C&P from Idaho Falls newspaper
This just doesn't affect stick flickers but duck, goose, moose, coyote hunters and fishermen who regulary were allowed access to this property.
Dead dog and damage done
Rob Thornberry
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Rob Thornberry
Tran King thought he'd seen it all.
As a land owner on the South Fork of the Snake River, he'd seen people drink beer while hunting from tree stands. He'd watched people cross his lawn with no regard for his private property, moving upstream and down with everything from fly rods to muzzleloaders. He'd seen carcasses of deer, wounded and unrecovered. He'd seen midnight spotlights, middle-finger salutes and more than one confrontation with so-called sportsmen.
"I know it is profiling, but I can pick out the trouble-makers from a mile away," he said of the jacked-up trucks with their crude Calvin window stickers, vulgar bumper stickers and chrome scrota. "We get more rednecks up here than you can imagine. I'm so damn tired of it."
He thought he'd seen it all.
He hadn't.
On Sept.9, the owner of Mountain River Ranch and roughly 100 acres north of the Great Feeder Canal returned to his house at about 7 p.m. to find his 2-year-old German shorthair pointer, Zeke, with an arrow in his ribcage.
King tried to remove the arrow but couldn't. The dog's breeder and trainer, James Groth, put Zeke's value at $6,000 to $7,000, King said.
"He was perfectly trained," said King, a lifelong hunter. "I don't feel like he was running amok."
As King raced the dog to the vet's office in Rigby, he called his daughter, Julie Connaughton.
She was on her way home and decided to see if she could find the hunters who had shot the dog. It is unclear whether the hunters were on King's property or ground managed by the Great Feeder Canal Co., which has property that borders King's. Either way, it was private property.
On the road between Mountain River Ranch and the head-gate of the Great Feeder Canal, she found two trucks.
"I laid on my horn for approximately 30 seconds to let them know that I was there," she said. "I got out of my car and said, 'Is there anybody hunting in there?'"
The response was quick and severe, Connaughton said.
Two hunters spilled from the woods, swearing and claiming they'd shot the dog because it was chasing deer.
One later claimed the dog had tried to bite him, King said.
The dog died on the way to the vet's office and King returned to his property to find his daughter arguing with the hunters.
"The stories were just flying when they decided they were on the hot seat," King said.
Connaughton called Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies and within 30 minutes several deputies were on the scene along with an Idaho Department of Fish and Game conservation officer.
The arrow was a judo point, a blunt tip with four springs sticking out of the head. It is the kind of arrow archers use to shoot stumps or forest grouse.
It killed the dog and closed King's property forever.
"We posted the entire area the next day," King said.
He said the canal company has also closed its ground.
"I am sure there are quality people in there but it is really sprinkled with some real asses," he said. "Either way, we are done dealing with them."
Jefferson County Prosecutor Robin Dunn filed felony charges of malicious injury to property and trespassing charges against Michael S. Lees earlier this week.
"The arrogance of it all just makes you wonder about people," King said. "It is just a mess. Zeke, our best friend, falls in the middle of this. He was just a good friend too."
Dead dog and damage done
Rob Thornberry
Story Tools
Larger Font Smaller Font Save Story Print Story
Discuss this story Post Talk
Small
Small Full
Full
Rob Thornberry
Tran King thought he'd seen it all.
As a land owner on the South Fork of the Snake River, he'd seen people drink beer while hunting from tree stands. He'd watched people cross his lawn with no regard for his private property, moving upstream and down with everything from fly rods to muzzleloaders. He'd seen carcasses of deer, wounded and unrecovered. He'd seen midnight spotlights, middle-finger salutes and more than one confrontation with so-called sportsmen.
"I know it is profiling, but I can pick out the trouble-makers from a mile away," he said of the jacked-up trucks with their crude Calvin window stickers, vulgar bumper stickers and chrome scrota. "We get more rednecks up here than you can imagine. I'm so damn tired of it."
He thought he'd seen it all.
He hadn't.
On Sept.9, the owner of Mountain River Ranch and roughly 100 acres north of the Great Feeder Canal returned to his house at about 7 p.m. to find his 2-year-old German shorthair pointer, Zeke, with an arrow in his ribcage.
King tried to remove the arrow but couldn't. The dog's breeder and trainer, James Groth, put Zeke's value at $6,000 to $7,000, King said.
"He was perfectly trained," said King, a lifelong hunter. "I don't feel like he was running amok."
As King raced the dog to the vet's office in Rigby, he called his daughter, Julie Connaughton.
She was on her way home and decided to see if she could find the hunters who had shot the dog. It is unclear whether the hunters were on King's property or ground managed by the Great Feeder Canal Co., which has property that borders King's. Either way, it was private property.
On the road between Mountain River Ranch and the head-gate of the Great Feeder Canal, she found two trucks.
"I laid on my horn for approximately 30 seconds to let them know that I was there," she said. "I got out of my car and said, 'Is there anybody hunting in there?'"
The response was quick and severe, Connaughton said.
Two hunters spilled from the woods, swearing and claiming they'd shot the dog because it was chasing deer.
One later claimed the dog had tried to bite him, King said.
The dog died on the way to the vet's office and King returned to his property to find his daughter arguing with the hunters.
"The stories were just flying when they decided they were on the hot seat," King said.
Connaughton called Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies and within 30 minutes several deputies were on the scene along with an Idaho Department of Fish and Game conservation officer.
The arrow was a judo point, a blunt tip with four springs sticking out of the head. It is the kind of arrow archers use to shoot stumps or forest grouse.
It killed the dog and closed King's property forever.
"We posted the entire area the next day," King said.
He said the canal company has also closed its ground.
"I am sure there are quality people in there but it is really sprinkled with some real asses," he said. "Either way, we are done dealing with them."
Jefferson County Prosecutor Robin Dunn filed felony charges of malicious injury to property and trespassing charges against Michael S. Lees earlier this week.
"The arrogance of it all just makes you wonder about people," King said. "It is just a mess. Zeke, our best friend, falls in the middle of this. He was just a good friend too."
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Sad. [V] 0 -
It really chaps my azz when I read about these so-called "hunters" and the way they behave. It is guys like them that make it difficult for all of us to get quality hunting areas. 0 -
People like that make me sick, they make it harder for the rest of us to enjoy the sport and give the anti hunters something against us....kills me. 0
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