A few of Jennings’ victims | NYDEC
In yet another case of “the punishment don’t fit the crime”, 29-year-old Tyler D. Jennings of Attica, New York, has been sentenced for his involvement in the killing of at least 15 trophy whitetails over the course of four years. While state officials did end up getting their man dead to rights in the heinous poaching case, it’s proven to be yet another slap on the wrist for a violator that will, in all likelihood, continue to have very little regard for wildlife laws.
The investigation kicked off in September 2023 after a landowner in the town of Bethany reported a fresh deer carcass in a field. DEC Environmental Conservation Officers responded to the call, discovering a large, headless deer lying approximately 100 yards from the road. A closer inspection revealed that the animal had been shot at night with a small-caliber bullet, outside legal hunting hours and seasons. This single incident went on to serve as the initial domino that would soon unravel a multi-year poaching operation.
Through search warrants, ECOs uncovered time-and-date-stamped photos and text messages on Jennings’ devices, providing evidence of upwards of 15 illegal deer kills. According to the investigation, Jennings primarily targeted large antlered bucks, often trespassing on private property to get close to them while exceeding bag limits, shared his antlered-deer tags unlawfully with others and even used an expired 2018 deer tag on a 2023 kill.
Just a bit of evidence | NYDEC
Jennings was finally arrested and charged with the poaching offenses on February 27th of this year, following the September 2023 investigation into the reported deer carcass. At the time, he was charged with four misdemeanor counts of illegally taking wildlife, two counts of taking big game after legal hours, one count of taking deer over the limit, and nine felony counts of criminal mischief in the third degree.
In July, Jennings was in court where he pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a piddly $6,000 in fines, plus $750 in court fees. With an average cost of under $400 per deer, the charges are not necessarily pocket change, but they are certainly not detrimental enough to alter the learned behavior of a serial poacher.
At least not in this author’s humble opinion.
And while the DEC managed to revoke his hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges for five years, the question in this case and many like it remains to be; what good is a slap on the wrist-style fine paired with a suspension of privileges this particular individual never deserved in the first place going to accomplish?
When we’ve got a level of police work that fits the crime, but lacks punishment, we run the risk of some level of moral erosion in wildlife law enforcement. Thankfully, we have COs and game wardens that methodically build air-tight cases for prosecution who currently are showing very little signs of slowing down.
As indicated in the recent Boone and Crockett report, we need to support the work of field officers with easier prosecutions and judges that are willing to extend more than a parking ticket-level fine for removing trophy animals from the landscape.
