Editorial Opinion
by Richard Simms
posted October 10, 2008
) Photo by Richard Simms |
On September 2 Chattanoogan.com Outdoors posted a story that was headlined, Firefighters Charged With Illegal Dove Hunting.
Journalists know that readers are always more interested in reading about various government leaders or representatives who may have fallen by the wayside, especially those who wear a uniform.
Is it right? Should police, firefighters and others be held to a higher standard?
Probably not.
Are they?
An unequivocable, "Yes."
Hence, Firefighters Charged With Illegal Dove Hunting generated lots of interest, among regular readers, and among the Chattanooga Fire Department (where the alleged wrongdoer(s) worked).
The information officer for the Chattanooga Fire Dept. was quick to contact me to say it was only one Chattanooga fireman, not two as I had been told by a TWRA spokesperson. He was right... it was only one Chattanooga fireman. Although another firefighter was cited the same day in a different location, he worked for another department.
So what happened to the Chattanooga fireman, who was in court on Wednesday?
Information which filtered from the fire department indicated the charges were "dropped." That wasn't entirely correct.
The Judge apparently found enough evidence for a guilty verdict, however the circumstances were clearly such that he wanted to give the perpetrator a break.
The charges will be dismissed pending a period of "good behavior" (no further violations), AND performance of community service for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Technically that is a "guilty" verdict... otherwise the Judge could not mandate community service. The firefighter's record will be wiped clean however, provided he meets those conditions.
So what's it all mean?
It means that "dove baiting" is a very complicated issue.
Every dove hunter knows that the fields where you find dove will always have seed on the ground. That's why the dove go there. The question is, how much seed, and what kind? And is it there as a result of a "normal agricultural practice."
The criteria for a baiting case usually comes down to a matter of "degrees" ... when the amount of seed present goes beyond what is a "normal agricultural practice." Of course dove baiting is a federal (or state) violation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has strict parameters on what constitutes baiting... some Feds go to the extent of carrying a 30-inch diameter hoop (like a hula hoop) that is tossed at random and they literally count the number of seeds within the circle.
State officers rarely go to that extent... however they will rarely write a baiting case unless they observe clear evidence that the situation goes beyond a "normal agricultural practice." And I don't know for sure, but I'd bet in the firefighter's case, they had some digital photographs or other physical evidence to back up the citation(s).
It does not matter whether or not the hunter actually distributed the seed... only if he/she was hunting over it. It is not unusual for landowners who are holding a dove hunt for friends, business associates, etc., to be desperate for a good shoot and be tempted to "spice up the field." Then the wildlife law enforcers show up and everybody on the field gets a ticket, even when they honestly had no knowledge of what the landowner did. They simply trusted him or her.
If I were to bet... I'd bet that was the case for this firefighter. It doesn't make the wildlife officers wrong... it is simply a law in which there are cases where sometimes, everyone gets caught in the middle.
Three years ago I was on a dove field. It was a good shoot. The farmer had leased the field to my friend and plowed strips, then broadcast winter wheat seed over the plowed area. It is a normal agricultural practice used to prevent wintertime erosion. The exact same practice that TWRA managers use to prepare most of their public dove fields.
The question in this case, the farmer had then gone back later and plowed the remaining strips and sowed more winter wheat. When he had sown the second time, wheat seed had been broadcast into the areas which had clearly already been sown once before. That equals "a big gray area."
Wildlife enforcers arrived. Four or five of them crisscrossed the huge field for well over an hour. We kept shooting, but it was clear to me (a former wildlife officer) that they were evaluating their evidence.
It was clearly a huge source of consternation for all the officers who huddled in the middle of the field more than once, comparing notes and trying to come up with their next play.
In the meantime, I finished out my limit of dove and then walked over to the officers, some of which I knew.
If I was going to get a ticket, I wanted to make it easy on them. I had already written my own headline, "Renowned Outdoor Writer & Conservation Leader - Busted for Baiting."
After a minute or two of somewhat tense conversation, it was clear they had decided they didn't have the evidence they wanted to warrant citations.
It was also clear to my friend, who had leased the field for friends and business associates, he had best be more careful in the future.
I dodged a bullet that day... the same bullet that hit the Chattanooga firefighter.
So what should you do?
Know, and trust, whoever invites you to a dove hunt. And if you see anything in the field... wheat already sprouted with more seed on the ground, excess piles of grain, etc., you had best leave your gun in its case.
Or be like me and just be prepared to take your ticket like a man.
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