FWC Law Enforcement Weekly Report January 19, 2018 through January 25, 2018

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FWC

 

Division of Law Enforcement

Weekly Report

January 19, 2018 through January 25, 2018

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.

Patrol, Protect, Preserve

NORTHWEST REGION

CASES

FRANKLIN COUNTY

Officer Raker was on land patrol in the Apalachicola National Forest when he observed a vehicle traveling north on Ashley Landing road displaying a light in a manner capable of disclosing the presence of wildlife. During a vehicle stop, a resource inspection was conducted and the odor of marijuana was emanating from one of the passengers. A small glass pipe was found under the seat. The subject was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia.

LEON COUNTY

While participating in the “Steel Curtain” detail in Apalachicola National Forest, Officer Mandrick observed a subject wearing blaze orange and camouflage clothing outside a truck pulled off a forest road. While checking the subject’s hunting license, marijuana was observed on top of the dog box in the bed of the subject’s truck. K-9 Officer Anderson arrived on scene for assistance and located a shotgun hidden in a palmetto bush. The subject was arrested for possession of a firearm by convicted felon and possession of marijuana.

Officer Hildebrand was on patrol in the Apalachicola National Forest when he received a call from dispatch regarding hunting dogs near private property. Upon arrival, he encountered several subjects who stated they were trying to catch their hunting dogs. The complainant had caught two hunting dogs with global positioning collars and it was determined that the hunting dogs had crossed over to private property after seeing the global positioning tracts the dogs followed. Appropriate citations were issued to the two dog owners.

While working a special detail, Officer Peterson discovered two individuals hunting with dogs. After a brief discussion, it was determined that the subjects’ dogs were pursuing deer on private property. The subjects admitted that they did not have permission to hunt the property. Both subjects received citations for violating the Hunter Responsibility Rule.

Officer Peterson assisted Officer Raker with a resource inspection on the Apalachicola Wildlife Management Area. During the stop, the officers noticed blood on the dog box. The subject admitted to shooting a short horn spike earlier that day. The subject took the officers to the property where he cleaned the deer. The subject was cited for taking antlerless deer and the meat and head were seized for evidence.

OKALOOSA COUNTY

Officers Pifer and Corbin, along with Lieutenant Clark, were on vessel patrol conducting boating safety/fisheries inspections in the Destin Pass and observed a vessel returning from the Gulf of Mexico displaying rods and reels. While conducting a boating safety inspection, the officers observed, in plain view, two harvested red drum and a gag grouper. A resource inspection determined the two red drum were oversized and gag grouper is closed for recreational harvest. The vessel operator was cited and issued notice to appear citations for possession of oversized red drum and possession of gag grouper during closed season. The passenger was also cited for possession of oversized red drum.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

While on patrol, Officer Mullins was checking a subject who had recently taken a deer. The subject had a cooler full of fresh deer meat, but the subject did not have the meat tagged and did not possess any sex evidence showing that the meat was from a legal deer. Officer Hutchinson arrived shortly thereafter to assist. The subject admitted to taking a short-horned buck that was under the legal antler size limit for the area. Through the investigation, it was discovered that a second subject had harvested a short-horned buck from this same property a day earlier. The officers seized two sets of antlers, the meat from two fresh deer and two firearms that were used to take the illegal deer along with cannabis and drug paraphernalia. Several charges were filed with the State Attorney’s Office.

Lieutenant Hahr was patrolling the Escambia River Wildlife Management Area at Salter’s Lake after receiving complaints that subjects had been shooting well after legal shooting hours. Lieutenant Hahr heard several shots well after shooting hours coming from a slough between the lake and the main river. After crossing the lake at a shallow area and walking towards the shots, the subjects were located and shooting at ducks 28 minutes after legal shooting hours. Neither of the subjects had a valid hunting license, waterfowl permit, management area permit, federal duck stamp, and both subjects were using lead shot to take waterfowl. Additionally, the subject that owned the boat had not transferred the title to the boat and the registration was expired along with several other boating safety infractions. Investigator Livesay and Officer Pettey arrived at the boat ramp and assisted Lieutenant Hahr. Both subjects were issued notices to appear for taking ducks after legal shooting hours, taking ducks with lead shot, and citations for license violations and boating safety violations.

WAKULLA COUNTY

Officers Carr and Simpson were on land patrol at the public boat ramp at Shell Point when they conducted a resource inspection of duck hunters returning from a hunt. The inspection revealed that one of the subjects did not have a migratory bird permit. The subject was cited for the violation.

Officers Raker and Carr was working the deer decoy in the Apalachicola National Forest near Forest Road 340 when a subject passing by, stopped, and stuck his rifle out the window and fired at the decoy. The subject was cited for violation of the management area rule and evidence was seized and stored in the evidence facility.

Officers Hofheinz and Korade were working the deer decoy in the Apalachicola National Forest near Forest Highway 313 when a subject stopped and looked at some deer tracks on the road in the area. He later returned with other subjects to prepare to deploy dogs. The members of the group saw the decoy and two subjects shot it from separate vehicles. The officers cited the subjects for the management area rule violation and transported one of them to the Wakulla County Jail for possession of a firearm with its serial number removed. All evidence from the case was placed in the evidence facility.

WALTON COUNTY

Officer Bradshaw located a vehicle parked near an area closed to hunting on Point Washington Wildlife Management Area and made contact with a subject returning to a vehicle who had been hunting. An inspection of the area where the subject had been hunting revealed he had placed bait around his tree stand. The subject was cited for hunting in a closed area and was also issued a warning for placing bait on a wildlife management area.

Officer White was patrolling the Briar Creek Unit on Eglin Wildlife Management Area that was closed to hunting due to training activities by the U. S. Air Force. After observing a vehicle parked along a road, he located two subjects hunting. Both subjects stated they had not checked the open/closed status of the unit prior to hunting which is required due to active military missions on portions of the management area. Both subjects were cited for entering a closed area.

Officer Tison was patrolling northern Walton County early in the morning targeting duck hunting on private lands. Constant shooting was heard from one area, and by aid of aerial maps and moving to different locations, he was able to triangulate where the shots were coming from. A locked gate was found to be the entry point onto the private land where the shooting was coming from. Five subjects were seen hunting over a pond. Office White arrived to assist, and upon inspecting the subjects, Officer Tison located whole corn on the edge of the pond to draw the ducks to the pond. The subjects were cited for taking/attempting to take migratory birds over bait.

RESCUES

FRANKLIN COUNTY

Officers Matechik, Sauls, Stephens, Nelson, Raker, and Miller responded to an overdue vessel in the Apalachicola Bay. The subjects left the night before to go fishing in the freezing temperatures. Shortly after arriving at their fishing location, their vessel broke down. After spending 28 hours in the elements, the subjects were located in Lost Creek by the Aviation Unit and assisted back to the boat ramp.

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