Trapper, my condolences to you. It really makes you want to kill someone, doesn't it?
Just last week, I noticed some empty worm bait containers in a more remote section of my pond. This is near where my some of my new 4 & 5 pound smallmouth have been hanging out. These are beautiful trophy fish and it simply kills me to know that someone is fishing them out.
Several years back, I found some dead fish that were all cut up (heads cut off, etc.). I promptly went to the sporting goods store and bought a S&W 9MM with a few hundred rounds, and shot all of the rounds at a few targets and left the targets and a lot of the shell casings around. As you mentioned, everyone in a 1 mile radius could hear the shots. I didn't have problems for a few years after that.
Time to buy a few hundred more rounds.
When fish are just destroyed like that, I usually think that is from kids as opposed to adults, but that's just a hunch.
I just got my package from US Calvary today which are camo nets that I can cover up and hide my car with. This is because my next trips to my pond are going to be stake-outs.
I spoke to the PA Fish Commission and the State Police. The Fish Commission said that they would bust anyone I caught if they didn't have a fishing license and/or if any fish they took were outside of legal size or species limits.
The state police said the best thing I could do was to get video with a time & date stamp.
My poachers are coming in on quads. I asked the police if I could disable the quads. While the officer could not give me any legal advice on that one, he said that if it was his property, he'd chain the quad to a tree. I'm just going to pull the spark plug.
Regarding the Trail Cameras, I've hesitated to buy one yet only because if the trespasser sees it, it'll get ripped off.
Happy hunting.
