Hunting deer out of season among FWC incidents

MILTON — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission filed these cases between Jan. 5 and 18 in West Florida:

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

• Officer Pettey checked a pair of anglers at Quintette Boat Ramp. He discovered that they were in possession of 120 panfish, 20 over their allowable daily bag limit.

  They received a notice-to-appear citation for the violation.

• Officers Clark and Long discovered a large amount of trash dumped along a roadway in Escambia County. They dug through the trash and found the name and address of an individual they suspected dumped the trash.

  They located the subject, interviewed him and he admitted the trash belonged to him and that he dumped it along the roadside.

  He received a notice to appear for dumping.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

• Officer Hutchinson was working late at night in the Blackwater State Forest when he observed two vehicles with bright lights being shined from the driver side window of the first vehicle.

  As he watched, the driver shined the light into the tree line and across an open field on private property. When the two vehicles stopped at a large tree beside the roadway, Hutchinson pulled in behind them and observed one of the subjects standing in the road shining his light in the top of the tree.

  Hutchison determined that the men were hunting raccoons with the use of a light from a moving vehicle, which is prohibited. 

  Hutchison issued the man who used the light a notice to appear for attempting to take racoon with the use of a light from a moving vehicle.

• Officer Hutchinson and Lieutenant Hahr assisted Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with a night hunting case before the 2017 hunting season.

  The case involved two subjects who killed two bucks in velvet in Alabama at night before the hunting season. Hutchinson and Hahr caught the subjects in possession of the deer in Florida and worked in conjunction with the Alabama officers to make the case.

  Hutchinson appeared in court in Alabama along with the Alabama conservation officers, resulting in a conviction for one of the subjects. The other subject failed to appear in court.

• Officer Jones was on patrol in South Santa Rosa County, in Navarre Beach, where he noticed a man exit an old sailboat that was anchored in Santa Rosa Sound.

  The man boarded a dinghy and proceeded to the boat ramp. As Jones approached the vessel to conduct a boating safety check, the operator of the vessel turned the vessel and began to motor away.

  The subject refused to comply with repeated instruction to return to the dock and returned to his sailboat, where he removed the small motor from the dinghy.

  The operator then paddled to the dock where Jones was located and was placed under arrest for interference with an FWC officer and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail.

  The subject was also issued a uniform boating citation for an expired registration.

• Lieutenant Lambert arrived at Boiling Creek Boat Ramp in Eglin Wildlife Management Area a little after sunset. Two trucks with boat trailers were parked at the ramp.

  A brief time later, he heard several wood ducks fly over and heard multiple gunshots from two locations, one north of the boat ramp and one south of the boat ramp.

  The shooting continued until approximately 35 minutes after sunset. During waterfowl season, ducks can legally be hunted until sunset.

  The vessels arrived back at the ramp — one vessel from the north location and one from the south location. Lambert interviewed the subjects; they both possessed duck-hunting equipment along with wood ducks.

  The subjects were cited and warned for several violations including hunting ducks after hours, unplugged shotgun and various boating safety violations.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Hunting deer out of season among FWC incidents