Posted on 04/07/2026 5:14:28 AM PDT by Fury
Three active duty soldiers were convicted of dozens of wildlife charges, fined thousands of dollars, and face a possible lifetime suspension to their hunting licenses, after state wildlife officials said Tuesday the soldiers poached five mule deer at Fort Carson, a U.S. Army post south of Colorado Springs, and one on state land.
The investigation started after a hunter alerted officers at the post about a poached mule deer buck in a training area in November 2024. Boot tracks in a snowy field then led Colorado Parks and Wildlife Officer Deme Wright to a dead buck partially processed and abandoned with select cuts of meat removed and its antlers sawed off.
(Excerpt) Read more at coloradosun.com ...
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I can imagine it would take a very large pot and lots of water to poach a deer. I can see why they wouldn’t want to do it at home.
Did the tracks lead back to the dining facility?
At Beale AFB in 1977 a herd of cattle got on the runway and were hammered by a KC 135 doing touch and goes. Seems the mess hall suddenly started serving more beef right after that.
wy69
Good training. They may need to forage for food in a foreign country soon. If I were their commander, I’d let them off the hook. Hard to find motivated troops who are in the field on their own time.
Stupid.
Good thing these Colorado types don’t know about the feral hog kills on Guam and Hawaii. Dogs and helicopters and guns oh my.
Yes poaching is illegal. but ... Mule deer, white tail deer - they’re like big dumb squirrels. They are often a risk to humans and damage crops. AND there’s a REALLY good supply of them.
LIVE with deer on your property and roads, and you’ll understand they are not as welcome and lovable as you might imagine.
Again - poaching is wrong and illegal.
And ...
Deer can be a pain in the butt.
I understand the charge for the der on state land, but if the others were shot on Federal property, how does the state claim jurisdiction?
Why hunt? Just get up early and pick up the fresh killed ones on the local highway. Get some Elk too. Ft Carson, gotta love it.
I spent March 2005 at Fort Carson. It’s HUGE. Surprised they saw any deer at all, honestly, with all the tracked vehicle traffic, etc.
The first thing you need to understand being one of the Kings subjects-Dont mess with the Kings deer.
Tell em, Range Control gave you permission !
Per the Department of the Army, Directorate of Public Works (DPW), Ft. Carson and all other installations are required to enforce all federal, state and installation hunting, fishing and trapping laws and regulations.
Their commander is required by the Army, to enforce all federal, state, and installation hunting, fishing, and trapping laws and regulations.
The first thing you have to understand about hunting is that it's illegal to hunt out of season, then leave unprocessed meat behind.
Nor can you attempt to cover up your crimes by disposing of illegally taken meat after your co-conspirator's initial interview with law enforcement.
I believe there’s cooperative jurisdiction agreements for offenses such as poaching, etc. Will review later.
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