In separate cases, two California men who unlawfully attracted deer using a bait pile and an automatic deer feeder and then each shot a buck will pay “enhanced” fines for their illegal and unethical actions.
In an El Dorado Superior Court, Myron Barry Woltering, 66, of Granite Bay pled no contest to one misdemeanor count of taking deer over bait. Because it was a trophy class 6×4 buck, the penalties were enhanced.
Woltering was fined $17,500, will receive three years’ probation, be prohibited from hunting for three years, and forfeit all seized items, including his archery equipment used in the crime, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced last week.
A month earlier, the CDFW reported that William Vaden, 70, of Elverta pled no contest to baiting deer and unlawful take of deer out of season, and admitted the trophy allegation. He will serve 90 days of alternative sentencing, pay the enhanced fine of $20,000, forfeit most of the seized items and serve three years’ probation, during which time he is not allowed to hunt.
Also on FTW Outdoors: Poacher of trophy deer faces felony, big fine by less than an inch
A California state law to enhance poaching penalties went into effect July 1, 2017 as a tool to deter poaching and punish violators for serious poaching crimes.
“California hunters have long considered baiting for deer a violation of fair chase principles,” said David Bess, CDFW Deputy Director and Chief of the Law Enforcement Division. “The Legislature and Fish and Game Commission enacted laws and regulations to prohibit the act, then took it a step further to enhance the penalties associated with conviction of baiting trophy class deer.
“As more and more would-be poachers see poaching convictions with these enhanced penalties, we hope they will be deterred from poaching the largest deer out of these local herds.”
In the Woltering case, wildlife officers conducted surveillance throughout the 2018 deer hunting season and observed the archery hunter repeatedly adding food to a bait pile on his property in Pilot Hill in El Dorado County. He used alfalfa, corn, other grains and salt licks to attract the deer.
The officers used surveillance, a review of mandatory hunting report records and search warrants at Woltering’s home, business and property where the baiting was taking place. They were able to prove he poached a very large trophy buck over the bait.
In the Vaden case, a wildlife officer observed what appeared to be an automatic deer feeder in El Dorado County. For more than a year, the officer monitored the place to see if illegal deer feeding for the purpose of poaching was occurring and it was. When presented with the evidence, Vaden confessed to the feeder as bait and killing a trophy class deer on the property.
“Baiting cases involve persistent investigative work on the part of a wildlife officer,” said the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Lt. Stacey LaFave. “Early mornings, long hours of surveillance and keen observations are required to make a case.”
In these cases, that persistence paid off.
Photo of two bucks feeding at a bait pile caught on a trail camera, evidence seized in the Woltering case, and two generic deer in the snow provided by the CDFW.
