Conservation Law Enforcement Corner – June 2025

The Conservation LE Corner is designed to highlight the efforts of Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division (LED) officers who, among their many duties, protect Georgia’s wildlife, sportsmen and natural resources from game-law violators.

A farmer found this buck dead in his Cook County peanut field. Social media comments and tips from citizens led to three suspects being charged.

Cook County: During the 2023-2024 deer season, Game Warden Aaron Powell received information about a trophy deer that had been killed illegally in Cook County. The landowners found the dead deer, a very large buck, in a peanut field after hearing that the poachers had been asking for help in locating the illegally killed deer due to its size.

Game Warden Powell received information from concerned citizens about the comments they had seen on social media regarding the incident, and that helped him identify the possible suspects. Over the next few weeks, Game Warden Powell executed multiple search warrants and conducted multiple interviews regarding the illegally killed deer.

Three subjects were charged with Hunting Deer at Night, Hunting from a Public Road and Hunting from a Vehicle.

Chatham County: On Nov. 3, 2023, Game Warden Douglas Chambers was checking for illegal night hunting activity at the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography campus in Chatham County.

Chambers observed a vehicle using a spotlight to shine into a field next to the campus and the woods near the campus. He located two males walking in the woods with a flashlight searching for a deer they had shot at from their vehicle, while it was sitting in the roadway. Chambers located their .22 caliber rifle, which they had hid in the woods when the warden approached. Both were issued citations for hunting from a vehicle, hunting deer at night, and hunting big game from a public road.

Chatham County: On March 7, 2024, game wardens were notified of a business in Savannah selling game species and parts of game animals. Game wardens obtained a search warrant and went to the premises of the store to execute the search warrant. Game Warden Quintin Reed, along with other game wardens, found multiple species including squirrel, opossum, minks, raccoon, alligator, muskrat and fox mounted and listed for sell.

The mounts were recorded and confiscated. GW Reed spoke with the wife of the owner and explained wardens needed to speak with him. On March 25, 2024, wardens went back to the premises and issued citations for every game species along with a citation for possession of alligator parts.

Wassaw Sound: On May 12, 2024 at 9:33 a.m., Game Wardens Xavier DeVillars, Quintin Reed, Doug Chambers and Cindy Miller went on a JEA Patrol offshore of Wassaw Sound. While on patrol they boarded a shrimp trawler and searched the hull of the trawler where shrimp are stored. Game wardens found seven bags of filleted meat, meat outside of bags, a small Spanish mackerel and bags of stored shrimp. The captain said the meat was a blacktip shark. Game wardens took pictures of the fillets and took samples of the meat to send off for testing to determine the species of the meat.

The captain of the trawler was given a Federal referral for not having federal shrimping permit and no HMS angling permit. The referral was sent to NOAA National Marine Fisheries.

Illegal Oyster Cages: On Jan. 24, 2024, Cpl. Barry Britt investigated a report of commercial oyster cages being placed in salt waters of the state in an unauthorized location. Upon investigation, Cpl. Britt confirmed commercial oyster cages were being kept at a private dock in an unauthorized location, which is in violation of the shellfish mariculture permit law. Approximately 1 1/2 bushels of oysters were confiscated and turned over to Coastal Resources Division for testing. All cages were removed from the unauthorized location and the violations were documented of the shellfish mariculture permit holder.