Texas Ranch fined $120,000!!!

[Nemont]

Ranch hit with $120,000 fine for baiting waterfowl to hunt
Associated Press

DALLAS - Federal authorities levied a $120,000 fine against an East Texas ranch for hunting ducks over a baited area in violation of federal laws.

The Lockridge Ranch in Anderson County is owned by the family trust of Edwin L. Cox Sr., after whom the business school at Southern Methodist University is named and whose son, Edwin L. Cox Jr., was chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in the 1980s.
In addition to the fine, the Cox family trust agreed that waterfowl hunting would be prohibited on the property through the end of 2007.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tyler agreed not to prosecute any Cox family members or ranch employees.

Federal law enforcement officers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided the ranch in November after receiving information from a former employee. The baiting appears to have gone on for at least the past five years, authorities said.

Prosecutors said they had evidence the ranch bought 95,000 pounds of grain sorghum from 1999 though late 2004.

Baiting migratory waterfowl is prohibited to protect game birds from overharvesting.

Steve Hamilton, a Fort-Worth-based agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, called it one of the larger bait-related cases he has seen.

"The baiting activity encompassed multiple years and involved the placement of several thousand pounds of milo grain to attract waterfowl to the gun," Julie Scully, USFWS Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Law Enforcement in the Southwest Region, said in a statement concerning the case.

Through a lawyer, the Cox family declined comment.

 

[noharleyyet]

"after recieving information from a former employee"..pangs of consciousness or disgruntled/dismissed whistleblower?..."The U.S. Attorney's Office agreed not to prosecute any Cox family members or ranch employees."..."Through a lawyer the Cox family declined comment".

Nemont...looks like the grain sorghum cost an additional $1.26 per pound....business as usual in Texas?

 

[crash1]

WOW Thats gona hurt buissness a bit , why don't people just plant corn and when harvest time comes just open up the combine a bit to let out some extra , most john deeres do this automaticly haha . can't call it baiting if you try to harvest it and are doing a crappy job. |oo

speaking of baiting I have a joke I want to jot down , but is a little off color for the regular forum , could someone put in a good word to moosie or one of the other admins , let me join the adult forum .

 

[The Hedgehog]

A couple years ago I spent a week with Ed Jr. elk hunting. I'm pretty suprised to hear of the baiting. My impression was he's a very nice guy and an ethical hunter. I put up several tree stands over waterholes and he'd of been about guarenteed to take a very good bull any afternoon from one of those stands, but he refused to sit in one because that wasn't the way he wanted to hunt an elk. He shot a really nice bull on the 5th day of the hunt, net scored in the high 360s. Most people make mistakes and bad decisions at some points, and at 120K, my guess is that one won't be made again.

 

[Tom]

Pretty bad case. Who did it, some farmer there? Why didn't the family know? My god, it violated their family trust too, it prevented even hunting of waterfowl. Pretty wierd. Texas made poaching a felony crime a while back. This is federal too, jeese.

 

[noharleyyet]

No hunting thru 2007. 120 grand for 5 years of baiting w/ no prosecutions mentioned for a fed. offense. The state wardens might've even been tougher.