One of the biggest bucks in the world has made a man go from hero to criminal in a matter of days. Chris Niskanen of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press tells the story of this massive buck. Local farmers in Cannon Falls spotted a massive eight-point buck roaming around their lands. Reinke, the poacher of the eight-point buck, has already taken two deer that year and was going out for an illegal third one. A farmer granted Reinke permission to hunt on his 395 acres of family owned land. The man who owned the farm had no clue he shot two other deer before and said, “If he broke the law, he deserves to be punished.” The story talks about how the man became the local legend at first. Everyone in Cannon Falls was proud of him and happy because of Reinke defeating cancer and surviving a motorcycle accident the summer before this incident. People gathered around him to take pictures until several reporting’s of poaching had been called in on him. Three different TIPS, or Turn In Poachers, made two DNR officers get suspicious and question Reinke on his hunting that year. Reinke eventually buckled and told the officers he had shot two deer already and this one would be his third. Since he failed to tag the two before this deer, the DNR fined Reinke for illegally taking those two deer and for poaching this third one. The fines grew all the way up to about $19,000, a year in jail, and his license taken away for three years. This story is why poaching should end, because this buck is the biggest eight-point buck ever shot. The sad part is that it isn’t on anyone’s wall, but instead on the wall of shame along with the other deer poached (Niskanen). This touches a lot of hunter in a bad way because this deer could have been another hunter’s big buck that deserved it.
Preaching Poaching Problems
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Zach-Rausch 
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