Poacher: If I could catch you I’d kill you
Deer hunter jailed over threat to kill sportsman who dared to challenge him over his shooting activities
THE man who boasted about slaughtering wild deer and posing with his ‘trophies’ on Facebookk has been jailed for threatening to kill someone who challenged him over shooting rights, the Irish Mailil on Sunday can reveal.
John ‘Nogsy’ Nolan is suspectedd of being part of a gang responsiblee for poaching hundreds of deerr around the country.
Last month, he was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to telling the married father: ‘If I could catch you I would f***ing kill you.’
The MoS has learned that the incident happened in November 2012 when Nolan was stopped on Coillte-owned land by a group of hunters who rented the shooting rights for the area for a substantial sum.
Superintendent Martin Walker from Carlow Garda Station told the district court last month that when a member of the hunting group rang Nolan and asked why he had been in the area, he took exception.
Nolan told the man: ‘You f***ing c**t, if I could catch you I would f***ing kill you.’
He was later arrested by Detective Garda Niall Moloney and charged.
Superintendent Walker said the threatened man lives in an isolated part of the midlands with his family and was suffering as a result of the threats.
Judge John Coughlan told the court he took the matter seriously and jailed Nolan for eight months. He is currently serving this sentence at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise.
The investigation into the threat to kill came within the remit of Operation Bambi, which was set up to target illegal deer hunting and is still ongoing.
The MoS previously revealed how Nolan had bragged on Facebook about killing deer. It is alleged that he is one of a gang of deer hunters operating without licences in Wicklow, Carlow and Kilkenny.
It is believed Nolan alone is responsible for shooting more than 100 deer in that time.
The father of one foolishly took to the social networking site to boast of his exploits. He told Facebook friends that the ‘stupid deer’ are ‘like sitting ducks in a field’.
In another posting he bragged: ‘Great stalk this morning I have to say. The longest shot I took ever and of course he dropped like a bag of s***.’
Mr Nolan has also posted numerous pictures of him posing with the dead animals.
He bragged in connection with one photograph of dead deer: ‘They are proper animal to be shooting. I think I lost a stone dragging them three trophies.’
Nolan even defended his gruesome actions online.
When one Facebook friend said she was against the killing of animals, he replied: ‘I am going to cut off his head and put it in your car, haha.’
He also posed holding a rifle and the antler of a dead deer while hunching over a number of the dead animals.
Detectives believe Nolan – who is a butcher by trade – has been using his friends’ guns as he does not hold a licence.
Last November, Nolan was arrested in his underpants at a house in Willow Park, Carlow, where he lives with his girlfriend over his deer shooting.
He and two other men were detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and released the following day.
The three were questioned about suspected reckless discharge of a firearm and also about alleged offences under the Wildlife Act.
A senior source said of Nolan: ‘He was stupid by posting boasts about the deer he shot online.
‘And yet he got an awful fright when the gardaí turned up at his door.’
Deer poachers operate with the help of a high-powered lamp, which causes startled animals to freeze, and an electronic device imitating the call of a stag during the mating season – known as the rut – in October. This lures stags from the safety and cover of heavily forested areas, making them easy targets for poachers.
They leave the dead deer at the scene and using GPS technology return the next day to collect the remains of the animal.
The potential profit that can be made is substantial with venison
‘I think I lost a stone dragging them trophies’ ‘I am going to put the deer’s head in your car’
fetching around €2.40 per kilogram. Deer range in weight from around 45kg to 150kg.
A certain amount of deer are shot legally each year.
It is estimated that about 12,000 of the 32,000 deer shot under licence last year were killed in Co. Wicklow.
It is suspected that thousands more fall victim to poachers.
Director of the Wild Deer Association Damien Hannigan said last year that the deer population was being ‘decimated’ by poaching.