Field operations weekly report, 2007 December 16-22

Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Section
Field Operations
Weekly Report December 16-22, 2007
This report is a broad sampling of events that have taken place in the past week, but does not include all actions taken by the Law Enforcement Section.

Region I- Calhoun (Northwest)
No activity to report
Region II- Gainesville (Northeast)
No activity to report
Region III- Thomson (East Central)
No activity to report
Region IV- Macon (West Central)
No activity to report
Region V- Albany (Southwest)
No activity to report
Region VII- Metter (Southeast)
BULLOCH COUNTY On Wednesday, December 19th Corporal Eddie Akins received information concerning a person shooting at a deer from a public road in Bulloch County. He located the suspect and questioned him about the incident. The eighteen year-old suspect admitted that he had shot at a doe deer. He was charged with Hunting Big Game from a Public Road and Hunting from a Motor Vehicle. He will face arraignment in the January 08 term of the State Court of Bulloch County.
On December 19th RFC Debbie Brannen, Cpl Shaymus McNeely, and Sgt William Vickers investigated a hunting accident. A 20-year-old male was squirrel hunting in a thickly wooded area. His .22 caliber rifle became entangled in some vines and he pulled it toward him in an attempt to free it. The weapon discharged and the bullet entered the left upper chest and exited under the left arm. A friend transported the victim to the hospital.
DNR Law Enforcement was notified of the incident by the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office. The DNR investigation of the incident did not find any violations and no charges were filed. The victim injures were not life threatening and he was treated and released from the hospital.

EFFINGHAM COUNTY On October 27th Sgt. William Vickers was part of a concentrated patrol in Effingham County looking for deer hunting activity. He came upon a pickup truck parked near the gate of a local hunting club. Upon inspection he detected evidence of marijuana in the truck. He called Cpl. Shaymus McNeely, who was patrolling nearby, and asked him to come to his location. Before Cpl. McNeely's arrival the owner of the pickup came to the scene. The pickup truck owner was found to be in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. He also admitted smoking marijuana while hunting deer that morning. The 44year-old suspect was arrested and transported to the Effingham County Sheriff's Office. He was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
TELFAIR COUNTY Ranger First Class James McLaughlin attended a 100-hour Tactical Tracking course at Fort Benning, GA along with other military and state personnel. James was chosen as one of the DNR associates who will be called upon to assist GEMA, Homeland Security and the Governors Task Force in times of need and will bring his knowledge and skills back to train others in the future.
DODGE COUNTY Corporal Johnny Ashe and Ranger First Class Rodney Horne patrolled the Adams Springs area near the Ocmulgee River and checked 3 subjects hunting feral hogs over bait and issued citations according to their findings.
APPLING COUNTY On Friday December 21 Corporal Jimmy Williams and Ranger Chase Altman worked a detail for night hunting. As a vehicle approached their position a spotlight was shined from the vehicle, after it was stopped, three adult male subjects were each charged with Hunting Deer At Night, Hunting From A Public Road, and Hunting From A Vehicle.
IRWIN COUNTY On Friday December 21, Sgt David Reckley heard shots coming from the vicinity of a pond. The shooting started 16 minutes after legal hours for hunting ducks ended. Two subjects were located and charged with hunting waterfowl after legal hours.
On Monday December 24, Sgt David Reckley heard shots coming from a pond in the area where he had previously heard an illegal roost shoot. The shooting stopped at 6:03 PM, 26 minutes after legal hours ended. Three subjects were located and charged with hunting waterfowl after hours and hunting without a federal waterfowl stamp.

ATKINSON COUNTY On December 23, 2007 at 1600 hours, RFC Hutto entered a peanut field on Lonnie road in Atkinson County where four hunters were shooting dove. Four violations were found on the field including an unplugged shotgun and three hunters who were hunting without a license. The hunters were given citations for the offenses and had to discontinue the hunt.
On December 24, 2007, at approximately 0800 hours, RFC Hutto was patrolling Atkinson County for deer dogging activity, when he noticed a pickup truck with a dog box on it parked on the shoulder of the road. At that time he noticed a hunter standing in the road with a shotgun and without fluorescent orange. The hunter was waiting for the dogs to cross the public road as RFC Hutto approached. The hunter was charged with Hunting Big Game From A Public Road and was given a warning for Hunting Deer Without Fluorescent Orange.
LOWNDES COUNTY On 12-15-07 Cpl. Greg Moody and Ranger Keith McDonald checked a baited deer stand in Lowndes Co. The hunter in the stand was looking over a food plot that was planted with rye grass but was also sprinkled with whole grain corn. The subject did not have an orange vest with him. He was charged with hunting big game over bait and hunting deer without fluorescent orange. Because of no orange, he was escorted back to his vehicle.
COOK COUNTY On 12-17-07 Cpl. Greg Moody received a call of someone burning tires in Colquitt Co. near the Cook Co. line. Cpl. Moody informed the Ranger from Colquitt Co. of the complaint and was asked to handle it because he was a few counties over helping another Ranger. Cpl. Moody responded and gave strong verbal advice to the violator. The subject also received a written warning for unlawful burning waste
Region VII- Brunswick (Coastal)
GLYNN COUNTY On December 19, 2007, Sgt Bob Lynn and Cpl Jesse Cook responded to an in-progress possession of over the limit of sea trout complaint at a location off the Turtle River. The complainant advised that an individual had caught 73 trout and was now putting his 74th in the boat. Complainant did give Rangers a physical description of the boat and its occupant. Upon arrival at the scene Sgt Lynn and Cpl Cook made contact with the suspect vessel and a thorough check of the vessel revealed that the subject actually only had 14 trout and was working on his limit of 15. Subject did possess appropriate licenses and safety equipment. No arrests were made.

On the night of December 23, 2007 Cpl. Jimmy Finn received a call from Glynn Co. 911 service stating that someone called in a description of a vehicle possibly night hunting in the area of Harry Drigger's Blvd. Cpl. Finn pulled the vehicle in question over and found 2 individuals in the vehicle and 1 dead deer with a bullet hole in the deer. The subjects told Cpl. Finn that they had found the deer on the side of the road. Cpl. Finn cited the two subjects with possession of illegally taken wildlife and confiscated the deer.
On December 24, 2007 a tip came in from a caller and advised that several trucks with dog boxes were hunting off of Hwy 99. Cpl. Ron Harris, Cpl. Jimmy Finn and RFC Mark Carson cited 6 individuals for hunting deer with dogs on unpermitted property and 1 individual was cited for having no license.
CAMDEN COUNTY On Sunday evening, December 23, 2007, Cpl Chris Hodge was requested by the Camden County Sheriff's Department to assist with a call outside of Kingsland at the Kingsland Hunting Club. Members from the hunting club had seen a subject riding an ATV on the property without permission. Members of the club were familiar with the suspect and also suspected him of hunting without permission as well. The suspect had fled the area where he was first seen, but the members later located him at another location on the hunting club. The suspect had been warned by the members several times about being on the property without permission. When the suspect was located the second time, he did not have a firearm with him. After checking the immediate area, a written citation for operating an ATV on private property without permission was issued and the subject was escorted from the property.
MCINTOSH COUNTY
On December 26, 2007 Sgt. John Harwell was checking duck hunter's at Champney boat landing and cited 1 individual for having no WMA license and Georgia waterfowl license. He also cited 1 individual for not having their personal floatation devices.