Gov. Mark Dayton is proposing more stringent penalties and longer license revocation periods for poaching in Minnesota in response to recent egregious violations.
Dayton said Friday he wants to implement a felony-level penalty for poaching and revoke game-and-fishing licenses for 10 years, an increase from the maximum five-year revocation and gross-misdemeanor penalties now in place.
The proposed sanctions would apply to those who illegally take a restitution value of $2,000, or what the law defines as a gross over-limit amount.
The current threshold for gross over-limit is four or more deer, two or more trophy deer, 40 or more ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse or salmon, and 67 or more walleye or northern pike.
Legislators approached the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) earlier this year to draft a bill, said Ken Soring, the agency's enforcement division director. The bill is designed to hold those who intentionally violate the state's poaching laws accountable, he said.
"There is support … to have a more serious consequence [for] violators who go out and shoot half a dozen deer or take hundreds and hundreds of fish," Soring said.
He said even though lawmakers support the 10-year suspension, there is some debate over whether to move forward with the felony-level penalty or keep it at a gross misdemeanor.
Though reports of poaching in the state spike occasionally, only a few high-profile cases are reported each year, Soring said.
