A Georgia man claims that the only thing that he and his son are guilty of is trying to be helpful. Georgia police apparently say differently, as the two have been charged for transporting a deceased bear to another state. However, the two men may not have been the ones who actually transported the bear to another state, and their criminal defense seemed quick to point that out.
The two men do admit to baiting bears, but say that they’ve never actually killed one. In a similar fashion to fisherman who catch fish and then throw them back into the lake, the hunters’ dogs chased the bears into trees before being called off, allowing the bears to go on about their business. They even had an eager customer who seemed particularly excited about witnessing a treed bear. The customer was eventually left at the baiting area alone, which is when the trouble apparently began.
The customer called the hunter that he’d hired to help, and informed him that he’d shot and killed a bear. When the man and his son showed up, they say they helped haul the bear into their vehicle before they drove their customer and his bear back to where he was staying. They didn’t see the man again until they were facing charges in court.
In reality, the customer was an undercover police officer from a nearby state. The criminal defense for the Georgia father and son has questioned why the undercover cop was the one who both shot the bear and subsequently transported it to another state, yet they are the ones facing charges. Like any other accused individual, these two men have the right to vigorously fight the charges against them as they seek the most positive outcome possible.
Source: wsbtv.com, “Poaching investigation under fire: Hunters charged for bears that officers killed”, Jodie Fleischer, April 24, 2014