FWC Law Enforcement Report: Night Hunting, Drug Charges

February 26, 2018

The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement recently reported the following activity during the  period ending February 8 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

Officer Pettey received information that a group of subjects were catching what appeared to be several hundred pounds of Bonita on the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier. State law prohibits an individual from keeping more than 100 pounds of Bonita unless they have a saltwater products license (SPL). Officers McHenry and Land arrived to assist. Together the officers found five subjects in possession of 1,145 pounds of Bonita without having the required SPL. The officers seized 645 pounds of Bonita from the subjects. The individuals were allowed to keep the remaining 500 pounds as part of their daily limit. The seized Bonita were donated to the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida. Notice to appear citations were issued for the violations.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

Officer Hutchinson received a complaint about a subject who shot after legal shooting hours while deer hunting. When he responded to the area, he located a man at the house on the property, who claimed to have shot a coyote. After further investigation, the man admitted to shooting a buck after legal shooting hours with the aid of a spotlight in the field in front of his residence. Officer Hutchinson located the seven-point buck. The man was charged with night hunting. The deer was donated to the Waterfront Rescue Mission and the rifle and spotlight were seized.

Officer Hutchinson was contacted after midnight by a Santa Rosa County Deputy Sheriff who requested his assistance. The deputy informed him that he observed a truck driving slowly down a road while a spotlight was being shined from the cab into several fields where deer are located. He followed the truck and stopped it for a traffic violation. Once he stopped the truck, he discovered a freshly killed 4-point buck lying in the bed of the truck. Two firearms were in the front seat. Officer Hutchinson arrived at the deputy’s location and immediately recognized the driver of the truck from a previous night hunting case. All three subjects admitted to shooting the deer on the side of the road with the use of a spotlight. A search of the truck revealed drug paraphernalia and illegal drugs. One subject was charged with night hunting and the drug and paraphernalia violations. The two other subjects were charged with night hunting and shooting from a paved public roadway. Both firearms, the spotlight, and the deer were seized. The deer was donated to the Waterfront Rescue Mission.

Officer Lewis located a subject in Blackwater Wildlife Management Area that was hunting over a food plot and scattered corn. The suspect had placed no trespassing signs up at the entrance to the area and had apparently been hunting the area for quite a while. He was charged with attempting to take deer over bait in a wildlife management area.

Officer Mullins received information regarding an illegal deer that had been taken in Blackwater Wildlife Management Area. Officer Mullins and Roberson met with and interviewed the subject involved, who admitted to taking the deer, but stated that it was legal. When asked to see the antlers from the deer, the suspect was evasive and the officers felt he was not being truthful. The officers asked to see the remains of the deer and the suspect showed them buried remains from the deer he claimed was legal. Laying a few feet from the remains, the officers noticed a small set of antlers that matched the antlers from the deer in question. After an investigation, it was determined that those small antlers belonged to the deer the subject had taken a few days before. Charges were filed for taking a deer that did not meet the antler restriction rule.

This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.

NorthEscambia.com photo.


Comments

10 Responses to “FWC Law Enforcement Report: Night Hunting, Drug Charges”

  1. just me on February 28th, 2018 3:48 pm

    @ Lady…. that is by far the best (i mean funniest, crazy, absurd) comment i have ever read in my entire life.

  2. Jake on February 28th, 2018 3:22 pm

    I don’t understand why people are worry ed about what other people do I mean is someone wants to mess there truck up over a deer or hog so be it I mean come on people yall ain’t got nothing better to do then worry about other people an I agree with lady i had a whole Hurd run out in front of me on 97 an at 60 65 mph there’s nothing you can really do an they totaled my truck .as long as no one is running threw my front yard shooting around my house I don’t care what anyone does the fwc is out there an will eventually catch them it’s only a matter of time

  3. George on February 28th, 2018 10:25 am

    Well Crazy I hope you was the person I saw it’s still the fact that some one is running over the wild game all around the area and poaching wild game yeah hogs maybe a nuisance but they still have regulations on how you can kill them unless you have permission by land owner. And the person that I’ve see was running deer down not pigs. I hope the game wardens find y’all because it’s pretty pitiful y’all can go out spend months finding the right spot sit in a tree for hours on end waiting on that LEGAL deer or pig to come within firing range. But no you just gotta run em over at night

  4. Lady on February 27th, 2018 8:36 pm

    There is too many deer causing torn up vehicles so I do no understand why the deer hunting has to be so short. It is. Dangerous to drive on Hwy 97 and even more dangerous on the side roads. They keep letting the deer populate more every year so we have to keep paying for our vehicles to be repaired and let the deer keep multiplying and killing people on the road..

  5. Nokomis on February 27th, 2018 9:36 am

    Tom, I have lease property on both side of Nokomis, I’d like to see those pics & discuss…Jakes Rd. didn’t know of any issues???

  6. Hard worker on February 27th, 2018 9:02 am

    Well CRAZY!!! If you had a job you wouldn’t be riding around trying to run over wild game!! I’ve seen the same looking vehicle on pineville Rd all winter long. You can count on about every night between 1-3 am you running threw my field…. I’m not the LAW but I bet it’s against the law to run over wild hogs with a vehicle in someone else’s land!!

  7. just me on February 27th, 2018 7:14 am

    @ crazy…. Lambert Bridge Rd is off pine barren rd in Mcdavid and connects back to 164. so, if you travel east onto Lambert; turned right going south on pine barren; YOU ARE NOW HEADED TOWARDS MOLINO.

  8. Crazy on February 26th, 2018 9:36 pm

    Well you see GEORGE I don’t live twards Molino an you deffenetlly didn’t see me run any deer over while your making false statemen’s as u see the night u seen me supposedly running deer over it was actually a hog thank you an mind your own you don’t know me if u did u wouldn’t have nothing to say about me

  9. George on February 26th, 2018 11:43 am

    I seen someone in a blue looking suv maybe a Yukon or Tahoe try to run deer over on the side of the road off of Lambert’s bridge road. It had a messed up front bumper I guess from were they have previously done the same thing. I tried to follow them but they hauled butt toward molino

  10. Tom on February 26th, 2018 7:29 am

    Need to patrol around nakomis, at Jake’s and Jones road. There are kids poaching properties on four wheelers and shooting game with small caliber rifles. I have pictures on my game cameras and have appointment this week with law enforcement. Hunters put a lot of time and money planting and doing all it takes to hunt each year to have people trespassing and poaching.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News