(LINTON) – A summons to appear in court was issued to a duck hunter after he was caught by an Indiana Conservation officer shooting at sandhill cranes flying over the Goose Pond Fish & Wildlife Area.
Victor Correa of Indianapolis will appear in Greene Superior Court on March 18 for an initial hearing on a charge of the taking of a migratory bird, a Class C misdemeanor.
According to Indiana Conservation Officer Greg Swanson, he was on foot patrol at Goose Pond Fish & Wildlife Area in the area of GP10 South around 8 a.m. on Jan. 5 when he heard gunshots. Swanson says there were very little ducks or geese in the area, but there were a large number of sandhill cranes flying in the area.
Officer Swanson says none of the areas to the west of his location was open for hunting.
He continued to hear gunfire and around 8:30 a.m., he walked back to his truck to drive west on County Road 200 South. Near the intersection of County Road 1400 West, he located a pick-up truck and two hunters on the south side of County Road 200 South, who were hunting waterfowl.
Officer Swanson says they had a blind set up and had duck decoys in a field.
He added the two Hispanic men did not speak English well and communicated with the men with Correa’s wife on a cell phone.
Correa told Officer Swanson he was the only hunter between the two men because they only had one weapon.
He told police he was hunting ducks and geese and had not shot at the cranes.
During Officer Swanson’s investigation, he discovered Correa was using 12-gauge shotgun shells with toxic lead shot, which is not legal to use when hunting waterfowl. He also found seven expended shotgun shells, with six that had contained lead shot.
