First, I saw a skinned animal, minus a head, lying in a non-posted field. Some idiot had shot what I was guessing was a buck pronghorn, caped it out on the spot, and left the body to rot less than 200 yards from the road. This took place Friday night or early Saturday morning, as I was in the area around 5pm Friday night, and around 10am Saturday morning.

Less than an hour later, I saw a white pickup driving through a field with two hunters, I mean criminals, in it. They were too far away to get a license, and when they saw me stopped, they high-tailed it off the land and out of the area.

Both of these took place NW of Scranton, ND.  Click HERE for a map location of the crimes.

I know that whoever did either of these indiscretions won’t be affected by me posting them here because they can’t read (at least a proclamation) and probably don’t think they did anything wrong, but if I can ask the rest of you to take a few moments and think of the hunting community as a whole before you do something stupid.

The anti-hunters and some landowners are just looking for this type of behavior to give them a reason to reduce your sporting opportunities. The skinned pronghorn was lying on some property that is traditionally posted for deer season, but the landowner has always allowed my hunting party and others access. Things like this could significantly jeapordize access to this great piece of land.

Play by the rules, bag your game in a safe, sporting manner, and support the heritage and opportunity provided by the state of North Dakota and the generous landowners who allow us access, and all of us will be better off.

As for the guys who did this? I’m taking my video camera with from now on, and if I see it happen again, video evidence will be used in a court of law.

Sorry for the long rant, but I had to get this out. If anyone has more details on who may have committed these crimes, please report them to the proper authorities.

In North Dakota contact R.A.P. (Report All Poachers) at 1-800-472-2121.