September 17, 2010
St. Landry man convicted on six deer hunting violations
A St. Landry man charged with six counts of deer hunting violations will have to serve only 30 days of a slx-months sentence.
Herbert David Messer was arrested last December and charged with two counts of hunting deer through illegal methods (snaring); two counts of failing to comply with tagging regulations; and two counts of failing to comply with harvest card commission rules.
Judge John Vidrine sentenced him Tuesday to 180 days, with 150 suspended. He’ll report to jail between Sept. 20 and Oct. 5.
Messer was also fined $1,000, lost hunting privileges for two years and the firearm in possession of the day of the crime and pay $524.54 to the state for each of the two deer.
Messer was arrested aftera month-long investigation in the Blood Bend area along Bayou Cocodrie in Evangeline Parish.
On Dec. 16, agents accessed the area by boat on Bayou Cocodrie. Agents then surveyed the area by foot, which led to contact with Messer, who was on an ATV and in possession of a shotgun loaded with buckshot.
The agents questioned Messer and escorted him along the ATV trails that were in the area, which led to the discovery of snaring equipment that was setup along deer trails in the surrounding wooded thickets.
The snaring equipment was comprised of steel cables utilizing a sliding cable lock system set in a loop fashion that would tighten up as tension was applied to the cables from unsuspecting deer or other wildlife.
Further investigation revealed Messer had placed eight snares to take deer and coyotes and had allegedly used the snares to take two antlered deer on two different dates in November.
Messer led the agents to his residence, where the two sets of antlers from the illegally taken deer were located. Agents seized the eight-point and seven-point sets of antlers as evidence along with the eight snares set from Messer.
Agents participating in the case were Sgt. Scott Fontenot and Senior Agent Steven Vidrine.