Killing wild game isn't a crime, but selling it is (Tennessee)

[Donna]

Killing wild game isn't a crime, but selling it is


Randy Charles Lindsey had planned to make his living this winter selling the wild game he hunted.
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But the sale of $400 worth of doves to an undercover agent last year has landed the Tennessee man in trouble with the federal government. When he sold the doves he shot, the hunter broke a federal law. As a result, Lindsey, 41, is now a convicted felon and could face jail time or probation for violating anti-poaching rules.

John Rayfield, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the charges are relatively rare. Lindsey shot and sold 300 doves over the course of the investigation, agents said. But the number of doves had nothing to do with the federal charges. Selling one dove is against the law.

The federal ban on selling birds was born almost a century ago, at a time when people decorated their hats with egret feathers and wrote with pelican-quill pens. Much has changed since then, but the need for the ban remains, federal authorities say.

"Once you attach a price to it, you go back to the old market hunting days," said Rayfield, who helped the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency investigate Lindsey.

Recently, investigators have caught poachers in Tennessee selling a variety of game. In a garage behind Rayfield's office, the feds are storing 2,000 pounds of mussel shells that are part of a poaching case. The mussels were among tens of thousands illegally harvested from Tennessee rivers and shipped to Japanese pearl-making operations.

Earlier this month, Michael Ray Kirkland, 50, of Knoxville was charged with offering to sell a black bear rug and stuffed waterfowl to an undercover state wildlife agent at a flea market. It is legal to have ducks and geese stuffed as personal hunting trophies, but it's illegal to sell them. Trafficking in bear parts is also prohibited.

"It can create a slippery slope if you allow (game) to be commercialized" and could eventually lead species to be hunted to the brink of extinction, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance spokesman Greg Lawson said.
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The law is so strict, Nashville hunter and taxidermist Brian Brew isn't allowed to sell stuffed ducks if customers drop them off but never come back to get them.
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Though the rules seem harsh at times, Brew said, they are still needed today to keep sportsmen from targeting certain species.

"I understand where these laws are coming from," Brew said. "It might sting my pocketbook sometimes … but they were made for a reason and they need to be kept for a reason."
Restrictions date to 1918

Federal laws restricting the sale of wild game go back to 1918, when Congress first made it illegal to sell migratory birds. It is also against the law to sell their feathers, eggs or nests.

In addition to those federal laws, state law makes the sale of other hunted animals — anything from bass to deer to bears — a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in jail. If the animal is sold for $500 or more, the charge is upgraded to a felony.

"All environmental laws relate to quality of life and the ability of the government to protect all people and all creatures," U.S. Attorney Ed Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough's office prosecutes everything from mail fraud to violent criminal offenses. By comparison, a dove salesman may seem relatively harmless, but prosecutors say the crime is serious.

"If we allow people to poach and otherwise go unreined … it destroys the quality of life for the other Tennesseans that follow the rules," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Webb said.

Last fall, a state wildlife agent posing as a caterer approached Lindsey about buying rabbits, according to federal court documents.

In September 2008, that agent met Lindsey at his Nashville home to talk about the rabbits. While they were there, the men also allegedly discussed doves.

Five days later, he sold the undercover agent about 150 mourning doves for $160. Lindsey sold almost 150 more doves to undercover agents in four more visits, according to court records. In all, he collected $394 for the birds.

Convictions of violating federal laws barring the sale of migratory birds can carry prison sentences of up to 2 years. Under the terms of a plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending probation or a sentence of no more than six months behind bars for Lindsey.

The federal charge will end his legal hunting career. Lindsey will be a convicted felon, meaning he will no longer be able to lawfully carry a gun.

On Monday, Lindsey is scheduled to appear in state court on several additional charges stemming from the alleged illegal sale of whitetail deer and cottontail rabbits he shot in 2008. Those charges are misdemeanors.

Through his attorney, Lindsey declined to comment on the case.

Wildlife agents believe most hunters know the rules.

"The vast majority of hunters out there are the most conscientious conservationists," he said. "They know the law."