A big ego is a poacher's Achilles' heel.
Wildlife enforcement agents are well aware that the greediness that leads to illegally shooting a trophy animal usually is accompanied by a personality that feeds on the stature accrued from big talk.
"Our main source in making big-game cases are from people bragging," said Capt. Mike Whorton, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regional enforcement supervisor. "We've always encouraged officers to visit in small businesses and coffee shops, to make contacts and make themselves available to people who might have heard something."
The Internet has become equally fertile ground, not just for big cases, but also for enforcing minor infractions an officer isn't likely to catch in the field.
A photo posted in a chat room is worth a thousand words, as well as many hours of work by fish and wildlife agents.
Two photos published this summer on the Lewiston Tribune's online outdoors Brag Board caught the attention of Idaho Fish and Game Department staffers.
One photo showed a good-size bull trout. The other featured three anglers with a massive white sturgeon.
In both cases, the anglers were holding the fish out of the water.
That's a no-no with these protected species, as well as wild chinook salmon, according to state fishing regulations. Photos are OK, but the fish must remain in the water.
The Internet photo led one angler to get a $109 ticket. The other received a warning from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In another case, a Boise man has been convicted of illegally guiding anglers on one of Idaho's premier trout fisheries, the South Fork of the Boise River.
Christopher Bentley, 26, was cited for guiding without a license and for fishing with a barbed fly in barbless waters after he advertised his illegal guiding services on Craigslist.
His fishing gear, including a drift boat, fly rod and reel, were seized as evidence in the case.
He was assessed more than $1,100 in fines and court costs, 40 hours of community service and his fishing privileges were suspended for two years.
Monitoring the Internet also has given wildlife agents insight on people who boast online about their fishing and hunting exploits.
"By surfing certain types of Internet pages, like the 'big buck' sites, we are finding issues that at least prompt a cursory investigation," Whorton said.
"However, a lot of time, they turn out to simply be liars' pages."
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Yakama Nation shutters Boundary Reach to anglers
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YAKIMA -- Rule-breaking anglers certainly don't like it and even some law-abiding fishermen may not like it, but state fisheries biologists are quite pleased with the Yakama Nation's decision to close to sport fishing the stretch of the Yakima River that borders the reservation.
For years, tribal and state fisheries and enforcement officials have been alarmed about the number of winter and early-spring anglers that, while fishing for whitefish, have reeled in and in some cases illegally harvested steelhead.
"Our enforcement guys watched it, and in some cases, if people thought they could get away with it, they would keep steelhead," said John Easterbrooks, regional fish program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Washington wildlife officials set sights on northern pike
Washington wildlife officials set sights on northern pike
SPOKANE -- State wildlife officials will ask fishermen to help control the advance of northern pike toward the Columbia River.
Fishery managers in the next few months plan to enlist anglers to remove as many northern pike as possible from the Pend Oreille River, which is the route the voracious species is following from Idaho and Montana.
Studies conducted with the Kalispel Tribe and Eastern Washington University show a dramatic decline in native minnows, largemouth bass, yellow perch and other fish species that inhabit the 55-mile Box Canyon Reservoir.
Finley woman says 2 men killed bald eagle
Finley woman says 2 men killed bald eagle
FINLEY -- As Stephanie Parker sat sipping coffee and reading her newspaper Wednesday morning, she watched a bald eagle topple from a tree in the park across from her Finley home.
She believes two men in a boat shot the protected bird. State wildlife officials are investigating what happened.
Earlier in the morning, Parker noticed the men in a small aluminum boat on the Columbia River.
Idaho free ice-fishing event hooks people
Idaho free ice-fishing event hooks people
HAUSER, Idaho -- A recent weekend free ice-fishing event at Hauser Lake, organized by Idaho Fish and Game, was a chilling success in luring people of all ages to try the sport.
Although agency staffers and three helpers from Cabela's in nearby Post Falls were signed to run the event, Idaho Fish and Game officials gave a big special thanks for service beyond the call of duty to the three sportsmen. They were ice fishing when they saw the organizers overwhelmed by people eager to borrow fishing gear from the Take Me Fishing trailer.
"The three anglers put their gear away and helped the newbie anglers for the rest of the day," said IFG spokesman Phil Cooper.
Chinook season looks strong for 2012
Chinook season looks strong for 2012
It's only a matter of time before the first migrating spring chinook is hooked by a lucky angler in the Lower Columbia River.
We already know this fish will be among a strong forecast of 414,500, which could lead to the fourth-largest return of upriver spring chinook on record.
Fishing is open daily from Buoy 10 in the Lower Columbia up to I-5. The fishery expands upriver to Beacon Rock from March 1 to April 6 (closed March 20, March 27 and April 3), and possibly longer depending in the catch rate.
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