By Glen Wunderlich

“Hello.  My name is Jacob Powers and I am a convicted poacher.”  Those are the words I’d have Mr. Powers repeat over and over to throngs of youngsters at Michigan schools and hunter safety courses, as part of his sentencing requirements under Michigan’s new enhanced guidelines for poaching deer.  Mr. Powers has earned the dubious distinction of being the first to test the teeth of new state laws designed to deter poaching of antlered bucks.

Before detailing his case, here are the specifics of the new progressive penalty system adopted earlier this year:

• For any deer with or without antlers, the base restitution will be $1,000;
• For any antlered deer, there will be an additional restitution of $1,000 plus;
• For antlered deer with 8 to 10 points, an additional $500 will be assessed for each point; and
• For antlered deer with 11 or more points, an additional $750 will be assessed for each point.
• In addition, poachers also now face stronger penalties related to hunting privileges. Under previous law, poachers would lose their hunting privileges for the remainder of the year of conviction plus three years. Under the new law, poachers who kill an antlered buck will now lose their hunting privileges for an additional two years on their first offense (potentially six years in total) and an additional seven years on second and subsequent offenses (potentially 11 years in total).

Stiffer penalties for trespass have also been adopted.

Now, let’s get back to Jacob Powers.  On Sept. 21, Michigan DNR conservation officers responded to a complaint phoned in to the Report All Poaching (RAP) line involving an adult suspect, who allegedly killed two trophy white-tailed deer during the 2014 Youth Hunt, while acting as a mentor to an 8-year-old hunter.

After receiving the information from the RAP Line dispatcher, three DNR conservation officers began an investigation in Lowell and Grand Rapids attempting to locate Powers and two deer. Locating Powers at approximately 3 a.m. at his workplace, officers were able to obtain a confession to the incident and return to his residence, where they were assisted by the Lowell City Police recovering evidence.

Officers concluded their investigation issuing an appearance ticket with a court date and left the home. Five days later, a conservation officer discovered two hides and evidence of deer processing that had been dumped in a parking lot at the Lowell State Game Area in Ionia County. Having not recovered these items on the night of the original investigation, the officer returned to meet with Powers and obtained a confession to the littering on state lands, leading to an additional charge.

It was determined Powers had taken both deer himself that morning in Bushnell Township of Montcalm County, while accompanying an 8-year-old youth on his first hunt. Powers illegally tagged one deer with the Mentored Youth Tag issued to the young hunter and procured a second license tag from a 6-year-old female family member prior to transporting the animals.

At arraignment, Powers, 25, of Lowell, Michigan, entered a plea of guilty to the charge and was assessed $335 in fines and costs, $12,000 in restitution for payment to the state’s Fish and Game Protection Fund, and five days mandatory minimum jail time to be served as community service. In addition, Powers now faces up to five years of hunting license revocations in Michigan and 41 other states that participate in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact.

Powers has yet to appear on charges in Ionia County for littering.Officers seized two large antlered heads, meat and a shotgun used to take the animals while at the Powers residence.

The new poaching penalties outlined above just don’t seem to go far enough when youngsters are used as pawns for such scoundrels.  For that reason, I’d love to see the penalties doubled in all respects for such egregious and unthinkable “mentoring”, just as the penalties for injuring or killing a worker in a road construction zone doubles.