Thread: Farmer not shot

As a bush lawyer I wish to make it clear to the court that the actual charges would be hunting unlawfully, trespassing, and some kind of firearms offence, careless use of, or some such.
There is no poaching involved here. Poaching is a game animal offence. If they caught a trout without a license, that would be poaching.

For example, a couple of guys got nailed for hunting deer on a farmers land recently and the judge ruled that the farmer be paid recompense for the worth of the animal. (Apart from other punishments for trespassing etc) The defence lawyer pointed out that the deer was wild. Its not illegal to shoot a wild deer whether is be on public or private land. In New Zealand the deer belongs to the Crown when its alive (meaning the New Zealand public) even on private property, and then to the person who shot it. So there was no offence for the killing or the taking of the animal, (and nothing paid to the farmer either.) Although I understand, you can get the deer carcass confiscated if you shot it while hunting unlawfully, or when trespassing, because you cannot profit from a crime.

Essentially, these people were trespassing, and carelessly using a firearm while hunting illegally. Not poaching.

To distil my point further, hunting illegally is not necessarily poaching, although poaching is hunting illegally.