FWC weekly report
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
This report represents some events the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission handled over the past week
in the Northwest Region.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Officer Steve Hoomes completed an investigation involving
a night hunting incident that occurred earlier in the month.
Officer Hoomes and Lt. Doug Berryman responded to a
complaint of night hunting and located a vehicle leaving the
area. The subjects admitted to shooting a handgun, but
denied trying to kill a deer. After successfully
interviewing the suspect and witness, the officers received
a confession. The suspect saw a deer on the shoulder
of the highway and pulled over to shoot it with his .45
caliber pistol. The round apparently missed the deer.
Officer Hoomes filed charges of attempting to take deer
after legal shooting hours and discharging a firearm from a
paved pubic right of way. The suspect turned himself
in and Officer Hoomes booked him on the charges.
Officer Joe Murphy was working night hunting in north
Santa Rosa County when he observed a truck approach.
The occupants of the truck used a light to shine the field
in a manner capable of disclosing the presence of deer.
As the vehicle left the field Officer Murphy stopped the
vehicle and discovered the occupant was in possession of a
rifle. Officer Murphy seized the gun and light and
issued the subject a notice to appear for attempting to take
deer at night with a gun and light.
Officer Joe Murphy was working in Blackwater Wildlife
Management Area when he observed a truck without a tag
displayed. He stopped the truck and asked the driver
for the registration, insurance information and driver
license. The subject admitted that he did not have any
of that. Officer Murphy issued the driver citations
for the violations.
Officer Royce Johnson was on patrol in Blackwater
Wildlife Management Area when he observed a hunter standing
in the roadway of a paved public road with a firearm.
There were dogs pursuing deer in the area and the hunter was
hunting on the right of way. Officer Johnson issued a
notice to appear for road hunting.
Later, Officer Johnson located another subject hunting
from his vehicle on the right of way. This hunter had
a loaded rifle in the vehicle and was parked next to the
pavement. Officer Johnson issued a notice to appear
for road hunting.
WALTON COUNTY
Officer Cromwell Letcher responded to a complaint of
someone shooting from the right of way on Bay Loop Road in
Freeport. Through his investigation, Officer Letcher
located the subject that had been shooting and another man
that helped retrieve a harvested deer. Officer Letcher
obtained written statements from both men and issued the
shooter a citation for taking wildlife from a public road or
right of way.
Officers Van Barrow and Danny Arnette made contact with a
subject in the Paxton area who was sitting after hours in a
tree stand with a bow and rifle. He claimed to be
exercising a deer depredation permit issued for a field of
peanuts. The 25‑acre field did not contain any planted
peanuts. An inspection of the property failed to
produce signs of active depredating. However, the
inspection did reveal a pile of corn approximately 25 yards
from the subject's tree stand. The subject was issued
a citation for violation of the permit and hunting after
hours.
LEON COUNTY
K-9 Officer Jeff Babauta and Officer Charlie Mallow set
up a replica deer on the southwest side of Leon County.
This was in conjunction with a detail targeting illegal road
hunting in the Apalachicola National Forest. The two
officers were there just minutes when a subject traveling
through the area spotted the replica and shot at it.
The subject was charged for taking deer from right-of-way
and discharging a firearm from a public roadway. The
subject's Winchester .308 rifle was seized as evidence.
RESOURCE PROTECTION UNIT (RPU) WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
FRANKLIN COUNTY
RPU Officer Travis Huckeba was working information of an
illegal bait site given to him by uniform patrol.
Officer Huckeba and Capt. Craig Duval located the suspect's
truck in Tate's Hell Wildlife Management Area. Once
there, Officer Huckeba posed as another hunter and closed
the distance on the suspect who was in a tree stand.
While approaching the bait site, the hunter yelled to him,
"Hey man, you didn't see my truck parked in the road!"
thinking he was another hunter. At this point, Officer
Huckeba identified himself and ordered the suspect to unbolt
his gun and come down from the tree stand. The hunter
complied and was charged with hunting over bait in a
management area.
LIBERTY COUNTY
RPU Lt. Kent Harvey and RPU Officer Ben Johnson were
working the Apalachicola National Forest assisting uniform
patrol with a detail. The officers worked to blend in
with hunters actively pursuing deer with dogs along Forest
Highway 13. During the hunt, the officers observed a
hunter pull into a closed area waiting for the dogs to push
the deer his way. After observing for several minutes,
the officers approached the subject and identified
themselves. Subsequent investigation revealed the
hunter was on a road closed to vehicle traffic.
Officer Johnson issued the hunter a citation for operating a
motor vehicle on a closed road in the Apalachicola Wildlife
Management Area.
LEON COUNTY
RPU Lt. Kent Harvey and RPU Officer Ben Johnson assisted
uniform patrol with campsite checks in the Apalachicola
National Forest and entered several campsites at the Otter
Creek Camp. Lt. Harvey and Officer Johnson approached
a campfire at one camp with several subjects around it.
Once in, officers identified themselves and the purpose for
the visit. Lieutenant Harvey asked all hunters in the
party if there were any deer or ice chests in camp.
The party members replied no and a subsequent search
revealed untagged deer meat in one ice chest in a truck
parked in the corner of the camp. Once bringing this
to the hunter's attention, he stated the deer had been
killed a week ago. Subsequent investigation revealed
further mitigating factors and Officer Johnson issued the
hunter a citation for possession of deer meet with no sex
evidence.
WAKULLA COUNTY
RPU Lt. Kent Harvey was contacted by FWC Investigations
to assist in a commercial dumping case they had been working
in the Apalachicola National Forest. Lt. Scott Runkle met
Lieutenant Harvey and showed him three different dumpsites
where deer and hog carcasses had been dumped. Some sites
contained as many as 15 to 20 carcasses. Investigations had
been actively working surveillance on the locations but had
not come up with any contacts. Lieutenant Runkle asked
Lieutenant Harvey and Investigator Eric Johnston to go to a
commercial deer processing business located 1/2 mile from
the three dumpsites and conduct an inspection. Upon
arrival, both officers identified themselves, conducted an
inspection on the cooler, and found some violations.
Subsequent investigation and interview with the owner
revealed evidence connecting the processor with the
dumpsites. During the interview, the owner admitted to
dumping deer and hog carcasses at the three sites since bow
season. After giving a written statement, the owner of
the deer processing business was charged with littering and
given a court date.
During the inspection of this commercial deer processing
business, Lieutenant Harvey located two doe deer not
properly tagged in the cooler. Inspection of the deer
processor's records revealed that the two doe deer had been
taken out of season. The processor could not provide a
location of where the deer had been taken or any antlerless
deer permits for the doe deer. The deer were seized
along with information on the subject who brought the two
doe deer to the processor. Lieutenant Harvey located
the hunter who killed the two doe deer and conducted an
interview with him at the hunter's residence. During
the interview, the suspect confessed to killing the two doe
deer on January 24 and 25. Subsequently, the hunter
gave a written statement stating his intent and confessing
to the crime. The suspect was also issued a warning
for hunting without a license.