I think I'm going to be sick....
07-18-2004, 01:08 PM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Darien, IL
Posts: 6,744
I think I'm going to be sick....
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)
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)
07-18-2004, 03:31 PM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,846
RE: I think I'm going to be sick....
Here in Wisconsin, if you got the land high fenced you can do whatever you want. thats the reason theres so much poaching of big deer in iowa. rich guys want a big mount to hang in the office. big money there to poach big bucks, sell them to these guys. i think high fence hunts are legit, but dont let them in the record books. what these guys were do is totally wrong. hope they get theirs.
slayer
slayer
07-18-2004, 07:13 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: NW Ohio , 5 min from Ottawa National / Magee Marsh
Posts: 2,051
RE: I think I'm going to be sick....
If this proved to be true it is worse than poaching . I think all involved should be taken out back and shot or at least hung by their "short hair".
07-19-2004, 05:57 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: palm bay fl
Posts: 4,504
RE: I think I'm going to be sick....
life just never seems to amaze me anymore......i love hunting , and i'd do anything for a trophy buck, but there's that line......you must never cross.......regardless, if God wants you tot have one, he'll get ya one......if not, i'm just happy being a hunter spending time in the woods
07-19-2004, 06:48 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 2,445
RE: I think I'm going to be sick....
Hold your horses a bit. I don't know the particulars of IN law, but with a high fence situation, the critters inside the fence are basically livestock in the eyes of the law in many states. That means you can legally do whatever you want with them, they are your property. Shooting your cow is not hunting, charging money to let someone else shoot your cow is not selling a hunt.
I have heard a bit about this Bellar guy, and the way I understood it, the hunt was not purchased. It was the stay at his facility, with the opportunity to go "hunting" if you wanted to. We all know that the reality is that folks were basically paying to hunt, but what Bellar was doing may be legal.
I don't condone any high fence operation. Don't believe everything you read in the paper.
I have heard a bit about this Bellar guy, and the way I understood it, the hunt was not purchased. It was the stay at his facility, with the opportunity to go "hunting" if you wanted to. We all know that the reality is that folks were basically paying to hunt, but what Bellar was doing may be legal.
I don't condone any high fence operation. Don't believe everything you read in the paper.
07-19-2004, 12:04 PM
#8
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Darien, IL
Posts: 6,744
RE: I think I'm going to be sick....
Paying for the stay at the facilty with the opportunity to go "hunting" if you wanted to?
Just how exactly does that work? Would it work with prostitution? I just rented the room with an "opportunity" to........?
I think if the feds had undercover guys in there (they did) and came up with 30+ counts on the indictment there's plenty to this.
I think hunting inside of any kind of enclose constructed of man made materials or even an enclosure made up of trees by man is not fair chase.
Uncle Matt (in IL)
Just how exactly does that work? Would it work with prostitution? I just rented the room with an "opportunity" to........?
I think if the feds had undercover guys in there (they did) and came up with 30+ counts on the indictment there's plenty to this.
I think hunting inside of any kind of enclose constructed of man made materials or even an enclosure made up of trees by man is not fair chase.
Uncle Matt (in IL)
07-19-2004, 12:55 PM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 2,445
RE: I think I'm going to be sick....
I don't care for hunting in enclosures either.
From what I've heard, the state has been after this guy for a long long time. They just couldn't stand the fact that he had an operation set up so he wasn't under their thumb. Don't you think it's a bit strange to have undercover agents and feds to boot, just to bring down this one guy. Seems there are better uses of taxpayer money.
I don't know the whole story, and we'll have to wait and see just how many of those indictments stick.
From what I've heard, the state has been after this guy for a long long time. They just couldn't stand the fact that he had an operation set up so he wasn't under their thumb. Don't you think it's a bit strange to have undercover agents and feds to boot, just to bring down this one guy. Seems there are better uses of taxpayer money.
I don't know the whole story, and we'll have to wait and see just how many of those indictments stick.