Local Hunter Fined for Using Bait to Attract Ducks
Contacts
Thomas J. Healy 413-253-8274
Diana Weaver 413-253-8329
On Monday, United States Magistrate Judge Leonard P. Stark of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware fined William Bryant of Nottingham, Pa., $1,000 after he pleaded guilty to baiting a pond to lure waterfowl for hunters. Bryant faced up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine for the federal misdemeanor.
Corn found in a shallow pond near Milford, Del., shortly before duck hunting season a year ago alerted a state law enforcement agent to the possibility of illegal baiting. Federal regulations govern waterfowl hunting, and they prohibit placing bait such as grain or corn to entice waterfowl to hunters.
"Baiting removes the fair chase from hunting and provides an advantage over people who hunt legally," said Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Healy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region Office of Law Enforcement.
MORE
Bait/2
Together, the Service and the Delaware Natural Resources and Environmental Control Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Section investigated the baiting during the 2006 - 2007 waterfowl hunting season. Agents documented Bryant placing, on three separate occasions, whole kernel corn in the pond, located on property leased by a hunt club. Shortly afterward, Bryant and others hunted the baited pond.
Fish and Wildlife law enforcement agents subsequently issued federal violation notices to four men. Three Dover men received violation notices, and each paid a $325 fine for hunting migratory game birds using bait. One Delran, N.J., man paid a $550 fine for the baiting violation and for hunting without a federal waterfowl stamp and possessing lead shot, which has been banned for 16 years.
Bryant has been a member of the Tall Pine Club, Inc., a hunt club, for more than 30 years. In January 2007 the club revoked Bryant's waterfowl hunting privileges for two years.
Lesley Frieder Wolf, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
