Three charged in illegal hunting on GP Island
By
Hollice Smith
The Daily Sentinel
Published January 16, 2008
Three people have been arrested on three charges each involving
night hunting on Goose Pond Island in Scottsboro.
The charges are hunting deer at night, hunting without permission
and hunting by aid of a motor vehicle.
If convicted on all of the charges, the minimum fines will be
$1,350 plus court costs and subject to condemnation of vehicles and
guns involved, according to Lt. Jim Kirkland of the Alabama Wildlife
and Freshwater Fisheries Law Enforcement Section.
He said the arrests came after Scottsboro Police Officers Dustin
Garrison, Stephen Miller and Lt. James Keller responded to a gunshot
on Goose Pond Island.
The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Law Enforcement Section was
notified and Conservation Officers Kirkland and Allen Yates
responded.
After an investigation, it was determined that two individuals
had been night hunting. Officers also learned there had been a third
individual involved, who had fled into the woods
Names of the three are not being revealed because the charges
they face are misdemeanor charges.
Night hunting is not only expensive when people are caught, but
also dangerous, according to Kirkland, who said at least one
occupied home was shot into last year by night hunters.
“Just about every year, livestock get shot by night hunters when
they are mistaken for deer,” Kirkland said. “We will continue to
work on Goose Pond Island when we have time. I know that Scottsboro
Police Department patrols that area often because we have seen them
several times while we have been working there at night.”
