Venison poaching
 

Deer poachers fined

28.05.2003
5.30pm - By JO-MARIE BROWN
Three Bay of Plenty deer poachers have been fined $41,500 for unlawful hunting, unlawful possession of firearms and failing to display registration marks on a helicopter.

Dean and Grant Matthews, both formerly of Whakatane, and Daryl Lavender from Edgecumbe, were today found guilty in the Rotorua District Court of deer poaching in January last year.

At the time, prices of up to $7 a kilo were being paid for feral deer and Dean Matthews' company, East Bay Heli Services, had been able to earn $124,000 in just 10 weeks by shooting hundreds of the animals.

But the trio's subsequent hunting trip in January over a privately-owned block of land between Murupara and Napier known as "Pine Milling" came unstuck when the land-owner spotted their helicopter.

Having taken photos of the Robinson R22 chopper with deer carcasses slung underneath and having seen 30 deer being loaded onto a trailer, the landowner called police in to investigate.

Today Judge Chris McGuire said the men were motivated by greed and were arrogant in the way they poached deer from someone else's property
:rolleyes:

Stupid, stupid, stoooopid.
 

When they carried the dead deer back to base did they carry it in a "Bambi" bucket?

:rolleyes:

Oh dear!... oh dear!
 

"...the Robinson R22 chopper with deer carcasses slung underneath..."

Surprised they didn't get done for un-certified external load operation, too.;)

By the way Lu...that was a terrible joke. Wish I'd thought of it!

This was the little-known Turbo-R22, was it?

Surely there would be two blokes in it, one to fly and one to shoot; so unless they dice the carcasses and take them one cube at a time, I suggest the R-22 would be a bit short of puff.

On the other hand if it did have just one occupant, anyone who can fly an R-22 and shoot running deer at the same time deserves a round of applause.

I just love the comments by people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

Uncertified external load operation - Got me there. Didn't see anything in the article about it so it must be a guess. There are more than 3 manufacturers of hooks for Robinsons. The hardpoint kit is a factory kit. The Onboard Systems FAA and Canadian STC has been around for over 5 years.

Fly and shoot from a Robinson. Done it myself with a handgun in Australia - entirely legal. Also used a shotgun while flying a Bell 47. No law against it. Whats the big deal.

If you thought about it for more than 10 seconds you might find the shooting is done obviously by a shooter on board, then the recovery is done by the pilot alone - so what is the big deal. The legs involved might only be 5 minutes to a point with fuel. A field dressed deer might go 40 - 50 kgs. At $7/kg and shooting say even 4 per hour this equates to NZD 1200/hr or a little shy of USD 700/hr. Not bad return for an R22.

Please remove cranium from rectum.

These guys might judge the fine to be an "overhead" and would probably refer to the comments in this thread as "thug as pugshut!"

"Fire extuinguisher safety pin removed"

...... and as for the $41,500 fine? They can just claim it back as a business expense then get on with the job again.:hmm:

Removing the rego completely next time for added weight savings.

Yeah it would be nice if it was always like that John and everything you say is quite accurate. You can always fit a net gun as well for stopping deer...
These blokes however generally will have the shooter on with 2/3 empties on the chain. Seen it done plenty.
How? well really the little red line on the MP guage is only a suggestion.
Safe Flying.

Bicker by name, bicker by nature...

...or Australia or off Tuna boats.:rolleyes:

Hilico - I think you just verified to all viewing this thread as to the credibility of your previous comments. Congratulations!

See previous post.

More seriously, John, I am very inexperienced as you surmise; I have eleven hours on helicopters and no chip on my shoulder.

What have you got?