Aberdeen Trophy Poacher Gets His Due
On September 19, 2007, former Aberdeen resident Danny Titus pleaded guilty to killing a trophy mule deer during a closed season, wasting the meat and hunting without a hunting license and deer tag. On November 14, 2007, Titus was sentenced by Blackfoot Magistrate Charles L. Roos to: $2,149 in fines, his hunting license was suspended for eight years and he must serve 20 days in jail. Titus will serve five days in the Bingham County Jail beginning on the opening day of the deer season in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The incident occurred in October 2006, when Titus shot the deer in a field behind the house he was renting near Aberdeen. He hung it in a shed on his property where the meat from the deer spoiled. He dumped the rotten carcass near Sportsman's Park Boat Ramp on American Falls Reservoir. At the time Titus killed the deer, he did not have a valid hunting license or deer tag.
“Titus killed this deer with an SKS rifle in an archery only unit. The minimum score to enter a mule deer buck in the record books is 170 Boone and Crocket points, this buck officially scored 178 points making it a trophy by any standard,” Senior Conservation Officer Scott Wright said.
The case was solved by two informants who knew what had happened and came forward because they did not think what had happened was right.
“The vast majority of poachers are caught because someone gets tired of them stealing animals from all of us and makes a phone call. It has been my experience that poachers don't stop on their own, they just get worse, until they are caught,” Wright said. “This was a blatant example of someone stealing a once in a lifetime trophy animal from all of us, and Judge Roos sentenced Titus accordingly.”
Citizen's Against Poaching paid $500 in reward money in this case.
Citizen's Against Poaching is a concerned citizen group that offers money to people for information leading to the arrest of poachers. People can call CAP and remain completely anonymous and this time of year, CAP phones are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number for CAP is 1-800-632-5999 and this number is printed on the back of all Idaho hunting and fishing licenses.