his own deer and that he took the massive buck -- which reportedly field-dressed at almost 270 pounds -- to a local taxidermist the next day, intending to have the head and antlers mounted.

The taxidermist "caped" the deer in preparation for mounting and the animal's hide was stored in the taxidermist's freezer. It's that hide that investigators have studied to determine whether the animal might have been killed by a firearm.

Court records show Reinke has been convicted of illegal alcohol consumption, gas theft, marijuana possession, traffic offenses, fighting and domestic assault. The DNR also previously cited him for fishing with an extra line and, separately, issued him a written warning for not carrying a fishing license.

A person who answered the phone at Reinke's home Wednesday said he was unavailable. His first court appearance will be in December

[Musky Buck]

Boy, you never know who is hunting right next to ya, what kind of loose cannon might be toating a 30-06. Be safe everyone if you have to approach or encounter someone in our woods and fields.

[certified jumbo]

wow!!!!!

this whole deal is really unfortunate. there are no winners in this one.

the other bad thing is, this activity is happening all over the place.

i agree with you musky buck, just be careful out thier and follow the laws whether you agree with them or don't.

cj

[Musky Buck]

It's also too bad that law breakers get more attention than law abidder's, don't give a black eye to all of us because there are far more good guys than bad, the information age is here, been here and will continue.

[CANOPY SAM]

mabr:

I liked your original post. I believe the quote is actually, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." And hearing this all of the pharisees and sadducees walked away. These folks obviously got the point.

The reason this story raises such intense emotion is the fact that a potential world record animal was taken illegally. But I hear your point loud and clear, and I think everyone on board here should understand.

According to the scripture, in God's eyes all sins are equal. So just getting a little tingly down below while watching a Victoria's Secret commercial on TV is just as sinful as murdering your neighbor in cold blood - at least in God's eyes.

Taking a few walleyes in the morning, eating them for lunch, then going back out and catching, and keeping your full daily limit is actually poaching. Some might call it "soft poaching", but it is still poaching none-the-less.

In practical terms, this animal was only a deer. We have millions of them in our state. But this animal was beyond exceptional. A true diamond in the rough. An eight-point buck that perhaps may never be rivaled again. Or is it?

Does this justify setting a new precedent for this case? I can't answer that. But it all depends on how much we value a particular resource. Obviously, if someone offered $250K for this buck, as was stated earlier, our society, or at least part of our society, has raised the intrinsic value of big antlers to an awfully lofty perch.

How do we defend this resource when there is so much importance, so much monetary value placed on such a rare prize? I don't think it can be defended. At least not with the enforcement resources we currently have.

The reference to Cuffs and Collars above is extremely pertinent. I marvel at how often people break the law over such trivial rewards. How people justify "bending" the rules to get just a little bit more. And this publication only illuminates the few out there that get caught.

I confess that I've both knowingly, and unknowingly broken the law in my lifetime. I admit that I've made bad judgement calls, and poor decisions. I have sinned, and will no doubt sin again. But I also believe whole-heartedly in many of the perspectives posted in this thread about justice, and fair trial. And I'd like to add - forgiveness.

It wasn't so terribly long ago that cattle rustlers were hanged for their offense. Is a really big set of antlers worth any more than a prize steer or two? In my humble opinion, No. But I believe we've risen above the day of hanging people for such trivial crimes.

I know it sucks that none of us were priviledged enough to bag this deer, but that dissappointing fact doesn't allow us the right to publicly rip this guy apart.

MuskyBuck was raised in a manner that has been all but forgotten by modern society. That, I believe, is the real tragedy in all of this. The moral and ethical center of our culture has erroded to the point where we will likely never see it recover. Where cheating, dishonesty, and disloyalty is so meshed with our everyday lives that young people can rarely see the difference between right and wrong anymore, nor do they care.

I like the post earlier about ramping up enforcement for season opening dates - fishing, hunting, whatever. Our federal and state officials cannot possibly oversee such a vast geographic area, and it's extremely unlikely that they will earmark additional funds in the future to do so.

Perhaps we should develop, right now, a task force of volunteers, a neighborhood watch so-to-speak. Who would be on-board with volunteering time to help protect our natural resources? How many others could you recruit to do the same? Would placing 100, 200, or a 1000 more public citizens in the field to "police" our activities help to curb this type of behavior?

I also firmly believe that greatly increasing fines and penalties for game infractions would go a long way toward reducing the rate of game and fish crimes. Why not make paying for the crime so expensive that one would never even consider doing it in the first place?

[mabr]

Thanks Canopy Sam, Musky Buck, Trigger and all the others that understood the point i was trying to make.

All we can do as outdoorsman is try and share our experiences with others and hope that it sinks in.

This guy deserves "everything" he gets for taking this great deer. Hopefully those who follow the story will learn from it.

Guys and Gals there is a wealth of information on here, listen to it. Read your regulation book, follow that gut feeling you have when you know its not right. If you dont, well your the one who has to live with it. And believe me there will come a time when you will look back and think "MAN I WISH I HADNT DONE THAT". Because you know how you got it and believe me you will NEVER forget "HOW" that so called trophy was taken.

[FISHINGURU]

By DENNIS ANDERSON, Star Tribune

The suspect in the Goodhue County poaching of a world-record eight-point whitetail buck now says he found the deer dead and did not kill it with a bow, as he initially told Department of Natural Resources conservation officers.

Troy Alan Reinke, 32, of Cannon Falls, was re-interviewed by the DNR after studies of the giant deer's hide determined that the animal had been killed by a firearm, said conservation officer Tyler Quant, of Red Wing.

During the second interview, Reinke said he found the deer dead, killed by someone else. At first, he said he killed the deer with his bow while hunting on Halloween.

After making that statement, Reinke was charged with 13 misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors for poaching that buck, as well as two other deer, a doe and a smaller buck.

He was licensed to kill only one deer. Failing to tag either of the smaller animals rendered all three illegally taken, according to a complaint filed in Goodhue County.

DNR officials said they don't think the animal was killed where Reinke claimed it was. Officers have interviewed a cousin of Reinke's and the cousin's girlfriend, who say they helped lift the deer into Reinke's pickup. That location is near where a landowner reported hearing a shot and seeing a vehicle drive away, according to a source familiar with the investigation. The pair told DNR officers they weren't with Reinke when the deer was killed, but they responded to his request for help.

When the cousin and girlfriend arrived, the animal appeared to them to be legally tagged, according to the DNR, and they told officers they believed Reinke had killed it with a bow.

No charges are expected against the two, Quant said.

The Goodhue County attorney's office is considering whether to amend the 13 charges against Reinke to include two additional gross misdemeanors, based on his second statement to conservation officers.

[FISHINGURU]

The firearms season was closed in October, and the new charges would stem from possessing a deer during a closed season.

Without a bullet or slug and a firearm to match one or the other to, it might be difficult to prove Reinke killed the buck, according to the DNR.

The case has sparked outrage in part because the deer, if legally taken, might have been the highest-scoring eight-point whitetail ever registered by Pope and Young or Boone and Crockett, which chronicle trophy big-game animals.

Reinke is due in court Dec. 10. If convicted, he could be assessed $2,000 in restitution and fines totaling in the thousands, as well as possible jail time.

Reinke has earlier convictions for gas theft, marijuana possession and fighting. He is currently on probation for domestic assault and could face probation violations if convicted of new charges.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the DNR TIP (turn in poachers) hot line at 1-800-652-9093.

[B@ssDoctor]

Well, he should be safe now!! From Kare 11

RED WING, Minn. -- A man suspected of poaching a record eight-point whitetail buck in Goodhue County is changing the story he told to Department of Natural Resource investigators.

Troy Alan Reinke initially told the DNR he killed the deer with a bow and arrow while hunting on Halloween.

The DNR went back to Reinke after finding fragments in the animal's hide, which confirmed the buck had been killed by a firearm. The Star Tribune now reports that the 32-year-old Cannon Falls man says he found the deer after someone else killed it.

Reinke is charged with 13 misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors for poaching the buck, as well as two other deer. Reinke could legally kill only one deer during the season.

Goodhue County prosecutors have charged Reinke with 13 counts of illegally killing all three deer. They will review the additional information and decide whether to file additional charges.

[Musky Buck]

He just magically found it, think a poacher would not try to recover that animal at 3:00 AM likely knowing it was a trophy animal ? My guess, he dusted it with a rifle, left it lay, went home, got rid of all poaching equipment, kept his camo on, got a smaller flashlight checked the area over for trouble, found it, gutted it, tagged it like he bow shot it, got friends to help drag it trying to convince the friends he really did bow shoot it for his ego. Or, the friends knew all along and lied so they weren't viewed as accomplices. But, that could be totally wrong.

[Musky Buck]

My view wouldn't change whether it was a trophy buck or a yearling. It is wrong to abuse your hunting and fishing laws in any knowing way whether you like them or not. Is it you get a thrill from getting away with something or by doing it by the book that we should all be playing on. If it's option A I'm sorry to tell ya you got a little something wrong with ya and it's a body blow to all the great people that lawfully hunt in MN.

[gardn184]

Agreed musky buck, it doesn't matter if its a yearling or a monster, by killing the yearling you could be preventing a monster 4 or 5 years down the road, its a slap in the face to everyone who legally hunts and respects the animals they pursue.

[Still_Huntin]

He just magically found it, think a poacher would not try to recover that animal at 3:00 AM likely knowing it was a trophy animal ? My guess, he dusted it with a rifle, left it lay, went home, got rid of all poaching equipment, kept his camo on, got a smaller flashlight checked the area over for trouble, found it, gutted it, tagged it like he bow shot it, got friends to help drag it trying to convince the friends he really did bow shoot it for his ego. Or, the friends knew all along and lied so they weren't viewed as accomplices. But, that could be totally wrong.

Close, the only thing is he doesn't have any friends, none of his old friends talk to him because he's a pathalogical liar!

He had his cousin and his cousins girlfriend help him load it into the truck in an area he doesn't even hunt, there is no way he just stumbled across this deer at midnight get real.

I think it went like this, he either seen the deer on his way home because he drives right past where the big buck was shot on his way home, seen the big buck and went the 3 miles to his house to get his or his dads rifle, or he already had a spotlight and rifle and was roadhunting. He probably shot the deer and grabbed the shell casing and threw it in the ditch a little bit up the road or in the garbage. Waited awhile and went back around midnight after he scoped the area out, found the buck, jammed an arrow through it a few times, tagged it, and called his cousin for help.

[Musky Buck]

Right on gardn. While the average Minnesotan sleeps the thief is using the cover of darkness to get away with whatever he left his or her house to do. Then you have the daylight violators. I forgot to add earlier it could be a monetary thing of course as well. I do know how the hunter's in the area feel. We were closely watching an 8 x 8 in 1986. I have seen only 2 Boone and Crockett bucks in my life that I actually had a chance to pursue. First one was a mess of a non-typical that a member in our group missed him never to be seen again in 1988. That 16 pointer was likely poached as we found a huge buck with the rack cut out, can't prove it was the 16, but he was never seen again and there isn't many bucks that dress 220 or a bit more and found dead a 1/4 mile from where he was coming out religiously every night, and the problem is he was very visible from the road(s) and lots of people knew of him. Either way, that rifle season was depressing as he was gone before we had a chance.

[Musky Buck]

Right on still huntin, just found it, well then just call the DNR because there's a definite poacher in the immediate area. He could've almost been a hero if he would've reported it, but the problem is he would've had to report himself.

[Musky Buck]

So friends helped drag it ? What hour of the day was this ? Whose land were they on ? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

[Still_Huntin]

Yeah read the story above that fishinguru posted. It's spot on.

The area his cousin and gf helped load it into his truck is about 4-5 miles from where he orginally claimed he shot the buck which is the real land that he does hunt. The buck was actually shot right off of a country road that goes to his house about 4-5 miles in the other direction.

So basically the poacher (Mr. Reinke) told DNR he shot and killed it where he hunts but when he told DNR that his cousin and his gf helped load it ofcourse DNR went to investigate and ask them questions and they told DNR a whole different location (the real one).

Add that on top of them finding gun powder residue and when DNR went back to talk to Mr. Reinke and they told him his cousin has a different location and also they found gun powder residue he switches his story to he just happened to find the big buck and stuck his arrow in it to make it look like he shot it.

Kind of funny he managed that in the dark, 5 miles from his house, on a random piece of land that he doesn't even know the land owner.

DNR should also nail him with trespassing charges, I'm sure the landowner would be game since he poached a record deer on his property and trespassed to retrieve it.