I didn't even know there was a Sportsman's Rights Act, and I doubt that many Texans who are not avid hunters do either. But Tuesday, an Ellis County man was found guilty of violating that law. It seems that his kids were upsetting hunters on an adjacent property by driving four-wheelers and playing loud music. Even though the kids were just having fun ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY, the hunters thought it was driving away deer on the adjacent property.
Galen Morris, of Italy, was fined $250 and placed on probation for a year. In addition, a judge has ordered that Morris not let his children drive their four-wheelers and play loud music on his own property before noon or after 4pm during deer season. Morris' attorney, Mark Griffith of Waxahachie, said he has advised his client to appeal. Griffith said, "This is just unbelievable to me. This is really about what rights do you have on your own property." After the trial, Morris said, "I kind of got mixed feelings out of it. Basically what their saying is, during deer season you got to keep your kids indoors. You could sneeze and scare a deer off."
I suspect the law was originally passed in 1985 to prevent groups such as PETA from interfering with lawful hunting. The law makes it a class B misdemeanor to "interfere with another person lawfully engaged in the process of hunting or catching wildlife." I have to wonder though if the law was meant to deprive owners of the lawful use of their own property.
I hope Mr. Morris does appeal. This case has pitted hunter's rights against property owner's rights. It would be good to have an opinion from a higher court on this one.
Evidently, no one here knew the evidence that was brought before the judge and jury. One hunter testified that Mr. Morris told him personally that he was going to blow his airhorn and be disruptive until the owner of the land lost her property. He was evicted from the owners property prior to this harassment beginning. Besides he doesn’t own any property, look in the tax rolls, pull court records, then give your opinion. It is all open records. This case has affected me and my family personally
ReplyDeleteAlso, be aware that the media is not reporting the entire story, as they are sympathetic to Morris' cause... to whit.
ReplyDeleteThe meat of the article:
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Morris rents a home on a small tract of land adjacent to the 400-acre Ellis County ranch. Hunters who lease the ranch to hunt deer complained last year that noise coming from Morris' property continually hindered their hunting success.
Peggy Carroll, co-owner of the Clay-Bell Ranch, told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram she is pleased with the court's decision and hopes that noise restrictions and the threat of jail time will keep things quiet for hunters who use her land. Morris, meanwhile, has been advised to appeal the case by his attorney.
Interestingly, the AP and Star-Telegram didn't report the circumstances that led to the charges being filed against Morris and his subsequent arrest, last February.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement officials close to the case, it was proven in a court of law that Morris was in violation of the Sportsman's Rights Act, because he intentionally tried to spoil the chances of hunters next door by making noise to scare off game.
"Harassment is harassment, and that is how the charges originally came about," said Jeff Powell, the Ellis County TPWD game warden who investigated the case. "In a case like this there has to be pretty convincing evidence of intent for charges too be filed in the first place, and you have to prove intent was there to actually win. The prosecution managed to do that."
Powell said hunters on the ranch provided sworn statements indicating that Morris harassed them repeatedly while they manned their deer blinds last November and December. The game warden added that most of the incidents occurred early and late in the day, during peak deer movement times.
"The hunters told me he (Morris) would walk up and down the fence line and yell to them in their stands `you seeing anything yet!'" Powell said. "They also said he would drive his car along the fence line and blow his horn or an air horn repeatedly, and place his stereo speakers outside his house and turn up the volume real loud at 6 o'clock in the morning."
There was a time when such altercations were virtually unheard of, but they seem to be occurring more frequently these days, possibly because more and more non-hunters are leaving crowded urban areas and moving to the country.
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We have the same problem in Western North Carolina, where people will move in from cities, and demand we change our ways to suit their sensibilities.