Wildlife "thrill killers" alarm game wardens in Wisconsin

Posted by David Figura February 27, 2008 2:12PM
The following article appeared this week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Authorities often learn about it from landowners who hear shooting at night and find deer carcasses in their fields the next day.

One case came to light when a bloody deer heart was discovered in a girl's high school locker. And some incidents are solved when conservation wardens catch the criminals red-handed -- shooting from roads with the help of spotlights and headlights, then leaving the wounded and dying animals behind.

Conservation wardens call it "thrill killing" of animals, and it appears to be a growing problem throughout Wisconsin, said Chief Warden Randy Stark.


Several dozen cases have been confirmed in the past few years, mostly involving young men in their late teens and early 20s. Officials say suspects have been killing wild animals by shooting them with firearms and arrows, running them down with vehicles and clubbing them with baseball bats and home-made weapons, such as sharpened sticks.

When asked why, those that can muster a reason don't say it's because they want the venison or antlers -- it's because they're bored.

"This is simply a criminal act. It has nothing to do with hunting," said Department of Natural Resources Warden Rick Rosen, who is stationed in St. Croix County. "It has nothing to do with sportsmanship at all. As far as why, it's just like retail theft. That's the best analogy. It's the thrill with getting away with something and not getting caught."

It's different from poaching because poachers, even though they're flouting Wisconsin's laws, are not leaving the animals to waste.

And there's a reason why it's illegal to shine lights and shoot guns at night for much of the year in Wisconsin -- it's dangerous, and not just for the animals. The shooters don't know what might be beyond their target.

Jeremy Peery, a conservation warden in Rusk County, arrested three high school students several years ago who spent their summer driving around at night and shooting animals.

They "shot sandhill cranes, they shot turkeys, they even shot at some sturgeons that were spawning and porpoising up near a dam. Just for the kicks of doing it," said Peery, who added that just about every warden in the state has heard of or investigated a similar case.

The three paid fines ranging from $2,000 to $4,000, served jail terms and lost their hunting and fishing privileges for years.

In neighboring Chippewa County, Peery said, another warden handled a case in which high school students spent their evenings traveling around the northern edge of the county, shining lights at deer and shooting the vulnerable animals paralyzed by the bright lights. They cut out the heart of one of the deer and put it in the locker of the ex-girlfriend of one of the boys.

Ted Dremel, a DNR warden in Waupaca County, has investigated a couple of thrill killing cases, including one in 2006 that's now winding its way through court. Three young men admitted to killing or wounding 48 deer in the Iola area. Some deer were killed when the men shone a pickup truck's headlights into a field and stood on the road blasting away. Most of the dead deer were left behind.

"They truly give hunters a bad name. I think it's important to make a huge distinction between hunters and this type of activity," Dremel said.

Another case in Waupaca County involved teenagers who drove around looking for wild animals such as raccoons, opossums and deer. Their goal was to run the creature down with their car, "wound it and then they had sticks they had sharpened with a grinder, and they would beat the animal to death," Dremel said.

Three years ago the DNR surveyed wardens to see how much of a problem there might be, and 20 to 30 cases were reported by 23 wardens, said Chuck Horn, a conservation warden supervisor based in Dodgeville. A number of thrill killing cases have been reported around the state since then. Weapons ranged from .22-caliber rifles and shotguns to bows, vehicles and clubs.

The bulk of the perpetrators were between 15 and 22 years old, and most involved groups of people acting together to kill the animals. Wardens discovered that some of the defendants admitted to participating in thrill killings as a contest to see who could get the most.

"There's a lot of speculation as to what's going on," Horn said. "The need for instant satisfaction compared to the tried and true ways of hunting properly -- scouting your area, planning your hunt and going out and waiting."

Although there's an overabundance of deer in Wisconsin -- the DNR estimated a herd of 1.6 million to 1.8 million before last November's gun-deer season -- deer hunters are appalled to hear of those who kill and leave behind the carcasses.

"If they want to take out a deer, here's an idea -- get a license and go out with the rest of us," said Jeff Schinkten, national president of Whitetails Unlimited based in Sturgeon Bay.

It goes on here all the time and has been going on for several years, they influx of out of State workers with few or no wild life ethics has largely created the problem. Our Wardens try but this is big country and it is hard.

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"They truly give hunters a bad name. I think it's important to make a huge distinction between hunters and this type of activity," Ted Dremel, a DNR warden in Waupaca County, said.

What? You mean there's some folks that think what these kids did could be construed as sporting? So Ted's got to make a point of saying so, to set the record straight? Must be some really dumb people in that neck of the woods.

There are a lot of non-hunters (as distinguished from anti-hunters) who really have no clue about what we do in the woods or why we do it. There are a lot of decent (but naive) people who have it in their head that "hunters" go out with guns to shoot things just for the joy of blasting living beings to smithereens. Think how often you have heard a non-hunter ask, "And do you eat the meat?" It IS important to clarify for these folks the distinction between legitimate sportsman, who are at the forefront of most conservation efforts, and the tiny number of sadistic creeps who go out at night and shoot things and leave them lay. We can't get the antis on our side, but we can get a lot of non-hunters to side with us if we constantly educate them as to who and what we are-- and roundly condemn the sickos the are the subject of this article.

sounds like a couple ghillies w/ canned 308's would fix the problem.

I just think that the DNR is mad because they are not getting their lic fees. They killed and dumped hundreds of deer in the CWD zones.

Every year for the past 15 or so they tell us we are not killing enough deer they hand out and sell for 2 dollars in a lot of the units all the permits you want.

They are talking about adding more seasons and giving out more permits.

I think they would be happy some one is helping control are out of control deer herd.

I think this is what happens when people don't get the opportunity to legitimately hunt. If these bozos were out during hunting season they would have had their fill of killing and would be sitting at home eating steaks with dad or uncle so and so. I also think that it's partly because it's so hard to get hunting permission in some places. People turn to non-ethical means.

the chef

I think this is also the result of violent movies and computer games available for any kid. What they learn there is that violence is fun and of no consequences to anyone. They do not expect that lateron in real life violence is usually of severe consequences for both sides, not only for the victims.

My children do kill when hunting or fishing. However, they know that it's living beings the deal with and that they need to do it ethically. At least that's what I try to teach them.

I remember a hunting buddy in the US telling me how in the 60s it was normal to take shotguns and rifles to school and go hunting in the afternoon. There were no school shootings back then. He is convinced that it's the electronic media (TV and computer games) which make the difference.

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I remember a hunting buddy in the US telling me how in the 60s it was normal to take shotguns and rifles to school and go hunting in the afternoon. There were no school shootings back then. He is convinced that it's the electronic media (TV and computer games) which make the difference.

I am one of the kids who used to take guns to school and keep them in my locker. I loved having a full machine shop for working on them at my disposal. I left the ammo in the car.

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Originally posted by p dog shooter:
I just think that the DNR is mad because they are not getting their lic fees. They killed and dumped hundreds of deer in the CWD zones.

Every year for the past 15 or so they tell us we are not killing enough deer they hand out and sell for 2 dollars in a lot of the units all the permits you want.

They are talking about adding more seasons and giving out more permits.

I think they would be happy some one is helping control are out of control deer herd.

That's what dnr says here in Pennsylvania and our old hunting grounds have been depleated of deer. Don't buy into DNR's BS.

The DNR here used night vison scopes spot lights to shot hundreds of deer if not thousands and dump them in holes. In the CWD zones.

I Have talked with wardens who did the some of the shooting.

Game laws are to protect game when game becomes over populated it is time to do away with some of the game laws.

If in areas there are to many deer who cares how they are killed. Varmints like p dogs or crows in those cases.

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Originally posted by miles58:

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I remember a hunting buddy in the US telling me how in the 60s it was normal to take shotguns and rifles to school and go hunting in the afternoon. There were no school shootings back then. He is convinced that it's the electronic media (TV and computer games) which make the difference.

I am one of the kids who used to take guns to school and keep them in my locker. I loved having a full machine shop for working on them at my disposal. I left the ammo in the car.

Interesting. What would you think why there are school shootimgs today when there are in fact much less guns around than back then?

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Interesting. What would you think why there are school shootimgs today when there are in fact much less guns around than back then?

Rather than hijack this thread I will answer over in the Political forum

Dave

"Thrill killing" victims are a drop in the bucket compared to the poor animals killed by El Chupacabra.

I'm sorry but I see a connection with trill killing of deer and people, these guys want a thrill join the Marines and go play in the sand.

on the video game and movies the parents need to quit being there kids best friends and be a parent even whoop some ass when needed.

I don't care how many deer you have in WI there is a right way and a wrong way and these Jr. hoods are doing it the wrong way.

Besides fines they should be doing community service for the game dept.

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sounds like a couple ghillies w/ canned 308's would fix the problem.

I agree, maybe put a bounty on them also.

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parents need to quit being there kids best friends and be a parent even whoop some ass when needed.

Are you serious? Don't you know that busting their asses is a crime now?

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Originally posted by US1:
I'm sorry but I see a connection with trill killing of deer and people, these guys want a thrill join the Marines and go play in the sand.

I think a lot of these kids would benefit from this prescription. That's what I did (the joining the Marines part, and not the thrill killing part.) That period of my life taught me more about life and being a decent human being than any parent or teacher could ever teach me.

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on the video game and movies the parents need to quit being there kids best friends and be a parent even whoop some ass when needed.

I agree. Things don't cause bad behavior, people cause bad behavior. Saying the video games and T.V. shows "did it" is the same thing as saying the gun was responsible for the massacre. I think the real reason is that a whole lot of people, parents especially included, are just spoiled these days. No one is taught in the school of hard knocks anymore, and people in general seem to think that living on easy street is some sort of guaranteed right. A whole lot of parents think they have some sort of right to 'not be bothered' by their kids. They think kids raise themselves or something.

Seems like some of the forum member have problems.

They are talking about killing people over a few deer in a state where in a lot of areas the deer are over populated.

Killing lots of animals does not translate into killing people if it did most of the forum members here would be mass murders.
According to a lot of anti.s hunting is just like murder any way.

I belive that this myth is promoted my anti's to drive people away from teaching people how to hunt and eat meat.

We all get a trill out of hunting and shooting critters other wise we wouldn't be doing it.

I say 99 percent of these shooters have no more chance of becoming a mass murder then any one else on this board.

Is it right to do what they did no is it so bad as to kill them heck no.

I do agree that a couple of years in the millitary would most likely do them some good.