FWC Law Enforcement Report

February 1, 2019

The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the period ending January 17 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

Officer Cushing was on patrol in the Perdido Wildlife Management Area. He entered a gated area and smelled a strong odor of marijuana. Officer Cushing located a vehicle nearby and contacted two subjects who admitted to smoking marijuana and later discovered more marijuana in a plastic bag. Officer Cushing issued a citation for possession of marijuana less than 20 grams.

Officer Cushing was on patrol in the Perdido Wildlife Management Area. He saw an unoccupied truck parked in an obscure place after dark. He saw hunting equipment in the front seat and a few kernels of corn in the bed of the truck. Officer Cushing waited for the operator to return to the vehicle. He contacted the owner walking down the road toward the truck. The individual denied hunting but admitted to placing corn in the management area. He took Officer Cushing back to the baited site and to a location where he hid the bag of corn. He admitted to baiting the area multiple times over the past weeks anticipating hunting deer there. The appropriate citation was issued.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

K-9 Officer Hutchinson and Officer Schmitt were on land patrol conducting resource protection in the Blackwater Wildlife Management Area. The officers saw a truck being operated with the driver and passenger not wearing their seat belts. The truck’s right passenger side taillight was inoperative. During the vehicle stop, the officers saw two 12-gauge shotguns in the truck, one next to the driver and the other next to the passenger. FWC Tallahassee Regional Communication Center confirmed that the passenger was a convicted felon. The passenger was arrested for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The passenger was transported to the Santa Rosa County Jail where the intake process was completed. K-9 Officer Hutchinson recognized the driver as the individual he was currently investigating for violating the antlerless deer possession limit. After his Miranda Rights were read, the driver admitted to killing two does and led the officers to the location of the deer carcasses. K-9 Officer Hutchinson later secured an arrest warrant.

Officer Ramos received multiple complaints regarding Jeeps and four-wheel-drive vehicles off-roading in Blackwater River State Forest. The complainants alleged that the vehicles were intentionally damaging state lands, driving carelessly and disrupting legal hunting. Over the course of a couple hours, Officer Ramos tracked and located three vehicles in two separate locations and issued the appropriate citations and warnings for the violations.

K-9 Officer Hutchinson along with K-9 Zara and Officer Schmitt were patrolling the Blackwater State Forest when they saw a vehicle parked on a closed forest road. Officer Hutchinson recognized the vehicle as belonging to a suspect of an illegal bait site in the Blackwater State Forest. He deployed K-9 Zara who tracked the suspect to his hunting blind. While interviewing the subject, Officer Schmitt discovered the subject was hunting without a valid hunting license, deer permit and management area permit. The subject also admitted to placing bait in the management area and hunting over it. The subject was issued the appropriate citations for the hunting violations.

Officer Hutchinson received a call from a property owner who informed him that he saw a truck with a subject standing in the bed of it shoot into his property. Officer Hutchinson obtained a description of the vehicle from the property owner. He recognized the vehicle description as belonging to several subjects that he contacted earlier while enroute to the complaint. K-9 Zara was deployed and conducted an area search for more evidence. During the search, they located several trees that were struck by bullets along with other evidence. After collecting all the evidence, Officer Hutchinson drove to the suspect’s residence and interviewed them. All three subjects admitted to shooting at deer from the right of way and onto the private property. The following day, the property owner located a dead deer with buckshot in it on his property. The driver was cited for road hunting. The passenger who had recently gotten off probation for night hunting was charged for using an illegal method to take deer, discharging a firearm from a right of way and a felony charge for trespass by projectile.

Officer Hutchinson and K-9 Zara responded to a complaint of road hunting and trespassing. Upon arrival, Officer Hutchinson saw fresh boot tracks leading into the private property. He deployed K-9 Zara to conduct a search of the area. During the search, K-9 Zara located where the suspect shot into the private property, several pools of fresh blood and a wounded deer. Officer Hutchinson interviewed the suspect who admitted to shooting an antlerless deer from the right of way. Warrants were issued for the violation.

Officer Ramos was in south Santa Rosa County checking local landings when he saw two men fishing. He conducted a fisheries inspection of the two men and found them in possession of several mullet and two red drum. One of the red drum measured 30 inches, three inches over size. One citation was issued to the individual who caught the fish for possession of oversize red drum.

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

4 Responses to “FWC Law Enforcement Report”

  1. Don Neese on February 4th, 2019 10:26 pm

    @ Tabby
    Your reasoning is flawed. By the year 1900, whitetail, black tail and mule deer were close to extinction in this country. While our white tail deer have impressively made a tremendous comeback, it has only been through conservation and law enforcement interjection that has brought about this success. If the public was turned loose without restraint from LEO you’d be lucky to find a sparrow.

  2. Tabby on February 4th, 2019 6:12 am

    @Don Neese–Wow. Wouldn’t have anything to hunt huh ? It’s sure a good thing about half as many people hunt per Capita as compared to the 1960’s. And with the FWC est. 34,000 deer taken from zone D last season I may need to catch the 20 or so that feed in my yard every other night so we have a few left.
    Your comment is ridiculous. With the government’s urbanization plans, fewer and fewer people will hunt every year. Of those that do, many won’t be successful as their more focused on gear like padded fingered gloves to play on their phone instead of focused on the hunt.

  3. Don Neese on February 1st, 2019 8:47 pm

    Thanks Officers!!! We’d have nothing left to hunt if it weren’t for you folks.

  4. Niknak50 on February 1st, 2019 9:18 am

    i wonder why dopers think state and federal lands are a safe place to enjoy their addiction. These officers have been very busy.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News