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.
NORTHWEST REGION
Escambia County
Lt. Brian Lambert and Capt. Mary Sumner were on water patrol in Perdido Bay. A vessel was stopped for a boating safety inspection and the operator was found to be in possession of two 9-½ inch redfish fillets. Lieutenant Lambert issued a citation for the violation.
Officer Faris Livesay observed a turkey hunter hunting between two areas of scattered grain. Officer Livesay issued a citation for the violation.
Officers Ben Pineda and Andy Berrey received a complaint of a man operating a vessel and pulling his anchor in the no wake zone of the Intracoastal Waterway (Galvez Landing). When the officers arrived on scene, they observed the described vessel beached on shore with a man sitting on it. The man proceeded to go into a bar. Officer Berrey made contact with him in the bar where the man was drinking a beer, and warned him not to operate his vessel again until he sobered up. Approximately 30 minutes later, the officers observed the man get into his boat and proceed to operate his vessel. He began plowing through the wake zone and they made contact with him again. The subject had difficulty standing and walking. He was subsequently arrested for Boating Under the Influence (BUI) and transported to the Escambia County Jail.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Officers Joe Murphy and David Jernigan were checking turkey hunters when they observed a truck parked near a food plot. After tracking the hunter to the food plot, they observed him prepare to leave the area. They observed corn scattered in and around the food plot, between the hunter and his decoy. The subject was issued a citation for hunting turkeys over bait.
Officer Howard Jones was on water patrol near the boat ramp at Navarre Beach where he observed a man on a personal watercraft leave the beach and run through the idle speed zone at a high speed. The officer followed with lights and siren activated, and after a considerable distance, the operator finally stopped. Officer Jones noticed signs of impairment and took the boat operator to shore where field sobriety tasks were conducted. The operator was arrested and transported to the Santa Rosa County Jail where a breath test was administered, resulting in a breath alcohol level of .182 and .176. The boater was booked into jail for operating a vessel with an unlawful breath alcohol level, and was also charged with violation of the idle speed zone.
Okaloosa County
Lt. Mark Hollinhead and Officers Darrell Johnson and Randall Brooks checked an area baited for turkeys with blinds set up near the bait. Lieutenant Hollinhead and Officer Johnson checked the first blind, which had one hunter in it with cracked corn and a feeder approximately 15 yards from the blind. Officer Brooks later located a different hunter near another feeder and observed him shoot a turkey as it approached the feeder. Both subjects were cited for attempting to take turkeys within 100 yards of a game feeding station. As the officers exited the property, they tracked another hunter to a blind and feeder on adjoining property, but the hunter had already left the area. Signs around the feeder indicated that someone had shot at a turkey from the blind.
Lieutenant Hollinhead and Officer Danny Arnette returned to the property and located the hunter they missed the day before. The subject at first denied hunting from the blind but later admitted he shot at a turkey from the blind and missed. Charges for attempting to take turkeys within 100 yards of a game feeding station will be direct-filed through the State Attorney’s Office.
In January 2011, Officer Webb issued a written warning to a sailboat operator for failure to transfer his vessel title ownership. This week, Officer Webb cited the same sailboat operator for pulling anchor and endangering docks in Joe’s Bayou. The operator had not yet completed the vessel title transfer, so he was also cited for the title violation.
Jackson County
Officer Scott Cassels worked a baited area the opening morning of spring turkey season. Three hunters arrived around daylight armed with a video camera and three shotguns. They quickly built a brush blind within 25 yards of the bait and began calling to a gobbler they heard in the distance. After about an hour with no luck, the three began to move positions. At this time, Officer Cassels made contact and issued citations for hunting over a baited area and for no hunting license.
RESOURCE PROTECTION UNIT (RPU) WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
LEON COUNTY
Plain-clothes officers located areas baited for harvesting turkeys prior to opening day of turkey season. On opening morning, the officers set up surveillance and watched two hunters enter the baited sites and start calling for turkeys. The officers identified themselves and cited the two suspects for attempting to take turkeys over bait.
Plain-clothes officers have been monitoring freshwater fishing on Lake Iamonia. The speckled perch have been biting aggressively and several complaints were received concerning bag limit violations. The officers cited three different individuals for harvesting over the bag limit of speckled perch. Bag limit cases ranged from 10 to 30 fish over the bag limit. One suspect was caught twice within three days for the same bag limit violation.
WAKULLA COUNTY
Plain-clothes officers located an area baited for turkeys prior to opening day of turkey season. On the second day of the season, the officers located an individual hunting over the bait and using an electronic call. They identified themselves to the suspect and cited him for attempting to take turkeys over bait and using an electronic call.
FWC officers conducted compliance checks on commercial blue crab harvesters at crab houses. During the inspections, they found two commercial crabbers in possession of over 30 female egg-bearing crabs. The fishermen were cited and the crabs were returned alive to the water.
Plain-clothes officers were on water patrol in the St. Marks River near Newport when they stopped a boat for a fisheries inspection near the Highway 98 Bridge. During the inspection, the officers noticed a strong odor of marijuana on the occupants in the boat. A subsequent search revealed the two fishermen were each in possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. Uniformed patrol was called to assist and Officer Jamie Holcomb cited the two suspects for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Gadsden COUNTY
FWC officers located an area baited for turkeys prior to the opening day of turkey season. During surveillance of the bait site, the officers observed a hunter shoot a turkey over the baited site. The officers identified themselves, and cited the hunter for hunting turkeys over bait and seized the turkey as evidence.
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