From today's Chicago Tribune (July 18, 2004) Metro section..............

By Jon Yates, Tribune Staff Reporter

An Indiana hunting lodge owner has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly drugging white tail deer, putting them in pens, then allowing wealthy customers to shoot them, sometimes for as much as $20,000 per animal.

Federal officials last week charged Russell G. Bellar, 49, of Peru, Ind., with dozens of violations of wildlife statutes.

The 38-count indictment also names Hinds Tom Jones, 36, of Edwars, Miss., who served as Bellar's manager at the 1,200 acre hunting preserve near Peru, about 150 miles southeast of Chicago.

Prosecuters allege Bellar and Jones conducted at least 51 illegal hunts on the property since January 2001, sometimes allowing people to pick out the deer they wanted to kill in advance. The indictment alleges that some of the hunters were not licensed to hunt in Indiana, used illegal weapons such as crossbows and rifles, hunted out of season and used bait to lure the animals.

Customers pais $4,000 to $20,000 to shoot the deer, investigators said, and sometimes tranquilized the animals to move them. The men then gave the deer drugs to wake them before they were shot, investigators said. "It was not sporting at all," said Stephen Sellers of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "That is not hunting."

Some of the animals were then illegally shipped over state lines, the indictment says. The men were also charged with lying to federal agents.

Messages left for Bellar at the lodge were not returned. A woman who answered the phoneat his house sais he was gone for the day. A message left at Jone's home was not returned.

On its Web site Bellar's Place promises the "hunt of a lifetime," with fine accomodations and the thrill of hunting trophy whitetail deer."Investigators say Bellar's advertised itself as the largest deer hunting ranch in Indiana and boasts of having more than one deer per acre.

Investigators said the lodge caters to high-end clientele. "It's people who want to hunt for trophies... It's more of a luxury-type hunt," said Joseph Van Bokkelen, U.S. attorney for the Northern Indiana District of Indiana

No hunters have been charged in the case.

END.

Questions I'm kinda wondering about...........

1. What exactly is a "luxury-type hunt" Jeeves?

2. No "hunters" have been charged in the case? No "hunters" ever will be charged in the case either. Because folks who do this kinda crud ARE NOT HUNTERS!

I HOPE THESE DIRTBAGS GET THEIRS!

Uncle Matt (in IL)