Does the Sheriff's Office respond to poachers??

[Ron@.38 Special]

In Martin/St.Lucie/Okeechobee Co, we mostly use the SO for poachers, trespassers, etc..., if you call FWC they will want to talk to you for 15 minutes, get your information and then an officer might get there in the next 45 minutes or so, always fun when you holding someone at gunpoint. SO will be there in minutes, light blazing ready to work, I stopped called FWC because nothing ever got done, we had a guy conintuously poaching, everybody knew it, we had video, I gave them every bit of his info including his address, nothing ever happened.

My experience exactly! However there are several new young FWC officers in our area and they are full of Piss and vinegar! If you get one of them, they will follow thru.

[10kman]

Cannot answer for your county but was stopped by Collier Co.sheriff on the water.
Everything was fine so I asked him'Have never been stopped by deputy in the past,
why now?His reply"I have jurisdiction any place in Collier Co.including the water".

[Barrell]

Thanks... I guess I will just give the SO a shot next time I see poachers. Pisses me off to call FWC and talk to them for 15 minutes then wait around for them and the poachers leave. I always make the call out of site of the violators and then fish while waiting for the cops. Most of the poachers I see are land based though.

I was a deputy game warden in Nj for 18 years. You wont always see us respond. We need evidence to make a case. Many poachers hide there illegal catch or deny ownership if lets say the fish are in a nearby bucket. We would respond and watch the poachers from a concealed location with binoculars and spotting scopes sometimes for hours until we could verify that they were using the bucket or where they were concealing the catch. Often thee fish were getting buried in the sand. Sometimes they would run every fish back to a ice chest hidden in the trunk of their vehicle. Often we would just let them keep poaching and wait for them back at their vehicle. If we were working a spot for the day that had many poachers we would never make the bust any where near the spot. We had cars hidden that would follow the vehicles as they left and stop them a good 1/2 mile away from the other fishermen so we wouldnt get "made"

[PhishingPhanatic]

Same thing in Monroe County, the times I've called, dispatch usually tells me there aren't any nearby officers, but call the Sherriff and a deputy usually shows up quickly.

[snook87]

FWC in martin county have this lady that answers the phone and argues with you about what you are reporting. Last time I told her to get off her butt quit trying to tell me what I saw. Heck lady I saw it i called you and then you argue with me for 15 minutes?????

I have had more bad experiences with calling FWC than positive ones. But, that should not stop you from trying. Hope you have better luck than me.

I know who you are talking about. I've called before, same lady wanted to argue, she didn't have the officers available to respond right away and said if they get another call in the future about the person I was reporting about then they will get out right away, so I hung up, called 911 and a deputy on the water and land came, they questioned the person and found 58 poached lobsters and 3 Goliath groupers speared in the boat... FWC called me 2 hours later, same lady who I called before(not knowing I just spoke to her) and wanted to get my statement, told her who I was and her tone quickly became more interested. Told her to ask the sheriff for my statement. Hour later a sheriff and Fwc came to my home to appologize and thank me for my call to them. The Fwc officer that came was a great guy and very professional.

If Fwc is not able to respond within 5-10 mins or you think they won't get there in time to catch them, call 911.