Cal’s Poaching Desk: Celebrity Poachers and Turtle Bootleggers

Poachers, smugglers, and other fish and game felons steal our shared natural resources, and “Cal’s Poaching Desk” is here with all the sordid details. For more stories of wildlife wrongdoing, be sure to tune in to “Cal’s Week in Review.” New episodes drop every Sunday. This month, not even politicians or reality TV stars could escape the long arm of the law. Trump Jr.’s Baited Bear Hunt Donald Trump Jr. got mixed up recently with an illegal bear...

The Dumbest Poachers of 2021

This January, Devon Lewis, Taylor Luvaas, Jacob Fouts, Dylan Lewis, and Austin Lewis pleaded guilty to 48 wildlife violations in western Iowa’s Ida County court. According to a press release from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, State Conservation Officer Kirby Bragg said that evidence showed these individuals shot wildlife out of season, over bait, from vehicles, and without proper tags. The investigation began with a tip-off that Lewis...

Missouri Poachers Busted with 471 Squirrels

Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) agents Brad Hadley and Eric Long discovered a large group of non-residents in the Current River Conservation Area with an overlimit of squirrels in their possession. The group, comprised of 16 individuals, took 471 squirrels over two days. Missouri regulations allow a daily harvest of 10 squirrels and a possession limit of two daily limits, meaning each person can have no more than 20 squirrels in their...