This report represents some events the FWC handled Nov. 24-30 in the Northwest Region. (There were no cases reported for Wakulla County.)

FRANKLIN COUNTY

  • Officers Hartzog and Forbes were on patrol at Big Bay when they observed several individuals duck hunting after legal shooting hours. The officers conducted a resource inspection and discovered one of the subjects was duck hunting without a federal duck stamp. The officers addressed the violations appropriately.

JEFFERSON COUNTY

  • Officers L. Glover and M. McLeod were patrolling on a rural county road and observed occupants of a vehicle shining a spotlight out the passenger side window. The vehicle was stopped and after a brief interview, two subjects admitted to looking for deer. Two loaded rifles were found in the front seat of the vehicle. Citations were issued for attempting to take deer at night.

LEON COUNTY

  • Senior Officer B. Johnson was off duty in a store when he overheard a subject talking about field dressing an antlered deer and three antlerless deer and was going to take them to the processer in the morning. Johnson observed fresh deer blood and hair on the subject’s pants and shoes. Johnson left the store and wrote the subject’s vehicle tag down. Officer Johnson and Lt. G. Louque drove to the subject’s residence to conduct a resource inspection and interview. While at the subject’s residence, they observed evidence of a deer in the bed of a vehicle parked at the residence. The subject confirmed field dressing an antlered deer hit by a vehicle and admitted to field dressing three antlerless deer for another subject who had harvested them with a rifle. Johnson and Louque drove to the other subject’s residence to conduct an interview. The second subject admitted to harvesting three antlerless deer with a rifle during a closed season. Charges will be filed with the state attorney’s office.

OFFSHORE PATROL

  • While conducting vessel patrol in federal waters south of Franklin County, Officers Hartzog and Forbes observed a recreational fishing vessel with several individuals on board fishing. The officers conducted a resource inspection and observed the individuals to be in possession of out-of-season red grouper, multiple undersized hogfish, and undersized gray triggerfish. The officers documented the violation and forwarded details of the violation to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.