September 11, 2018
From ClarionLedger.com
Eleven Mississippi hunters have been banned from hunting for a year, fined and placed on probation after they pleaded guilty in federal court in Jackson to baiting fields to take, kill or possess migratory game birds.
Court documents said Dink Rainey Gibson IV, Richard Carl Boozer, George Mitchell Davis, James Nicholas Davis, John Nick Harrison, Mark Edward Hollifield, Michael L. Parks, Hiram Luther Richardson, Justin Cochran Russell, Preston Lamar Woods and Roger Douglas Woods aided and abetted each other and others by taking or attempting to take migratory birds — mourning doves — by the aid of a baited area.
The illegal hunting took place Sept. 2, 2017, in Scott County.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks says it is illegal to hunt or trap wild bird with the aid of bait.
Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks said on its website that good dove hunting is frequently found where grain and other feed is distributed in the ordinary course of farming activities.It says doves may be legally hunted where grain or other feed is standing or has been manipulated in the field where grown. Additionally, doves may be hunted where the crop is grown for them or other wildlife.
But a hunter cannot distribute or scatter grain or other feed once it has been removed from or stored on the field where grown, according to Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
All the defendants pleaded guilty to hunting in a baited field. Some also pleaded guilty to one additional count.
The last of the 11 defendants was sentenced last week by U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Anderson. All were sentenced to probation for six months or one year depending on whether they pleaded guilty to one or two counts. Each was fined from $600 to $1,200. They were also banned from hunting anywhere until Aug. 21 as part of their plea agreement.
During the hunting season in Mississippi for mourning and white-winged dove, a hunter is allowed to kill 15 during each of the three hunting periods or a total of 45 during the entire hunting period, which ends Jan. 31.