Wildlife Crime: Conservation Officers' Perceptions of Elusive Poachers

State conservation officers are law-enforcement agents responsible for enforcing fish and wildlife laws. An important aspect of their job is the identification and apprehension of poachers. This descriptive study sought to identify, from the perspective of conservation officers, the most elusive poachers. In order to elucidate the vagaries surrounding this type of illegal activity, Kentucky state conservation officers were asked to identify the most difficult type of poacher to apprehend, and a categorization of elusive poachers was created based on their responses. Categories included the back door hunter/poacher, the experienced/habitual poacher, the opportunist poacher, the trophy poacher, the poacher who mixes up his schedule, and the quiet one.