Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 State wildlife officer Brad Kiger, assigned to Franklin County, received a call through the 1-800-POACHER (1-800-762-2437) line stating that a subject in Columbus had a dead deer in his yard. The caller went on to say that deer parts were scattered in the yard and along the curb. Officer Kiger stopped…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 State wildlife officer Jeff Tipton received multiple complaints about someone using a spotlight at night in Champaign County. Many of the nearby residences were concerned about poaching activity. In Ohio, it is unlawful to cast the rays of an artificial light into a field or woods for the purpose of locating…
Division of Wildlife Northwest Ohio – Wildlife District 2 In September, state wildlife officer Michele Butler, assigned to Erie County, received a call from a squirrel hunter at Resthaven Wildlife Area. The caller believed that someone was attempting to bait deer for the upcoming archery season. Officer Butler went to the location of the reported bait pile and found an…
Division of Wildlife Northwest Ohio – Wildlife District 2 On the opening day of teal hunting season, state wildlife officer Reid VanCleve, assigned to Ottawa County, was working at Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area. Officer VanCleve observed two hunters in the marsh. As a wood duck flew over, one of the hunters shot and killed the duck. Wood ducks are not…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 State wildlife officer Josh Elster, assigned to Pickaway County, was contacted by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers to assist with a traffic stop. Troopers informed officer Elster they had stopped a vehicle and discovered a deer head underneath marijuana plants in the trunk. The driver of the vehicle stated they were…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the 2019 spring wild turkey hunting season, state wildlife officer Austin Levering received a complaint of a suspect shooting from a roadway in Knox County. The caller stated that while attempting to call in a turkey, he observed someone stop on the road and fire three shots at the same…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 While on patrol in Franklin County, state wildlife officer Matt Teders, assigned to Madison County, and state wildlife officer Brad Kiger, assigned to Franklin County, were stopped by a hunter who stated that someone was camping and had a large fire along Big Darby Creek. The officers responded and found four…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the spring, state wildlife officer John Coffman contacted a man fishing for baitfish in Fayette County. The man did not have a fishing license and was issued a summons. The man was assigned an arraignment date. During the summer, officer Coffman found the same man fishing in the same place…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the 2018 deer gun season, state wildlife officer Josh Shields, assigned to Union County, received a complaint of gunshots from a property where limited hunting is allowed. Trespassing was suspected. Officer Shields patrolled the area and contacted a hunter who was on the property without permission. During the investigation, officer…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 In May 2018, state wildlife officer Adam Smith, assigned to Logan County, received information about subjects illegally taking numerous saugeyes with a cast net below the spillway at Indian Lake at night. In March 2019, officer Smith observed the same male subject from the previous year throwing a cast net in…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 State wildlife officer Chad Grote, assigned to Marion County, and state wildlife officer Tyler Eldred, assigned to Morrow County, followed up on a potential deer violation in Knox County. While speaking with the suspect, the man admitted to killing a second antlered deer during the 2018 hunting season, and then having…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 While on patrol in Franklin County, state wildlife officer Matt Teders, assigned to Madison County, and state wildlife officer Brad Kiger, assigned to Franklin County, were checking anglers along the Scioto River. The officers observed two subjects fishing up and down the stream bank and contacted them. Both subjects had valid…
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the 2018 hunting season, state wildlife officer Jeff Tipton, assigned to Champaign County, received a phone call from a landowner who was having trouble with a man hunting rabbits on his property without permission. The landowner had confronted the man in the past, but the illegal hunter continued to return….
Division of Wildlife Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the 2017 deer gun season, state wildlife officer Tyler Eldred received information that a trophy white-tailed deer had been harvested in Morrow County by a nonresident hunter prior to purchasing a hunting license and deer permit. Further investigation revealed where the deer had been harvested, and that the same individual…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 State wildlife officer Greg Wasilewski, assigned to Richland County, received a request for assistance from a Richland County sheriff’s deputy about a deer carcass that had been dropped off as litter along a public roadway. The deputy provided photographs and other evidence and a suspect was identified. Officer Wasilewski ran a check of the…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 While on patrol at Deer Creek Wildlife Area, state wildlife officer Josh Elster, assigned to Pickaway County, observed a vehicle driving off the roadway and rutting up the grass in one of the parking areas. Officer Elster stopped the vehicle and asked the subject why they decided to tear up the wildlife area habitat….
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the 2018 two-day deer gun season, state wildlife officer Adam Smith, assigned to Logan County, received a phone call from a landowner. The landowner was calling about hunters who were on an adjacent property. Officer Smith later met with the hunters on the adjacent property after they finished their evening hunt. The hunters…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 In October 2018, state wildlife officer Austin Levering, assigned to Knox County, and state wildlife officer Chad Grote, assigned to Marion County, spoke with a suspect in Knox County about an error in the Division of Wildlife’s licensing system. Upon entering the driveway of the suspect, the officers observed a white-tailed deer in a…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 While on patrol during the deer muzzleloader season, a vehicle was observed by state wildlife officer Brad Kiger, assigned to Franklin County, along the railroad tracks near Lockbourne. This area has had complaints of people hunting without permission and one prior complaint of the same truck returning. The previous complaints said that hunters were…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 State wildlife officer John Coffman, assigned to Fayette County, contacted two men who were filming a web video along a creek. The two men were trespassing on private property. They were drinking bottles of beer and assured their viewers they would pick up their trash when they left. The men finished their recording and…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 After the deer season, state wildlife officer Matt Teders, assigned to Madison County, was examining Madison County landowner harvest records in the harvest database. Officer Teders was able to identify several individuals who had harvested deer and game checked animals as landowner harvest but were not listed as property owners within the county. Officer…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 While on patrol during the deer gun season, state wildlife officer Tony Zerkle, assigned to Fairfield County, contacted a group of hunters returning to their vehicles after a deer drive. After checking licenses and deer permits, officer Zerkle observed an untagged deer in the bed of a truck and asked who had shot the…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 On opening day of the 2018 deer gun hunting season, state wildlife officer Adam Smith, assigned to Logan County, received information about people potentially hunting deer without wearing the required hunter orange clothing. Officer Smith responded to the area and requested assistance from state wildlife officer Jeff Tipton, assigned to Champaign County, and wildlife…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 Just prior to the 2018 deer gun season, state wildlife officer Chad Grote, assigned to Marion County, was contacted about a social media post. The caller said that the post included a picture of a young lady posing with a dead deer and a shotgun. Officer Grote checked harvest records and found that she…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 While checking the deer harvest database, state wildlife officer Brad Kiger, assigned to Franklin County, noticed some discrepancies regarding a deer that had been killed in Franklin County. Officer Kiger noticed that the hunter’s deer harvest history only included deer killed in Muskingum County, so he contacted the hunter. The hunter stated that he…
Central Ohio – Wildlife District 1 During the statewide deer gun season, state wildlife officer Jeff Tipton, assigned to Champaign County, was on patrol when he observed a couple of trucks parked along a country road. As it was getting close to the end of shooting time, he pulled over to wait for the hunters to arrive at their vehicles….
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