This report represents some events the FWC Northwest Region handled Nov. 30 – Dec. 6; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. SANTA ROSA COUNTY Resource Protection Service Officer Kenneth Manning and Lt. Dan Hahr were on foot patrol within the Blackwater WMA when they heard a rifle shot west of their location. The officers knew of a tree stand in that area and walked to its location. When they became close to the location, they heard a person dragging something through the brush. A man walked up to them carrying a muzzleloader with blood on his hands and pants. He admitted he had shot a deer and it was a doe. He then told them that he had seen a cow-horn buck walking the same trail the past weekend, so he assumed it was the same deer even though he could not see antlers. The officers followed the man back down the trail to a freshly killed doe deer. They issued the man a notice to appear for taking an antlerless deer out of season and seized the rifle and deer. Resource Protection Service Officer Kenneth Manning filed charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on a subject who was hunting with a modern muzzleloader over the Thanksgiving weekend. The man was hunting over bait within Blackwater WMA with a muzzleloader that was not an antique or a replica. The man was also charged with hunting over bait within a WMA. OKALOOSA COUNTY Resource Protection Service Officer Alan Kirchinger was working on the Yellow River within the Yellow River WMA when he observed a vessel pull up at an area where he knew some corn had been scattered. After a short while, he approached the area and observed the man hunting over a baited area. The man admitted to putting some corn out, and Officer Kirchinger issued him a notice to appear for hunting over bait within a WMA.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: FWC Report