Idiocy truly is something reserved for the poaching community, which I would like to add, has nothing to do with the hunting community, despite what some news sources would like to label it as.
This sentiment was apparent after an Ontario man decided he was going to illegally get himself a bird last spring but wasn’t quite able to nail the getaway portion of his plan.
According to the Ontario Conservation Officers Association, a Toronto man pleaded guilty and was slapped with a number of fines after he got into a car accident while attempting to leave the scene of a crime. Well, a few crimes.
Court documents revealed that on May 1, 2016, the Ontario Provincial Police were called to a motor vehicle accident outside of Fenlon Falls. While investigating the cause of the crash, police officers uncovered a dead female turkey, hunting equipment and a pair of firearms in the trunk of the vehicle.
With the presence of wildlife, police enlisted the aid of Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry officers. It was later determined that this fellow was trespassing on private property when he shot the turkey using a .22 caliber rifle and the accident was directly caused by the man fleeing the area.
All told, the unnamed poacher was fined $1,000 for trespassing while in possession of a firearm, $1,000 for killing a wild turkey with an illegal firearm and an additional $500 for unlawfully killing a hen turkey.
The accused was also ordered to forfeit both the rifle and the bird.
