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Idiots - Poachers pay price for duck hunting

bronco1

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bronco1

bronco1

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Poachers pay price for duck hunting

Eleven plead guilty in Benton County court

By Bob Hodge (Contact)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

wducks.jpg

A big poaching case in West Tennessee has ended with those involved paying some big penalties.

Eleven of 12 individuals charged with shooting 169 wood ducks - 121 more than the legal two-day bag limit for 12 hunters - have pleaded guilty to shooting over the bag limit and hunting over bait in Benton County General Sessions Court.

They were charged during the September wood duck season after one of the individuals showed cell phone pictures of the ducks that had been killed to another hunter. The hunter who saw the photos tipped off the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Seven were fined $669 plus court costs and were required to pay $2,000 in restitution and had their hunting privileges stripped for four years.

Five of the seven - Joel Rumsey, Chase Scurlock, Jacob Scurlock, Matthew Warren and Jeff Warren - live in Waverly. Brad Mangrum lives in McEwen and Charles Banes lives in Burns.

Bill Mashaw of New Johnsonville and Brian Lee of Waverly lost their hunting privileges for a year, paid $669 in fines plus court costs and have to pay $200 in restitution.

Monty Daniel of New Johnsonville will appear in court Jan. 7 and a juvenile involved in the case was sentenced to unsupervised probation until his 18th birthday.

"I am satisfied with the case and very pleased with the work officers did to bring these poachers to the court system," said Gary Cook, manager of TWRA's Region I. "In the end we can only do that . . . bring it to the court system."

So far Christopher Cole of Camden has paid the biggest price.

Cole was a rookie officer with the Jackson Police Department when he was charged, but did not report the incident to his supervisors. He was suspended from his job Nov. 5.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of shooting over the limit and hunting over bait Nov. 12 and was fined $400, required to pay $2,000 and was stripped of his hunting privileges for seven years.

Two days later he resigned from the police department.

After getting the tip, TWRA officers found the men hunting a pond near the Big Sandy River on Sunday, Sept. 14. The pond had been baited with shelled corn.

Some of the pictures the poachers took with their cells made their way onto the Internet.

Because Tennessee is a member of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, the men cannot purchase licenses in five of the states bordering Tennessee while their hunting privileges are suspended.

Poacher Gets Life: Jimmy Daniel Prater of Waynesboro has been stripped of his hunting privileges for life after his third poaching conviction.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Jones also sentenced Prater to 80 days in jail and he must pay $3,200 in fines and court costs. Prater's offenses include spotlighting deer, hunting in a closed season, falsifying a kill tag and hunting on a revoked license.

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bronco1

bronco1

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These guys will be hunting without a license.  Laws weren't meant for them.

No kidding. They are taking the right to hunt away form people that don't care about the lawful right to hunt.

I am sure after they are caught 3 or 4 more times they might see some time behind bars.

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