Hunting Preserve Raided

[jonny4523]

Am I missing something? It does not specifically state they were hunting deer but it does show a lot of coyotes they are whacking. If they are hunting deer with the "illegal" rifles and / or also trespassing, yes throw away the key, but if they are hunting coyotes with "legal" firearms that would be a different story. Yes they show a few deer heads on the property but all the kill shots shown seem to be coyotes. Last I checked it was legal to hunt coyotes with pretty much anything. I am not sticking up for the hunting preserve but the report doesnt tell the whole story. The thing I am looking at is if they make this a high profile case next they will use it to possibly try to take away rifles for coyotes. I know of several free range (non high fence) hunting preserves in the state. In the off season they open up coyote control hunts. On the preserve hunts basically the owners leases 100's to 1000's of acres from local farmers for the purpose of letting deer hunters come in and hunt deer. Some of these areas are full of coyotes that may be affecting the deer herd. The preserve hunters use the off season to control the coyotes and many bring in predator hunters to do so.

"imminent threat" for using high power rifles?? How many people on this forum hunt coyotes at night with rifles? I would just hate to see a trespassing case turn into a "ban all dangerous high power rifles" case. If this is a case of Felony trespass to take game so be it but it sounds like they are really centering it on the use of high power rifles.

In the article, it mentions that the investigators said "illegal hunting". COs are going to know the laws. If it is lawful to hunt coyotes with just about anything, they'll know that. My guess is that it had to do with deer. My hat goes off to someone that can take down pheasant in the middle of the night, out of the air with a rifle.

They mentioned shooting over roads. I know that on DNR/State owned property, it is illegal to shoot over roads. Don't know if that applies to private land or not.

They also mention hunting from a vehicle and spot lighting, both of which are illegal.

 

[billcollector]

the biggest question is WHAT GAME WAS HARVESTED ILLEGALLY? Once that is answered all other questons are not important. Yes Coyotes can be spotlighted per Indiana regulation, YES coyotes can be hunted with any means. This is either a Turkey or deer poaching case. Those are what indiana considers "The BIG 2" and where they make a majority of the money. Hats off to the guys shooting the coyotes! thin the herd.

 

[jeremy]

I think there is more to this story...

 

[newbomb]

IN.GOV - Entry Details View

Some more info for you all.

 

[Wheezy50]

IN.GOV - Entry Details View

Some more info for you all.

That's what i was thinking......There had to be more to this case than just killing coyotes. Looks like the DNR spent a lot of time to make sure they got all the charges documented and in order.

I wonder what actual punishment they will get. Those seem like a lot of charges but mostly misdemeanors.

 

[Willie]

It is not legal to hunt coyotes on ground that you do not have permisssion to hunt on.

From the road way makes it a double crime.

Shining a light from a vehicle while in possesion of a firearm, bow or crossbow is illegal , even if coyotes are the game pursued.

 

[canav844]

+1 to the DNR for being able to make the arrests on these charges and curtail this behavior, hopefully they'll all stick in court and not be plead down.

-1 to fox59 for inaccurate and blatantly false claims about illegal weapons; as well as ambiguous information about the actual charges, the DNR press release was much more informative, and a good news report should have the facts from the press release in addition to some inquisitive journalism on the reporters part.

 

[cbseniour]

The investigatiors had to get in their illegal hunts before the bust

 

[Aaronhome27]

+1 to the DNR for being able to make the arrests on these charges and curtail this behavior, hopefully they'll all stick in court and not be plead down.

-1 to fox59 for inaccurate and blatantly false claims about illegal weapons; as well as ambiguous information about the actual charges, the DNR press release was much more informative, and a good news report should have the facts from the press release in addition to some inquisitive journalism on the reporters part.

I could not agree more!!

The only thing I don't agree with is the fact that the "clients" didnt get charged as well. If you are hunting Indiana you should know and abide by the laws regardless. It appears that the shooting from the road may have been the imminent danger that ended the investigation. I would hope that they didn't wait a year to bust them so they could build more charges if they felt there was a danger. As said earlier, good job for getting the BG, and the news report should be well, guess that is another story.

 

[Field King]

I have done a quail hunt there and met Jim a few times, everything was up to par and legal when I went, free lunch was provided, he instructed us on his property lines etc. Hope this is all a mistake or a few bad clients ruined it?

 

[Kory]

A year long investigation, sounds like we spent more then enough money on this venture. I don't understand why it would take that long to investigate something like that.

Shopping around for the right judge to sign the search warrant

 

[EvilBlackGun]

What is the DNR really after?

Are they a Gubmint entity? Aren't they LEO? They were not there to assure the preservation of 'yotes or Bambi I'll bet. Nor even to bust the supposed offenders either, I'll also bet (no-body went to jail, did they? yet ) What ends up missing at the end of the story? The guns. Will they even be returned if no-one turns up "guilty"? But let's not second-guess our Gubmint, since they only want us and our chirrunz to be safe. It's possibly only for the chirrunz. Guns are not safe for chirrunz, and may just be "illegal" as defined by the exec-of-the-day. So then no-body should have any. Not even one. Once that trap-door is sprung, the knot tightens swiftly. I wonder how many times the DNR sent spookies into the camp to hunt. Somebody must have forgotten rule #1: don't talk to LEO. Don't go hunting with DNR fellows, if you can avoid it. End of speculative opinion. EBG

 

[TTravis]

I have done a quail hunt there and met Jim a few times, everything was up to par and legal when I went, free lunch was provided, he instructed us on his property lines etc. Hope this is all a mistake or a few bad clients ruined it?

I thought those put and take had special permit to let people hunt farm raised birds beyond the season. I was planning on making it over there for a hunt within the next month or so. They have not been in business very many years, have they? This is disappointing.

 

[AGarbers]

I know the ICO Max Winchell. He is a hunter like the rest of us, knows the law, and is a good man.

 

[Field King]

I thought those put and take had special permit to let people hunt farm raised birds beyond the season. I was planning on making it over there for a hunt within the next month or so. They have not been in business very many years, have they? This is disappointing.

If the information is right sounds like it is history! I liked it because it was close enough to get the dog some work on occasion. Wish they would have toed the line?