# Peru (Indiana) deer farmer trial begins



## TOW (Jan 4, 2005)

His associate pleads guilty in deal to testify

By Rebecca S. Green
The Journal Gazette

SOUTH BEND – The property manager of a Peru deer farm pleaded guilty Monday morning as part of an agreement in which he is to testify against his boss in the federal trial related to a “high-fence” deer hunting operation.

Hinds Tom Jones, of Edwards, Miss., is the property manager of “Bellar’s Place,” a 1,200-acre fenced deer farm in Peru owned by Russell G. Bellar.

In July, a federal grand jury indicted both Jones and Bellar with more than 30 violations of the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law that prohibits the transportation and sale in interstate commerce of any wildlife taken or possessed in violation of any state law.

The indictment charges Bellar and Jones with illegally selling and transporting wildlife across state lines, facilitating the illegal killing and transportation of wildlife, and knowingly providing false information to federal agents.

Jones pleaded guilty to a single charge that he conspired with Bellar to violate the wildlife law. According to court documents, the additional counts from the federal indictment will be dismissed at sentencing. The agreement is contingent on testimony Jones will provide in the trial against Bellar which started Monday morning with jury selection.

The jury of nine men and seven women, was seated by Monday afternoon. In the first day of what is scheduled to be at least a two-week trial, federal prosecutors were able to call four witnesses, including three hunters who had participated in allegedly illegal hunts.

During opening arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald J. Schmid briefly sketched the government’s case against Bellar, using the head of a 12-point buck as a prop. Throughout the remainder Monday’s proceedings, the head remained propped on chairs behind the federal prosecutors.

Bellar hosted illegal “canned” deer hunts, was paid thousands of dollars by out-of-state residents to kill the deer inside his high-fenced property, used tranquilizers to sedate the deer, and used drugs to reverse the sedatives, contaminating the deer meat, Schmid said.

“He violated a whole host of Indiana hunting rules,” Schmid said.

Then, when questioned by federal and state investigators, Bellar told “big lies about big bucks,” Schmid said.

One of Bellar’s three-member defense team, Indianapolis-based James H. Voyles, argued Bellar was raising deer as livestock according to Indiana law.

The issue is a conflict between the federal government and the Indiana government, with neither understanding the plight of the deer farmer, Voyles said.

Lt. Colonel Jeff Wells, the executive officer for law enforcement with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources testified first for the government, and outlined for the jury Indiana’s white-tailed deer hunting laws.

Indiana law prohibits the killing of more than one antlered or male deer during a year, regardless of hunting permits for various seasons such as archery or firearms, Wells said.

The state also bans the use of bait to attract deer, he said.

Schmid also questioned Wells about the state’s definition of a wild animal, a definition that, he said, included “cervidae,” the family of animals that includes white-tailed deer. He also asked Wells about conversations the conservation office had with Bellar about his deer farm.

After Wells testified, Greg Bridgers, a Tennessee home builder, told the jury he paid $3,000 to hunt at “Bellar’s Place” in December 2003, and killed two bucks during the course of his stay.

Wearing a shirt with a pattern of white-tailed deer in a woods, Bridgers testified the first buck he shot had been lying in a small fenced area, and said Jones believed the deer was ill and near death.

According to Bridgers, Jones and Bellar spoke on the telephone about the condition of the deer and Jones said Bellar would allow Bridgers to shoot the buck at an additional cost of $15,000.

“It was an exorbitant amount of money to shoot a deer in a pen,” Bridgers said.

He tried to negotiate a lower price, but later agreed to pay the $15,000 and, went to the pen to shoot the deer, accompanied by Jones and a man with a video camera.

“(Jones) had to literally push the deer … to get it up off the ground,” Bridgers said. “That’s how sick the deer was.”

The deer stood up, and Bridgers said he shot it through the heart. Then the group re-enacted what took place for the video camera, Bridgers said, “as if it was a real hunt out in the wild.”

At the end of the week, Bridgers said he shot another buck, this one evidently malnourished, putting it “out of its misery.”

According to testimony, Bridgers’ hunting license was not credited for the first buck he shot.

Schmid produced for the jury pictures of the two pair of antlers now hanging on Bridgers’ office wall, and asked Bridgers if part of the money for the hunt was paid to get the two racks back to Tennessee with him.

“You bet your boots,” Bridgers said.

Prosecution testimony is scheduled to continue today.


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## TOW (Jan 4, 2005)

Trial starts in illegal deer hunt case

Man accused of letting clients kill sedated animals

By MATTHEW S. GALBRAITH
Tribune Staff Writer 

SOUTH BEND -- As a jury was seated to hear a 38-count case alleging Russell Bellar allowed high-paying clients to kill drugged deer, Bellar's former property manager and co-defendant pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge.

Under the plea agreement, Hinds Thomas Jones is expected to testify against Bellar for the government.

Bellar, of Peru, Ind., went on trial Monday. He's accused of conducting illegal canned deer hunts in which customers selected trophy bucks with large antlers beginning in 2001 at a facility he owned in Miami County.

Bellar's attorney claims he was a deer farmer who raised domesticated animals and had the state's permission to charge hunting fees.

"Mr. Bellar believes he can have people hunt on his farm," attorney James Voyles told jurors in his opening statement Monday afternoon.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Schmid urged jurors to reject the defense argument that the deer were not wild animals, calling it a smoke screen to hide the facts.

"Mr. Bellar said some big lies about big bucks," Schmid told the jury.

An indictment returned in July charged Bellar and Jones with using Bellar's farm to allow unlicensed hunters to use illegal weapons and bait to hunt the bucks. Various state and federal hunting violations were alleged.

Customers paid thousands of dollars to the defendants, the indictment states. They allegedly included some celebrities who took part in hunts for promotional purposes, court records show.

Jones, of Edwards, Miss., pleaded guilty Monday morning to conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act is a 1900 federal law that protects wildlife from being killed improperly and shipped across state lines.

Jones faces up to five years in prison and should be able to provide crucial evidence about the operation.

Bellar's Place was a hunting facility consisting of a lodge and fenced-in pens and larger gaming areas. It was advertised as a white-tailed deer hunting operation.

A brochure promised customers hunts that end with a "big buck."

An Internet ad offered guided hunts to ensure a trophy buck.

Jones admitted in a plea agreement that he and Bellar solicited hunters willing to pay thousands of dollars to kill trophy bucks, which he described as male white-tailed deer with large antler racks.

Bellar personally set the price to be charged, ranging from $4,000 to $20,000 per buck, Jones stated in his plea agreement.

Jones described how deer were tranquilized and moved to small fenced-in pens for customers to choose their own bucks, which then were given reversal drugs.

"Hunters were then taken to specific hunting tree stands in these high-fence pens and allowed to hunt the selected deer," Jones stated.

The antlers, meat and hides were shipped in interstate commerce to customers, the plea agreement adds.

According to the indictment, Bellar's Place was the site of more than 50 illegal hunts over three years. In his promotional materials, *Bellar listed past celebrity clients, including Ronnie Dunn  of the country music duo Brooks and Dunn and professional fisherman and TV host Jimmy Houston.*

The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.

Staff writer Matthew S. Galbraith:

mgalbraith@sbtinfo.com


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## coon dawg (Jan 5, 2005)

*I've known Bellar,*

through the competition coon hunting world, for a long time..............no comment................other than I hope he gets his


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## TOW (Jan 5, 2005)

*Country star Dunn testifies in deer trial*

Country star Dunn testifies in deer trial

By Rebecca S. Green The Journal Gazette


SOUTH BEND – Country music star *Ronnie Dunn* opened testimony Tuesday during the second day of a federal trial involving a “high-fence” deer hunting operation.

Dunn, of the award-winning duo Brooks and Dunn, testified he hunted at Bellar’s Place in late autumn 2002. Along with Dunn, *Fox Sports Net South TV host Joey Mines told the jury about filming a promotional video for deer bait at Bellar’s Place.*

At the end of the day Sgt. Guy Wendorff, a conservation officer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, testified about a hunt he and another officer participated in during December 2003 as part of an undercover investigation into the deer-hunting operation.

Bellar’s Place, a 1,400-acre fenced deer farm near Peru, is the subject of a 39-count indictment against its owner, Russell G. Bellar. In July, a federal grand jury indicted Bellar and his property manager, Hinds Tom Jones, on charges they violated the Lacey Act, a wildlife protection law.

The Lacey Act prohibits the transportation and sale in interstate commerce of any wildlife taken or possessed in violation of any state law. According to the indictment, Bellar’s Place was the site of a number of hunts illegal under Indiana law.

The indictment charges Bellar and Jones with illegally selling and transporting wildlife across state lines, facilitating the illegal killing and transportation of wildlife, and knowingly providing false information to federal agents.

In exchange for his testimony against Bellar, Jones pleaded guilty to one charge Monday before the trial began. He is scheduled to be sentenced in April, records said.

Dunn told the jury he killed a buck with a rifle, a deer pointed out to him by Bellar. He also said he had never obtained a deer hunting license from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

“I was told (Bellar’s Place) was a private facility and like a ranch,” Dunn said.

Dunn said Bellar asked his permission to include his image on a brochure promoting the deer farm.

Dunn’s trip to Bellar’s Place was his first deer hunt, and he was accompanied by his 17-year old son, who also shot an antlered buck, Dunn said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Schmid presented the mounted head of Dunn’s 12-point buck to the jury as evidence of his hunt, along with his son’s smaller nine-point trophy head.

C. Joseph Russell, one of Bellar’s three-lawyer defense team, asked Dunn whether he was aware that he had committed illegal acts during his hunt at Bellar’s Place and asked him whether he had been assured he would not be prosecuted.

Appearing uncomfortable, Dunn said he had not been told by investigators that he had committed illegal acts and had merely told investigators what had happened on his hunting trips. Dunn said he had received no assurances of immunity.

Dunn’s presence in the courtroom attracted a handful of courthouse staff and U.S. Marshals who exited after his testimony, and a few obtained autographs before the singer left the building.

Wendorff’s testimony ended the second day of the trial Tuesday and centered on information he obtained while participating in an undercover investigation of Bellar’s Place in the fall of 2003.

According to Wendorff, the DNR launched an investigation of Bellar’s Place and other Indiana deer farms after field reports indicated illegal activities might have been taking place.

Wendorff, using the alias “Eric Krause,” booked a special hunt in December 2003 and testified he had been assured by Jones and Bellar he would not leave without a trophy buck.

Schmid presented the jury with a video, “Trophy Bucks 2003,” which depicted a number of large-antlered bucks grazing and walking through pens on the farm.

Each scene in the video had a number in the corner, and Wendorff said he was told the number was to identify specific animals to be killed.

Wendorff said he paid half a $25,000 fee to Bellar as a lodge fee to hunt two pre-identified bucks.

When the two officers arrived at the lodge, Jones presented him with a picture of a deer that appeared to be dead. Wendorff said Jones told him the deer “will look a lot like your deer.”

The next day, Wendorff and the other officer shot and killed two bucks, including the deer from the picture, which had been placed inside a 6-acre hunting pen.

*Earlier in the day, TV host Mines testified he traveled from Georgia to Bellar’s Place and had shot a promotional episode for Bellar’s Place and “Rack Attack,” a deer bait made by Jones.

He said he had no idea it was illegal in Indiana to hunt with bait.

About two weeks later, Mines said Jones contacted him and told him not to send the episode to Fox Sports Nnet because Bellar did not want the tape to air because of the use of bait.*

Under cross-examination, Mines said he did not try to stop the episode from airing because it would have been impossible that close to its scheduled air date.

Bellar’s attorney, James Voyles, asked Mines whether he had investigated the possibility it might be illegal to hunt with bait before filming the episode at Bellar’s Place.

Mines said he had not.


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## TOW (Jan 5, 2005)

*Recognize this guy??*

http://www.bellar.net/picpage.html


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## jeepguru (Jan 5, 2005)

That's funny I know Fred Rowan, the guy in the link.  I used to build very high end Jeeps for him.  I wouldn't call him a hunter more like someone who just pays for trophys.  I know he went to Africa a few years ago to "shoot stuff" as he put it.  Doesn't really suprise me.  

Some people have more money than sense.


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## TOW (Jan 7, 2005)

Posted on Thu, Jan. 06, 2005

Deer videotaped, drugged before kills, farm guests testify
Weather cuts short Day 3 in trial of high-fence hunting operator

By Rebecca S. Green
The Journal Gazette 

SOUTH BEND – Hunters willing to pay thousands of dollars to kill deer at a controversial high-fence deer farm outside Peru were able to bag multiple bucks and in some cases pick out specific deer in advance by watching videotape, according to testimony Wednesday in federal court. 
Guests and undercover conservation officers who visited Bellar’s Place testified about their experiences as part of the U.S. government’s case against owner Russell G. Bellar, who is accused of running an illegal deer hunting operation. 

Dean Davis, a video editor from Mississippi, told the jury he had seen the property manager at Bellar’s Place dart a deer with a tranquilizer gun to sedate the animal. Then the property manager, Hinds Tom Jones, used a small front-end loader to move the deer into a smaller pen to be hunted, Davis said. 

That deer was later shot by an undercover officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources posing as a hunter during the investigation. 
As owner of the 1,400-acre deer farm, Bellar is facing a 38-count indictment by a federal grand jury. The indictment charges Bellar and Jones with violating the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law. 

The Lacey Act prohibits the transportation and sale in interstate commerce of any wildlife taken or possessed in violation of any state law. According to the indictment, Bellar’s Place was the site of a number of hunts illegal under Indiana law. 

The indictment charges Bellar and Jones with illegally selling and transporting wildlife across state lines, facilitating the illegal killing and transportation of wildlife and knowingly providing false information to federal agents. Monday morning, Jones entered a guilty plea to one count of the indictment in exchange for his testimony against his boss. 

Wednesday’s testimony was the second full day of evidence presented in the jury trial before Judge Allen Sharp in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in South Bend. Sharp dismissed court about three hours early because of the weather, with snow falling heavily throughout the day outside the courthouse. A few jurors were put up in an area hotel because of poor road conditions south of the city. 

Davis, who makes videos for a hunting call company, had traveled with his girlfriend to Bellar’s Place to help train a cameraman on new editing equipment, according to testimony. During his few days at the farm in December 2003, Davis said, Jones asked him to help move a deer. He said Jones had shot the buck with a tranquilizer. 

While his employer had told him not to hunt while at Bellar’s Place, Davis said his girlfriend killed a deer at the farm after an invitation from Jones. 
When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Schmid whether he ever hunted white-tailed deer inside a high fence, Davis said he did not. 
“I haven’t hunted anything that couldn’t get out of it if it was willing,” he said. 

Zeferino Villafana, of Logansport, testified he worked for Bellar for about 18 months. He said he saw Jones use a tranquilizer to sedate a buck and move it into another pen, then use another drug to wake it up. 
Dennis Zahn, one of Bellar’s three lawyers, asked Villafana under cross-examination whether he had ever seen deer drugged to collect semen. 
Villafana said he had. 

“Have you ever seen a deer darted to make them slower during a hunt?” Zahn asked. 

“No,” Villafana said. 

As in the past two days, a number of hunters from Southern states testified they had shot and killed trophy bucks within the past few years at Bellar’s Place. Many did not have Indiana hunting licenses, and some told the jury they killed four or five bucks in a few days on the farm, paying up to $29,000 in total for the deer they killed. State law prohibits taking more than one antlered deer during a single year. 

Four large trophy mounts, one with 18-point antlers, leaned against a row of chairs facing the jury for much of the day Wednesday, each killed by Roger Barker, an Alabama businessman. 

The 18-point buck, which cost $20,000 to kill, had been named “J.B.” and was identified before the hunt in a video sent to Barker by Bellar’s Place, Barker testified. 

State law bans the hunting of specific deer. 

Also Wednesday, the government presented a number of workers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources who testified about computer and video evidence collected at Bellar’s properties.


Posted on Fri, Jan. 07, 2005

Tainted venison found, FDA says
Chemists testify tranquilizers discovered
By Rebecca S. Green
The Journal Gazette 


SOUTH BEND – Hunters and chemists testified Thursday about drugged deer and tainted meat in the continuing trial of the owner of a high-fence deer hunting facility. 

Jeff Wickersham, a former NFL quarterback and Louisiana businessman, testified he shot a deer that had been transported to a specific pen at Bellar’s Place, a 1,400-acre Miami County deer farm owned by Russell G. Bellar. 

Later, the meat from the buck Wickersham shot was shipped across state lines to a friend’s business in Louisiana. 

When tested by federal investigators, the meat showed traces of drugs banned for human consumption, according to testimony in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. 

The shipment of tainted meat is one of the allegations in a 38-count indictment against Bellar and his former property owner, Hinds Tom Jones. 
A federal grand jury indicted the two men last summer, charging them with conspiracy and violating the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection act. 
The Lacey Act prohibits the transportation and sale in interstate commerce of any wildlife taken or possessed in violation of any state law. According to the indictment, Bellar’s Place was the site of a number of hunts illegal under Indiana law. 

The indictment charges Bellar and Jones with illegally selling and transporting wildlife across state lines, facilitating the illegal killing and transportation of wildlife and knowingly providing false information to federal agents. 

In exchange for his testimony against Bellar, Jones pleaded guilty Monday to one count of the indictment and is to testify next week. He is scheduled for sentencing in April. 

Wickersham and another businessman, Tom Freiman, hunted at Bellar’s Place in November 2003. After an unsuccessful afternoon of hunting on the first day, Wickersham testified, he was approached by Bellar and Jones with a magazine picture of a large buck and asked whether he wanted to hunt it. 
They quoted him a price of $20,000 to kill that buck but said they would have to bring the deer from another farm. Wickersham said he agreed, and the next morning saw the deer inside a horse trailer parked outside the lodge at Bellar’s Place. 

Wickersham testified the deer was released into a three- to five-acre pen. He then shot the deer with a bow and arrow after Bellar, Jones and another employee herded the deer toward him and away from the fence. 

In a videotape of the hunt played for the jury, Wickersham is heard speaking about Rack Attract, a deer bait brand owned by Jones, which was spread in the leaves below the tree stand where Wickersham was perched. 

Indiana law prohibits the hunting of specific deer and the use of bait. 
Later in the day Thursday, two chemists with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration testified they analyzed meat from the deer Wickersham shot, and found traces of animal tranquilizers. 

The tranquilizers, sold under the brand names Tolazine, Telezol and Selazine, are designated for animal use only, FDA special agent Paul Straughn testified. 
Outside of the hearing of the jury, defense attorneys for Bellar objected to the inclusion of the meat and testimony about the drugs, saying there was no proof the meat came specifically from the deer Wickersham shot. 

Judge Allen Sharp overruled the objection and allowed the testimony about the meat and its analysis, which took up much of the testimony during the fourth day of the trial. 

Straughn testified the drugs were approved for limited animal use only. He said Telezol was only for use in cats and dogs and was on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of controlled substances as a narcotic. 
Another drug, Selazine, was not to be used in any food-producing animals and could not be used on deer 15 days before or during hunting seasons, Straughn said.


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## TOW (Jan 10, 2005)

Posted on Sun, Jan. 09, 2005 

Phil Bloom

Trial exposes the sham that is canned hunting

As the canned hunt crowd rallied around its beleaguered hero Russ Bellar last summer, it presented a variety of arguments intended to stick up for the guy after he was hit with a 38-count federal indictment that accused him of running an illegal deer hunting operation.

One of those arguments was that people opposed to canned hunts shouldn’t criticize what they’ve never seen or done. These places are really on the up-and-up, they said.

Well, over the past week the unknowing public got a detailed look at what goes on behind the high fences at one of those operations – Bellar’s Place, a 1,400-acre shooting preserve near Peru.

Witness after witness after witness after witness provided sworn testimony before a federal jury in U.S. District Court in South Bend about their experiences there:

•Country music star Ronnie Dunn testified that Bellar pointed out a deer for him to kill and that he shot it in a fenced-in pen. Under cross-examination by Bellar’s legal team, Dunn characterized the experience as something akin to “slaughtering cattle.”

•Michael Kattawar Jr. of Nashville, Tenn., testified that he paid $25,000 in 2003 to kill five bucks using a bow and a rifle while hunting near bait. Indiana deer-hunting regulations prohibit the use of bait and allow only one buck, but Kattawar said Bellar’s Place was willing to let him take “as many deer as you want as long as you pay for it.”

•Jeff Wickersham, who spent one season in the NFL as a quarterback with the Miami Dolphins, chose the deer he wanted to kill from a magazine.

“They gave me a price and I agreed to it,” he testified. “I was there to hunt that specific deer.”

Wickersham said the price was $20,000, that the deer was drugged and transported to the farm in a horse trailer. The deer was released from the trailer directly into the pen where Wickersham said he killed it in about 30 minutes after employees of Bellar’s Place chased it from the fence line.

•Wickersham’s friend, Tommy Freiman, testified that he didn’t want to “hunt” in a small pen and planned to kill a deer in a larger pen. Crunched for time because of a departing air flight, he ended up shooting one in the smaller pen anyway because he couldn’t wait any longer.

•Ivan Johnson of Jonesboro, Ga., testified he killed two bucks for a video promoting “Rack Attract,” a deer bait developed and owned by Hinds Tom Jones, Bellar’s property manager who pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count in the federal indictment and is scheduled to take the stand this week. Johnson is an investor in Rack Attract.

•Johnson also admitted to complicity in a scheme to fool another of Bellar’s clients, his friend Roger Torri of Georgia. Torri testified that he wounded a deer at the facility in 2003 but couldn’t find it. A couple of weeks later, a deer Tommy Freiman had picked out died overnight after having been tranquilized. Freiman testified that he told Hinds Jones he no longer wanted a deer that was already dead. Freiman said Johnson began making phone calls to see who wanted the deer, describing the deer to people as if it had been shot. He got a taker on the second call. In separate testimony, Torri testified that Johnson called to say that his wounded deer had been found. In reality, it was the Freiman deer that had died from a tranquilizer overdose. Torri took the antlers.

•Fred Rowan, CEO and chairman of Carter’s Clothing Inc., testified that he shot three bucks in a 3- to 4-hour span with his son, Andy, who shot his buck within an hour in a 5- to 10-acre pen. They didn’t even stay the whole day, but Fred Rowan said he plunked down $20,000 for the biggest of his three deer, and $8,000 to $10,000 for the smaller two.

Many of these and other so-called “hunts” were videotaped by Rusty Camp for sale to the clients or to promote the facility to future clients. Camp said he made between 20 and 30 videos, of which five to 10 were fake.

“The hunts were pretty much done backward,” he told the court.

Camp said clients would shoot deer, then go back and re-enact for the cameras. He testified some clients had a hard time grasping the concept.

Not Sydney Meachum, a friend of Hinds Jones from Mississippi, who testified that he was invited by Bellar and Jones to help them make a video. Meachum said he learned when he got to Bellar’s Place that it was a “fake hunt.”

He then testified that he sat in a tree stand, fired an arrow and acted as if he had killed a deer. The deer was darted by a tranquilizer for the video. Meachum said that he’s left-handed but shot a right-handed bow for the video. He testified that fake blood was applied to the deer.

“I liked that,” Meachum said. “It made it look all real.” Real phony.

About as phony as the defense team’s efforts to portray Bellar as someone confused by the hunting rules and regulations of Indiana as they pertain to his pen-raised deer. That strategy took a blow Wednesday when Bellar’s Web site ( www.bellar.net ) was shown to the jurors. On the site was a statement advising clients “Since there is no exemption for hunting preserves in Indiana, we have to follow the states weapon seasons.”

The Web site that was accessed live in the courtroom Wednesday is no longer available. Someone pulled the plug.

All of this tells us that what went on at Bellar’s Place was a charade. It shouldn’t matter at this point what the jury decides in this case. It shouldn’t matter whether the jury blames Bellar or Jones or both, or neither.

The damage is done. Canned hunting has been exposed.

“It made it look all real.”

No, it was unreal.


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## coon dawg (Jan 13, 2005)

*Looks like he pleaded guilty*

to 3 of the 38 counts.............$500,000 dollars and 2-3 years prison time.......


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## TOW (Jan 13, 2005)

coon dawg said:
			
		

> to 3 of the 38 counts.............$500,000 dollars and 2-3 years prison time.......



YEP...


Posted on Wed, Jan. 12, 2005 

Deer farmer reaches plea agreement before closing arguments

By Rebecca S. Green

The Journal Gazette


After nearly two weeks of testimony and just hours before closing arguments, a Miami County deer farmer pleaded guilty today to charges he violated a federal wildlife law.

Russell G. Bellar pleaded guilty to three counts of a 38-count indictment filed last July by a federal grand jury.

The indictment charged Bellar and his former property manager, Hinds Tom Jones, with three counts of conspiracy and 35 violations of the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law.

In exchange for his guilty plea to the charges of violating the Lacey Act, conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and conspiracy to violate federal Food and Drug Administration laws, prosecutors moved to dismiss the remaining 35 charges at sentencing.

Bellar owns Bellar’s Place a 1,200- to 1,400-acre high-fenced deer farm that government prosecutors contended was the scene of numerous hunts illegal under Indiana law.

If convicted of all the charges, Bellar could have faced up to five years in prison per count, plus up to $250,000 in fines per count.

The plea agreement also calls for Bellar to pay about $575,000 in fines and restitution, in order to keep his deer and the equipment on his farm, according to testimony in court Wednesday.

Schmid said Bellar will spend at least a couple of years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

Throughout the seven days of testimony, clients of Bellar’s Place testified they killed more than one buck during their stays at the farm, shot deer near feeders or bait piles and often paid more than $10,000 to kill specific large-antlered deer in small pens.

Indiana law prohibits the sale of specific deer for hunting, bans the use of bait and limits the hunting of antlered deer or bucks to one per year, regardless of the hunting season.

The antlers, skins, and occasionally meat from the deer killed at Bellar’s Place were shipped across state lines to the homes and businesses of those that paid money to shoot deer at Bellar’s Place. The Lacey Act prohibits the sale and transportation in interstate commerce of any wildlife taken in violation of any state law.

On Jan. 3, Jones, pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment in exchange for his testimony against Bellar.

He testified Monday and Tuesday that Bellar set the prices on the specific deer that were to be killed, showed him how to dart the deer to move them to the smaller pens and contended the deer were his personal property so he could do with them what he wanted.

Defense attorneys James Voyles, C. Joseph Russell, and Dennis Zahn put on a brief defense of Bellar, calling only his companies’ treasurer to the stand.

George Cox, Bellar’s treasurer and a former banking executive, testified Bellar paid property taxes on the deer, which were classified as livestock under the federal tax code.

The attorneys declined to comment on the plea agreement. Bellar was unavailable for comment after the hearing.

For more on this story, see Thursday's editions of The Journal Gazette or visit http://www.journalgazette.net after 7 a.m. Fort Wayne time Thursday.

POSTED: 12:55 P.M. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12, 2005


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## TOW (Jan 13, 2005)

*Are we all to blame??*

This Bellar thing really made me stop and think. 

Is what he has done just an ugly symptom of what we, as hunters, have allowed our sport of deer hunting to become?

Have we sold out our sport so bad that we have put big antlers and the people that successfully hunt them up on a pedestal?

Now I do believe that just because a deer hunter hunts for a mature buck doesn't make him an "antler worshipper." He has just accepted a higher challenge in the hunt, that's all.

It's a win at all costs that gets me. Even the cost of making hunting something it wasn't intended to be. 

Where we go astray in "antler worship" is when we go way beyond just the hunt and start doing all kinds of MANIPULATIONS to grow bigger bucks and I am not just talking about the pic and shoot operators. Couple that with the putting down other folks for what they want to hunt and shoot and, as I see it, we are rapidly sliding downhill.. 

Is the lure of big antlers so overpowering that we will do just about anything to acquire them? Even to the point that some will cheat?

I enjoyed the Archery Trade Association  show last week for all the products that are on display, but I got a very uneasy feeling looking at the hall and all the bowhunting celebrities. Are we, as hunters, doing something very similar to what the pic and shoot operators are doing in selling out our beloved sport of hunting? 

As we walked the aisles we could see the people gathered around all the superstars of bowhunting asking for autographs and just wanting to get close to the celebrities. As if some of their "skills" would rub off on them. Are we putting antlers and the people that successfully pursue them up on a pedestal? 

We need to do a lot of inner soul searching in how we, as hunters, are contributing to the decline of hunting by putting big bucks (deer and money) up on a pedestal. 

My belief is "We have met the enemy and he is us" - Pogo Possum. 

I am not optimistic...


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## PWalls (Jan 13, 2005)

Woody,

You asked, _"Are we putting antlers and the people that successfully pursue them up on a pedestal?"_.

Of course we are. Look at most deer hunting television shows. Just about every one of them is not deemed a success unless there is some massive 8 pt buck killed.

What would happen to a show that focused on the hunt, what to do on scouting and all of that and then killed a doe? It would either not air or it would get no ratings and eventually pack it up.


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## littlewolf (Jan 13, 2005)

"That deer was later shot by an undercover officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources posing as a hunter during the investigation. "

WHY??? Couldn't the officers just bust them on the spot at the point where they were offered the shot? I dont understand why the officers would have to actually shoot any deer.  :

Combine that with the number of eye witnesses they had and I don't see why they had to shoot one single deer.


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## NUTT (Jan 13, 2005)

I personally know 3 people from Newnan that hunted there and they also had to testify. I think everyone who hunted there had to know something wasn't right about the hunts. To me it would be like sitting on a baited dove field and acting like you didn't realize somethin wasn't right once you were caught up with.             NUTT


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## reylamb (Jan 14, 2005)

A couple of thoughts.

All these people that hunted on the place should be charged.  They all had a responsibility to know the game laws in Indiana prior to showing up, ignorance is no excuse.

TOW, your questions are valid, and it is where hunting is headed.


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## huntfish (Jan 14, 2005)

I agree Reylamb.  They definitely knew it was wrong and they are the one who had to pull the trigger.  Now for the game wardens, undercover work like this has broken up many illegal operations throughout the US.  They are definitely in a dangerous spot and exposing themselves as officers may result in their deaths.


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## TOW (Jan 14, 2005)

It is not over..

Mr. Bellar in his plea agreement to accept three counts against him ($575,000 and two years in jail) has agreed to cooperate in other investigations.

Time will tell if anyone else is charged - although it is not unusual to let the little fish off to get the big fish..


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## littlewolf (Jan 14, 2005)

huntfish said:
			
		

> Now for the game wardens, undercover work like this has broken up many illegal operations throughout the US.  They are definitely in a dangerous spot and exposing themselves as officers may result in their deaths.



Nah. These guys were shooting deer in a fenced in pen of a few acres. That's basically somebody's backyard. And these officers knew that going in because they had several eye witnesses - after all that's why they were there.  Think about it. In an area that small it would be just like an undercover drug bust. The criminals would never even have to know their cohorts were undercover when the authorities came swooping down and busted them all. 

I don't like to see anything killed for no reason. While I'm disgusted at the obvious criminal activity, I'm curious why law enforcement officers felt they had to commit the same crime to catch the criminals. This is just my honest reaction - feel free to convince me that I'm wrong. Good luck


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## TOW (Jan 15, 2005)

This wasn't like a drug bust with armed criminals. This was almost like a "white collared crime".

I don't think the officers had anything to fear.

Since this was an ongoing investigation at the time the undercover guys probably saw the need to go through with the shooting.

That was proof positive that this stuff was going on. The other witnessess could have recanted.And it is possible that they had not even talked to the other witnesses at taht point in time. Once they found out that this stuff was happening for sure they went after the other witnesses. ???

It will be interesting to see what the ripple effect on the other "game farmers" will be.


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## dominantpredator (Jan 15, 2005)

I can not believe what hunting has become...one of the guys who are from Newnan and is involved with taking a monster from that land last year is not even a hunter...in fact, he had his first and second hunt on that property. He is good though ..he killed one each hunt. He is at fault...and the state agency involved must be head up by morons. Why do state agencies allow the killing of animals just to make an arrest and federal game wardens go to extreme measures to stop the hunt before it occurs. The feds will flag your baited dove fields and the state boys will let you shoot so they can catch you...remember the state guy who found bait in the turkey woods and did not flag the area; instead he tried to set up "STING" operation and catch the poacher. That was not a wise choice and it almost cost the dnr agent his life when the poacher sent some turkey loads screaming his way right after first light. Senseless .....The guys involved in the hunts in Indiana and others like them should not be called hunters at all...these are the same type people that will shoot deer out of your field at night and I better not catch them boys near my field


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## huntfish (Jan 17, 2005)

*Littlewolf*

I don't believe that it is that simple.  I know some guys that worked undercover for F&G and also DEA and we are just looking at one incident.  AS stated in his testimony, Bellars activity was just one of many "farms" being investigated by Fighs and Game.  Going in and busting one right away, may have exposed the officers to the other groups also being investigated.


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## Skipper (Oct 17, 2005)

Man, if you ever want to step in it up to your governors, get involved in a fight to make it illegal in your state for this kind of activity to go on.  As it stands today, all of the activities on the Bellar video are legal in the state of Kentucky because our cervid farmers had the foresight to get the legislature to transfer regulation of cervid farms to the department of Agriculture and to legally declare deer and elk in captivity to be "livestock".

I'm the KWFF director for the 9th District League of Kentucky Sportsmen, and our 9th Federation took this issue on late this summer after we learned about the legality of it in Kentucky.  

We (me, the federation president, our local game warden, David Ledford a biologist with the RMEF, and the other sportsmen in the 9th) have been accused of being members of PETA, Anti Farmer, Uncooperative, Beligerant, UnAmerican and about everything else you can immagine.

Our 9th district meetings have turned into 3 months of fillabustering from the Cervid Farmers so that we can't get diddly sqat done.  We are running into others in the League in other districts that at one time supported us and our efforts turning tail on us because they are scared of the threats they have taken from the cervid people.  One of our own is running for the Kentucky Commission, and he is in a tight spot over this.

We have been petitioned by KALA (Kentucky Alternative Livestock Association) to support them in "Expanding" opportunity for cervid farming     Now, since many of us in the 9th are RMEF supporters (our district includes many of the counties with the elk in them and most of us are affiliated with the RMEF as sponsors or chapter chairmen) we are having the elk restoration project thrown in our faces like somehow building a herd of 5500 wild elk in Kentucky somehow makes us enemies of everyone in the state from farmers to bird hunters to John Q citizen.  

You can kind of read up on what's going on in our world at http://www.kentuckyhunting.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35

Skipper


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## zksailfish (Oct 17, 2005)

That sad that such a beatiful animals are shot not fair chase.


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## coon dawg (Oct 18, 2005)

*........*



			
				Skipper said:
			
		

> Man, if you ever want to step in it up to your governors, get involved in a fight to make it illegal in your state for this kind of activity to go on.  As it stands today, all of the activities on the Bellar video are legal in the state of Kentucky because our cervid farmers had the foresight to get the legislature to transfer regulation of cervid farms to the department of Agriculture and to legally declare deer and elk in captivity to be "livestock".
> 
> I'm the KWFF director for the 9th District League of Kentucky Sportsmen, and our 9th Federation took this issue on late this summer after we learned about the legality of it in Kentucky.
> 
> ...


  ....if ya see Ledford...........tell 'Im John Seginak says hi  ..........big ole boy, ain't he??..played linebacker for Tennessee.........


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## Skipper (Oct 18, 2005)

Ledford is a hoot isn't he?  He was at the Nibroc festival a month or so ago taking pictures of fat chicks in low rider jeans and belly button showing tops to send to his buddies.

Somebody actually posted on that Kentucky site that David said that he didn't believe God mad all animals.  

Skipper


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## coon dawg (Oct 18, 2005)

*........*



			
				Skipper said:
			
		

> Ledford is a hoot isn't he?  He was at the Nibroc festival a month or so ago taking pictures of fat chicks in low rider jeans and belly button showing tops to send to his buddies.
> 
> Somebody actually posted on that Kentucky site that David said that he didn't believe God mad all animals.
> 
> Skipper


  how many kids is he up to??....4, 5........9????


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## Skipper (Oct 18, 2005)

I don't know, never met his wife and kids.  He is Catholic though, so he may have a whole herd of rug rats.  I'll ax him next time I see him.

Skipper


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## James Vincent (Oct 18, 2005)

are they still selling this "Rack Attack" crap for deer


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