A Schoharie County man is facing several charges for illegally hunting a black bear in the town of Fulton, one of several men accused of poaching New York State wildlife recently.
New York State Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Kyle Bevis first received a complaint on October 13th about youth hunters afield without an adult in the immediate vicinity.
Officer Bevis responded to the location with Schoharie County Deputy Julia Glass. The officers report that they interviewed the youth, learned more information about the adult subject, and relayed that information to ECO Justanna Bohling for follow-up.
A few days later on October 20th, ECO Melissa Burgess received a call from a complainant reporting the adult subject had taken a bear and posted pictures with the deceased animal on social media.
Working with Deputy Glass, Officers Burgess and Bohling gathered more information, examined the bear carcass at a local processor, and discovered an incomplete tag.
On October 24eth, the Officers returned to where the bear was allegedly shot for a closer inspection and discovered cracked corn and sunflower seeds. Using pictures from social media to confirm the area, the ECOs managed to pinpoint exactly where the bear had been taken.
The Officers drove to the subject’s residence, confronted him with the evidence, and the subject admitted to putting grain in front of several blinds prior to hunting.
ECOs charged the individual with hunting bear over bait, illegally killing a bear, a tagging violation, and failure to properly supervise youth hunters. Tickets are returnable to the Town of Fulton Court.
According to ECO Robert Kaufherr, on October 16th he observed a vehicle parked next to a wooded area closed to hunting in the town of Smithtown in Suffolk County on Long Island.
Officer Kaufherr suspected the vehicle may belong to a hunter and called ECOs Christopher DeRose and Nicholas Perkins to assist. ECO Kaufherr encountered and interviewed the hunter while Officer DeRose deployed K9 KI (pronounced Kai) to track where the hunter had been.
K9 KI eventually led ECOs DeRose and Perkins to a freshly killed, untagged eight-point buck that had been dragged into the woods adjacent to the road. The investigation is ongoing with potential charges for the hunter for trespassing, failure to immediately tag the harvested whitetail deer, and unlawfully killing a white-tailed deer.
On October 27eth, ECOs DeRose and Perkins checked a tree stand in Suffolk County known for baiting and observed a hunter high in the tree, standing backward in his platform, appearing to hug the tree and avoid detection.
The Officers escorted the hunter down and found him in possession of barbed broadheads, which are illegal to hunt with in New York State.
ECOs ticketed the subject for hunting deer with the aid of a pre-established bait pile, placing salt, hunting with barbed broadheads, and failure to possess a signed hunting license.
On November 8th, ECO Justin McGhee checked a previously baited tree stand on State-managed lands in the town of Southampton on Long Island and observed a hunter in the stand holding a compound bow. The Officer also noticed a large pile of freshly laid whole corn to the left of the stand and more corn spread throughout the area.
ECO McGhee directed the hunter to come down from the tree. The hunter stated he was visiting from Virginia and did not have a New York hunting license. The subject’s brother in-law, hunting in the same woods at the time, admitted to participating in placing corn in the area in hopes of “seeing more deer.”
ECO Landon Simmons arrived to assist with issuing tickets to both subjects for hunting over a pre-established bait pile, non-resident hunting without a license, hunting without valid tags, and failure to comply with a regulatory sign.
All tickets are returnable to Southampton Justice Court.
Photo: ECOs Bohling and Burgess with illegally taken bear in Schoharie County (provided by DEC).
ALL of these repulsive poachers should have their hunting licenses revoked. Not that THAT will stop garbage from hunting illegally, but would give officers more charges to file when they are caught next. Also, out of state hunters should have their poaching reported to their home state so they can be monitored there. Personally, I would put “ankle bracelets” on all of this scum.
Conservation officers did an excellent job getting these creeps.
One suggestion: please don’t pose smiling, with the dead animal. There is nothing to smile about in the illegal and unnecessary death of wildlife.
agreed on all points!
If these nitwits want to kill bears, they should run around in the the woods completely naked, with no weapons of any kind and try to catch a bear. That would even the playing field.