Park hunter tells his side
April 30, 2011
The Kentucky man who was fined after a hunting-related violation in Great Smokey Mountains National Park called earlier this week to give his side of the story.
Watchdog Earth previously wrote about the case of Jason T. Taylor, age 25, of Edmonson County, in this posting, based on a press release from the federal government.
Taylor told me he had been hired to shoot and kill feral pigs in the park, and the deer he shot was a case of mistaken identity. And he said he shot a bear in self defense.
His mistake, he said, was to bring trophies across state lines back to Kentucky. He wanted me to know that it wasn’t like he was “poaching.”
I previously reported that Taylor pleaded guilty on April 20 to three counts of violating the Lacey Act for transporting unlawfully taken wildlife; specifically a black bear skin and an 8 point trophy set of white-tailed deer antlers, from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to his residence in Edmonson County, Kentucky, according to a press release sent to me today. According to court records, Taylor admitted that he had shot the animals in 2009 while seasonally employed at the Park, the press release said.