Missoula, MT – Courts in a growing number of states are using the Boone and Crockett scoring system to slap poachers with more felony charges, stiffer fines and longer revocations of hunting privileges.

Game animals with large antlers and horns aren’t just trophies, but valuable conservation resources that warrant harsher penalties for abuse, Boone and Crockett Club officials said.

"I can’t think of a better use for Boone and Crockett's scoring system than assessing trophy-class fines for poaching trophy-class animals," said Lowell E. Baier, president of the club. "All wildlife violations are setbacks for conservation, of course, but we’re especially pleased to see stiffer penalties for illegally taking an animal that is larger, has lived longer, is worth more as a benchmark of good management — and would have been a rare and cherished prize for a legal, ethical, license-buying hunter." Idaho, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states now use all or parts of the Boone and Crockett scoring system for wildlife law enforcement.

Ohio, for example, is in the second year of a new penalty structure that is "based on the Boone and Crockett Club scoring system to calculate restitution values of illegally taken or possessed deer," said Ken Fitz, law enforcement program administrator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The penalty structure includes a formula that is somewhat complex, but for illegally killed deer with a Boone and Crockett gross score of 125 or greater (without drying time), the result is an exponential increase in restitution charges. In fact, the new regulation increased Ohio's penalty for poaching a 200-class whitetail buck from $400 to $17,000.

"Last year we had two deer with restitution values ordered in the area of $13,000," Fitz said. "From a deterrent point of view, the law is still too new to evaluate, but I believe it's having an effect. Under the old law, some people thought $400 in restitution was a gamble worth taking for a trophy buck. Under the new law, the stakes are much higher and not worth it for most folks."

He added that the new law seems very popular with both the hunting and non-hunting public in Ohio. In Idaho, the Boone and Crockett scoring system helped up the ante after Idaho poacher Frederick R. Schoenick of St. Maries killed a trophy mule deer before the season opener. Schoenick took only the head and cape, leaving the meat to waste. A game warden collected a DNA sample from the headless carcass. Later, when Schoenick entered the antlers into a local big buck contest, wardens used DNA to positively match the antlers to the carcass.

Because Schoenick's illegal buck scored over 150 Boone and Crockett points (actual score was 214 3/8), it was considered a trophy animal by Idaho statute and therefore subject to a more severe civil penalty — a $2,000 fine instead of the normal $400.

Jon Heggen, enforcement bureau chief with the Idaho Fish and Game Department, said: "In 1998, a group of concerned sportsmen believed that stiffer penalties would create a bigger deterrent to poaching. Their work transformed into Senate Bill 1499, which passed into law that same year. One aspect of this new legislation was increasing civil penalties on trophy big game animals."

Idaho law actually cites Boone and Crockett standards as the official definition of "trophy" for several species and states that the highest of the typical or non-typical scores shall be used to assess penalties.

"The 1998 law also established a felony violation when accumulated civil penalties surpass $1,000 within a 12-month period, so trophy status soon became a mechanism that helped elevate certain fish and game violations from misdemeanors to felonies," said Heggen.

This felony clause, in turn, increased the ability of Idaho courts to revoke a poacher's hunting privileges for more than three years and up to a lifetime.

Schoenick pleaded guilty to taking a trophy mule deer during closed season and wasteful destruction. He received a $3,158 fine, five days in jail or 120 hours of community service, two years of probation and a loss of hunting privileges for two years.

The Boone and Crockett scoring system originated early in the 20th century as a means of recording details on big game species that were thought to be disappearing. Conservation efforts led and funded by hunters took those species from vanishing to flourishing.

"Healthy fish and wildlife represents an investment by state conservation agencies on behalf of all citizens," Baier said. The Boone and Crockett Club has always stood behind law enforcement professionals and programs, and today we're especially proud that our trophy concept is adding more teeth to the laws that help protect public fish and wildlife."

Hamilton, TX – Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials and partners from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, the Police Activities League and the Texas Game Warden Association will break ground April 9 on the first phase of a planned $20 million training complex in Hamilton County.

Major donors will be recognized at the April 9 groundbreaking, and cadets from the 54th Texas Game Warden Academy class will be participating in scheduled field training exercises at the site.

For more than 30 years, game warden cadets trained in a converted warehouse on 6.2 acres in downtown Austin, along with a patchwork of borrowed facilities around the state.

That changed when the 54th Texas Game Warden Academy cadet class began training in fall 2008 at existing facilities on a 220-acre property in Hamilton County. Envisioned from the beginning as a public-private partnership, the property was donated by the nonprofit Police Activities League.

The Texas Legislature authorized an initial infusion of $3.6 million from the sale of the Austin property to begin construction on 39,000 square feet of instructional, administrative and residential facilities. Along with the state’s initial investment, private donors have so far given about $6.4 million, altogether providing about half the estimated $20 million that will be required to complete construction of facilities that will be home to 48 cadets and 16 instructors at a time. With the first phase of the project underway, project partners are launching a broader public fundraising campaign and encourage Texans to support Texas Game Wardens with a donation.

The Game Warden Training Center eventually will include a water rescue training facility, a firing range, an emergency vehicle operations course and more (see complete plans online) — specialized training facilities that add dozens of hours in travel time and thousands of dollars to the training schedule now. The goal is a world-class training environment for a world-class law enforcement agency.

"Every day, every night, for more than a century, Texas game wardens have epitomized community-based conservation law enforcement across our state," said Peter Holt, chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. "They put their lives on the line, take educational messages to schools, save lives during hurricanes and floods, and do it all with a positive, can-do outlook. Sometimes they pay the ultimate price. Now, with this training center, game wardens could use some help. We hope the people of Texas will respond with donations to help us meet our fundraising goal."

Since 1895, Texas game wardens have built a reputation as "off-the-pavement" peace officers with a heritage second only to the legendary Texas Rangers. Sixteen have died in the line of duty.

That proud tradition of service is carried on today by more than 500 men and women who reflect the diversity of the people of Texas. They come from small towns and some of the nation's largest urban areas. Many have degrees in criminal justice or wildlife management or biology. Others studied the humanities, and worked as bankers and graphic designers, city cops and schoolteachers, before gaining entrance to the Game Warden Academy.

Something they all have in common is their dedication and desire to serve the people of Texas, and to help conserve the state's natural and cultural resources.

Only about 10 percent of applicants to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's law enforcement training program make the cut each year. Those who are accepted undergo the most rigorous training of any peace officer in Texas, and are widely acclaimed as some of the best-trained and best-educated conservation law enforcement officers in the nation. It?s a program with an international reputation.

In the most recent cadet class, two trainees hailed from the nascent conservation agency of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. Conservation organizations hope to send officers from as far away as Africa to attend future courses.

Applications are being accepted through April 30 for the 55th Texas Game Warden Academy class.

Major donors to the Texas Game Warden Training Center include William P. Clements, Lee M. Bass, TXU, T.D. Friedkin, T.L.L. Temple Foundation, Edwin L. Cox, Walter Umphrey and the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation.

For more information about how to make a tax-deductible donation to support construction of the training center, please visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Web site.

Kilbourne, IL (Pekin Daily Times, Amanda Jacobs) – Sgt. Timothy Sickmeyer has always loved the outdoors, so becoming a conservation police officer seemed like a natural career choice.

"I've wanted to do this since I was 12 years old," he said.

Sickmeyer said he was inspired to go into law enforcement by his childhood experiences of hunting and fishing with his father, Donald, who used to say, "They can be glad I'm not a game warden," whenever they saw someone breaking the rules. Sickmeyer, 48, of Kilbourne, has been employed with the law enforcement division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for 27 years, and he currently serves in District 10, which includes Mason, Logan, Menard, Cass, Morgan, Scott, Sangamon and Christian counties. Earlier this month, he was named the National Wild Turkey Federation's Illinois Wildlife Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

Recognition

Sickmeyer will be recognized at the organization's Convention and Sport Show, which will be held from Feb. 19 to 22 in Nashville, Tenn., where he will also be eligible for the group’s National Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award. The NWTF is a nonprofit organization that aims to protect wild turkeys and preserve hunting traditions. Sickmeyer is involved with the organization locally, he said, and he enjoys representing the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at the group's events.

Since 2000, the federation has asked each state to nominate an officer "who has just gone above and beyond," said Michelle Jones, an administrative assistant with the NWTF.

Nomination

Sickmeyer was nominated because of his career-long dedication to the preservation of the state's natural resources, said Rafael Gutierrez, director of the department of natural resources' office of law enforcement.

"Tim Sickmeyer is a game warden's game warden," he said.

Previous Work

Before starting his current position last year, Sickmeyer spent 20 years in the investigations unit.

During that time, he worked behind-the-scenes to coordinate a number of undercover operations into several different violations, including poaching, permit fraud and hunting out of season.

"His work as a supervisor often times doesn't get recognized," Gutierrez said.

Background

Sickmeyer helped the department of natural resources get involved with the Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Task Force, he said, and he also makes an effort to work with local youth.

Sickmeyer likes interacting with the public and solving problems in the course of his work, he said, and he also enjoys "getting ahold of people that abuse our natural resources and teach(ing) them to do otherwise."

Although Sickmeyer is proud of his work, he said, he also tries to be humble, and his humility is apparent in his response to the NWTF award.

"I'm honored," he said. "I'm extremely honored."