There is an article in Sunday's Chicago Tribune (July 18, 2004) titled 2 accused of drugging deer for rich hunters. I am not an internet subscriber to the Chicago Tribune so I cannot post the article.

Here is the basics of the story. An Indiana hunting lodge owner has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly drugging whitetail deer, putting them in pens, then allowing wealthy customers to shoot them, sometimes for as much as $20,000 per animal.

Federal officials last week charged Russell G. Bellar,49, of Peru, Ind., with dozens of violations of wildlife statutes.

The 38 count indictment also names Hinds Tom Jones,36, of Edwards, Miss. who served as Bellar's manager at the 1,200 acre hunting preserve near Peru, about 150 miles southeast of Chicago.

Prosecutors allege Bellar and Jones conducted at least 51 illegal hunts on the property since January 2001, sometimes allowing people to pick out the deer they wanted to kill in advance.

Customers paid $4,000 to $20,000 to shoot the deer investigators said, and sometimes tranquilized the animals to move them. The men then gave the deer drugs to wake them up before they were shot, investigators said.

Some of the animals were then illegally shipped over state lines, the indictment says.The men were also charged with lying to federal agents.

Investigators said the lodge caters to high-end clientele."It's more of a luxury-type hunt" said Joseph Van Bokkelen,U.S.Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana.

Nohunters have been charged in the case.

"No hunters have been charged in the case."

I couldn't have said it better myself. I might add that NO HUNTING EVER TOOK PLACE either.

VH

Maybe no hunters have been charged because it was rumored that two of them were John Kerry and Bill Clinton maybe?

That would be a democrats speed.
seafire