Night Hunters Pick Poor Place To Poach: Deputy’s Front Yard

December 13 was a bad luck day for three Taylor County poachers who picked one of the worst places in Talbot County to go night hunting—a deputy sheriff’s front yard.

According to Department of Natural Resources records, three three men in a pickup left Butler in Taylor County and drove across Highway 208 into Talbot County. They then turned north on Poplar Crossroads. In the cab were two shotguns loaded with buckshot. The men were night hunting.

About 8 miles east of Talbotton they saw a deer at the side of the road. The truck stopped and with the headlights angled off the road, two shotgun blasts dropped the deer.

It was a poor place to be poaching.

As the men jumped out to get the poached deer, they had no way of knowing they were within about 100 yards of Upson County Deputy Sheriff Jimmy McDaniel’s home—and that he had heard the shots and that he was going to do something about it.

Inside the house, Jimmy McDaniel had just finished watching the news and was about to go to bed when he heard the shots. He looked out the front of his house and saw the truck just down the road at the corner of his property. He had been about to go to bed, but he quickly pulled on his uniform, strapped on his revolver and jumped into his unmarked Upson County Sheriff’s Department car. When the truck drove past, he fell in behind it. After following the truck about a half mile, he passed it, and turning his car sideways in the road, he blocked the truck.

“I could see a shotgun across the dash,” said Mr. McDaniel. “So I made all three of them climb out of the driver’s side with their hands up.”

Another shotgun was found against the passenger side door. Two loaded pistols were also found under the front seat. In the back of the pickup was a dead button buck “that wouldn’t have dressed out 30 pounds.”

DNR Conservation Ranger Henry Daniel got the call at his home from the Talbot County Sheriff’s Department about 11:10 p.m. He advised that an Upson County Deputy had stopped a vehicle for night hunting and had radioed for assistance.

When he arrived at the scene, Jimmy McDaniel had the three men standing in front of his car. Across the hood was a 12-gauge shotgun, a 20-gauge shotgun and two loaded pistols.

Both shotguns had live rounds of buckshot in the chamber. On the floorboard on the passenger side were two live 20-gauge shells and a freshly fired empty hull.

Cases were made against the driver of the truck, James Joel Winters, 33, of Butler, and Ronald Glen Melton, 28, also of Butler, who had been riding at the passenger-side window. Each man was charged with hunting deer at night with aid of a light; hunting deer from a vehicle; and hunting from a public road. The third occupant of the truck was not charged.

The men were transported to the Talbot County Sheriff’s Department where their truck, the two shotguns and the deer were confiscated.

In a civil action, James Melton recovered the truck and the shotguns for $507. Both men charged with poaching are free on $2,200 bond facing a court hearing in March.