Ohio Man Pays Nearly $10,000 For Poaching Trophy Deer

HILLSBORO, OHIO - A Highland County man will pay a hefty fine after his recent conviction in Hillsboro Municipal Court for wildlife violations involving the unlawful taking of a trophy class white-tailed deer.

In January and February 2009 acting on calls to the statewide Turn In A Poacher (TIP) hotline, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife conducted an investigation in central Highland County. As a result of the investigation, a Highland County man was convicted of unlawful harvest of a white-tailed deer. The deer, scoring 175 & 6/8ths points, was shot with a rifle during the archery season. The deer was then illegally checked in as an archery harvest.

Jarrett Hensley, 32, of Mowrystown, recently appeared in the Hillsboro Municipal Court before Judge David McKenna. As part of a plea agreement Hensley was sentenced to the following: three years hunting privileges suspension in Ohio and all other violator compact states, two years probation, forfeiture of the antlers from the unlawfully harvested white-tailed deer, sixty days in jail; suspended, and restitution in the amount of nine thousand seven hundred nineteen dollars; to be paid to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Hensley was also ordered to pay court cost in the amount of eighty dollars.

Calls to the TIP hotline have sparked many successful criminal investigations like this. The Division of Wildlife asks those who observe wildlife violations, to report those violations or illegal activity by calling the T.I.P. hotline at 1-800-POACHER (1-800-762-2437).

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