We had a game warden murdered in PA just a few months ago. He caught a guy spotlighting (hunting at night). The guy was a convicted felon who had served time and was still on parole. The bastard killed the warden rather than be arrested again and sent back to prison. The warden left a wife and a couple of kids as I recall.
It can be dangerous out in those woods at times.
It’s not the poaching fines. It’s the federal time.
Like William Bratton noted - Major criminals also commit petty crimes. Poaching usually involves a gun. As someone, for example with a half dozen convictions for quad stealing, meth manufacturing and barn burning, one is a felon. If that one is poaching, then that one is a felon in possession of a gun. As such, one is going to jail, essentially for life, in Club Fed. I’ve sent them up there myself for exactly that.
Therefore the stakes for what seems like a simple and relatively minor night hunting beef get a whole lot higher. Just like a traffic stop, you never know what you are going to get into when it starts out.