By MARK WILSON Courier & Press staff writer 464-7417 or
mwilson@evansville.net
January 13, 2006
Three juveniles are facing a total of 123 misdemeanor charges for
illegal hunting in Warrick County.
The youths were allegedly hunting at night using artificial light,
shooting the deer and leaving them where they fell, said Indiana
Conservation Officer Mike Kellner.
The charges were filed after a yearlong investigation into the
shootings, which happened between September 2004 and November 2005.
Conservation officers first became aware of the shootings in January
2005, when they received a complaint of several dead deer in the Red
Brush Road area of southeast Warrick County, Kellner said. Evidence
pointed to what he called "indiscriminate road hunting." Despite
frequent nighttime patrols in the area, officers continued receiving
complaints into the spring.
After another complaint in November, conservation officer Eric Stamps
was patrolling Fleming Road when he saw a vehicle shining a secondary
light into a field. Stamps stopped the vehicle and found two juveniles
inside with a firearm that was the same type believed to have been used
in the January deer shootings. Further investigation uncovered a third
juvenile also involved in the shootings.
The charges include use of an artificial light while possessing a
firearm, hunting from a public roadway, hunting with the aid of a motor
vehicle, hunting deer in closed season, illegal taking of deer, using a
firearm for illegal hunting and wanton waste.
Kellner said the majority of the deer shootings were done with a .22
caliber rifle, which is illegal for hunting deer in Indiana.
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