Posted on 09/21/2006 9:46:01 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
An Ellis County man has been ordered by a judge to keep the noise down on his property during deer season after he was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of disrupting hunters.
An Ellis County jury found Galen Morris, 38, guilty on Tuesday of violating one count of the state Sportsman's Rights Act. He was found not guilty of a second, similar charge.
The judge in the case ordered Morris to make sure his children don't disturb hunters on a neighboring property by playing loud music or driving four-wheelers before noon or after 4 p.m. during deer season, which starts in November. Morris was also issued a $250 fine and a year of probation.
"I kind of got mixed feelings out of it," Morris said. "Basically what they're saying is, during deer season you got to keep your kids indoors. You could sneeze and scare a deer off."
The Sportsman's Rights Act makes it illegal "to intentionally interfere with another person lawfully engaged in the process of hunting or catching wildlife."
Peggy Carroll, part owner of a ranch neighboring the Morris property, said the court's decision is fair. She said she hopes the noise restrictions and threat of jail time will keep it quiet for the hunters who use her land.
But Morris' lawyer, Waxahachie attorney Mark Griffith, said he's advising his client to appeal.
"This is just unbelievable to me," Griffith said. "This is really about what rights do you have on your own property."
Love it. The judge must be a hunter.
Sounds like one of the slob hunters that want to sit in a cushy tree blind, sippin coffee and eatin donuts and then shooting deer that are lured into feeders below them.
Funny how during deer season and ant coughing in the distance will spook a deer, yet when it's not hunting season I can walk through the woods with a friend talking loudly and laughing and walk right up to them and they don't care.
So your right to shoot a deer on someone else's property trumps MY right to ride MY vehicle on MY property.
Welcome to the nanny state.
You called it exactly right.
If the noise stopped at the property line that would be fine. However, since the noise keeps going, it reduces the ability of neighboring property owners to enjoy their own property - therefore the judge appears to be well within the law and common sense.
DEER GOT CALENDARS!!!!!..............(B.C. REFERENCE)
I'm conflicted on this one. I support hunting, but I also support private property rights. And I imagine many conservatives would be conflicted.
I'd be unsympathetic if they were outsiders, playing loud music deliberately to scare away the deer, but it sounds more as if his kids just like to scoot around their own property on a four-wheeler at the best time of the year to be outdoors.
In Vermont, you can post your property. I do, because I'm not keen on visitors from Boston who may not know one end of a gun from the other shooting in my woods, but I also let neighbors and people who live in town know that they are welcome to walk or ski through it any time, and that local hunters are welcome to hunt on it as they've always done in the past.
Live and let live. Isn't there any place else in the neighborhood where the hunters can shoot deer?
Here is an experiment that you can try...
Pick a location 50 or so yards from your blind, fire up a chainsaw and leave it at an idle, go to your blind and wait.
Deer are curious creatures, they will investigate
TT
Something strange here regarding the dates. He was just found guilty of disrupting the hunters yet the season doesn't open till November and he was only ordered to keep quiet during deer season? How could he have been found guilty now then? Something is missing from this story.
A couple hundred years of nuisance law say you're wrong.
He wasn't cited for noise. He was cited for interfering with hunters. I'm sorry, but if he is making noise on his own property that is not out of line with any local noise ordinances, the judge was way out of line here.
He wasn't cited for breaking those laws that I can see.
My guess is the law is to keep PETA wackos from harassing hunters during the season,
If there's nothing malicious about the activity on private property, this goes too far.
I am a deer hunter, BTW.
Actually I use a tree climber and enjoy my smokes while waiting. I have had no less than 20-25 does under my stand. I like to snap twigs and drop bark on them to see how much I can get away with. Make one metallic sound and they are gone.
Wrong.....
The judge just abridged everyone's property rights with this ruling.....
It is beyond unreasonable.......
You can't work in your yard before 10am...mow the grass.....ride a 4 wheeler.....
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