U.S. hunter fined for duck abuse

By Tony Blais, QMI Agency

A "celebrity" U.S. fowl hunter who sells videos of his outdoor antics was fined Wednesday by an Edmonton judge for hunting illegally and being cruel to wounded birds.

Jeffery Burdett Foiles, a 54-year-old Illinois man, was dinged $14,500 and banned from hunting in Canada for three years after earlier pleading guilty to several charges under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and two criminal charges of causing cruelty to animals.

Judge Susan Richardson took Foiles - who did not have to personally appear in court - to task for what she found were the aggravating factors in the case, including his "gratuitous harm to animals and total lack of respect to the avian resources of this country."

Richardson also noted Foiles will now have a criminal record and could face problems returning to Canada.

Foiles' unlawful hunting activities - captured on video while in Alberta and Saskatchewan - included him calling the wounded birds by names and hamming it up on camera by talking to them, quacking, hitting and slapping them and wrenching their necks.

"The duck would have been experiencing distress and pain," said prosecutor Michelle Ferguson, referring to one incident where Foiles "wrenches" a duck's neck so the bird is looking at him and says: "Look at me when I'm talking to you," while wagging the neck back and forth.

Ferguson also cited another incident where Foiles bangs the beak of a duck with a live shotgun shell, roughly manipulates the duck's head and then places his fingers over the nostrils of the duck and holds its beak closed. He then asks the duck: "Is this how you want to die?"

As well, Foiles, who markets his videos under the name "Fallin' Skies," illegally hunted waterfowl from a powerboat and repeatedly exceeded his maximum daily bag limit and those of his fellow hunters.

Ferguson said it was aggravating that Foiles was a visitor to Canada and he made his fowl hunting videos for profit, purposefully shot over his limit and showed a lack of concern towards the wounded ducks.

"His actions promoted the needless suffering of those animals," said Ferguson.

Defence lawyer Steve Fix told court Foiles was a divorced father of four adult children and said he was not in a position to dispute the charges because they are dated and the hunter does not recall all of the events.

"He regrets this matter from the outset and simply wants to move on," said Fix.

According to agreed facts, the majority of the hunts in Alberta and Saskatchewan were in 2007 and included expeditions to Edmonton, Bentley and Pigeon Lake.

During the hunts, Foiles would address the birds by names, including "Mr. Honker" and "Mrs. Mallard," and he would not immediately dispatch wounded fowl.

He also once held a wounded Canada Goose - brought to him by his dog 24 minutes after he shot it - up for the camera and rubbed its head against his own cheek before eventually breaking its neck.

In another videotaped incident, a laughing Foiles "plays" to the camera while whacking a crippled duck on its beak with his duck call.

He also manipulates the body and wings of the wounded bird and then shows it his shotgun and explains it was the cause of his demise.

Court also heard Foiles tried to get his cameraman to shoot fowl despite him not having a permit and chuckled on camera while joking about exceeding the bag limits.

Outside court on Wednesday, Brian Petrar, the operations manager of Environment Canada's Wildlife division, spoke of Foiles being a "celebrity hunter" and said his hunting video antics were not "conducive to a fair chase."

Petrar also spoke of the "ethical part" of hunting and how Foiles "wasn't afraid to bend the rules to make money."

Meanwhile, on Sept. 21, Foiles was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 13 months in jail and fined $100,000 after earlier pleading guilty to violating federal wildlife laws south of the border, as well.

Hamming it up with wounded game. What a POS.

Dean

What a total jackass.

Wish they would have made him stay in Canada, we don't want him here.

You may find that we don't want him either.

I've thrown away my 2 Foiles duck calls. I will not support criminals or poaching dirt bags.

I guess its impossibly hard for any hunter to stand up for this guy.

I hope that DU and some of the other hunting outfits publicize this sorry event and this guy gets "Zumbo'ed" to the point he wonders how he will pay his alimony.

Thank god the Canadian Government didn't sweep this under the rug.

I wish they would have hit him with a fine that would make us all cringe.

...'Fallin' Skies' hunter gets 13 months, $100K fine.Zoom Photos. Purchase this photo Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register.Jeff Foiles, a Pike County waterfowl guide and producer of the "Fallin' Skies" video series, exits the federal courthouse in Springfield on Thursday, June 23, 2011.
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jun 23, 2011 @ 11:00 PM
Last update Jun 24, 2011 @ 05:48 AM

READ: Charges and plea agreements

Fallin’ Skies video star Jeffrey Foiles will serve 13 months in jail and pay $100,000 in fines after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court on Thursday to two misdemeanor charges related to violation of federal wildlife laws.

Foiles, 54, a professional waterfowl hunter and call maker from Pleasant Hill, in Pike County, was facing a 23-count indictment.

Foiles said little in court Thursday afternoon except to answer, “Yes, sir” when U.S. Magistrate Byron Cudmore asked him if he did the things listed in the plea agreement.

Foiles also agreed to serve a year of supervised release and to give up his hunting and guiding privileges for two years following his release from jail, and to make public service announcements admitting wrongdoing and encouraging others to observe wildlife laws.

In addition, his business, the Fallin’ Skies Strait Meat Duck Club LLC, entered guilty pleas to two felony charges through Foiles’ attorney, Steven Beckett of Urbana.

Beckett acknowledged that the club unlawfully sold wildlife through illegal guided hunts and that it falsified records.

Foiles pleaded guilty to unlawful sale of wildlife in violation of the Lacey Act and unlawful taking of migratory game birds in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The illegal acts he admitted to include:

* Participating or guiding hunts where participants routinely shot more than their limit of ducks 15 times between 2003 and 2007.

* On Dec. 7, 2007, he hunted both during the morning and afternoon with a group of hunters who killed 39 ducks, nine in excess of the sum of the hunters’ individual daily bag limits.

* On Nov. 24, 2007, Foiles and two others killed at least 22 mallards, 10 in excess of their combined daily bag limits. The practice, known as “party hunting,” is illegal.

* During the hunt, Foiles is heard on videotape talking about shooting the bag limit of a person who was present but not hunting.

* The plea agreement states that false records were kept and that Foiles knew the behavior was wrong.

“The defendant contacted hunters and obtained their name and license information, which he then recorded (or instructed others to record) in the Club’s records as if those hunters had killed birds on that day when in fact they had not,” the agreement says.

Formal sentencing for Foiles is set for Sept. 21, but he still has to answer to wildlife charges in Canada as well.

In the U.S. plea agreement, Foiles also agreed to similar violations of wildlife laws in Canada, including a hunt in October 2004 where he exceeded his own personal bag limit by 16 ducks.

Illegal hunts often were included in Foiles’ Fallin’ Skies video series.

Beckett asked the court to allow Foiles to be able to travel to Canada if necessary but told Cudmore the case might be resolved by video-conferencing.

A pair of shoes maybe?

nice work...

I would have tried him under the RICO Act as well.

Sounds like he had it in for the poor ducks. Serves him right....

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
I guess its impossibly hard for any hunter to stand up for this guy.

I hope that DU and some of the other hunting outfits publicize this sorry event and this guy gets "Zumbo'ed" to the point he wonders how he will pay his alimony.

Thank god the Canadian Government didn't sweep this under the rug.

X2.

I suspect most of us have participated in the beauty of a morning waterfowl flight and hunt. I certainly have and will carry to my grave the mental images of sunrise, fall colors, plumage and good dog companionship.

This puke has obviously lost all that and thats contemptible.

In a way "we" are responsible because we lionize or hero-ize these so called "pro's" to the point that they start believing their own press. Zumbo arrived at a place where he thought he could say what he wanted without question. Personally, I was glad to see Zumbo knocked down a peg or two from a broad social justice perspective. Because this asshole abused our priviledge I'd like to see him absolutely black listed by any and all associated with hunting and firearms. We'd all agree there sometimes are and should be consequenses for our actions that go on long after the fine is paid in full.

To bad it was not a felony in the states he would loose the privilege to own a firearm.. Just read the end good for him. No sympathy here.

Thanks Lonny,

Mike

The manner in which he was treating his downed quarry tells me this thug is not all there.

Reminds me of the kind of trash that like to torture, be it animals or humans.

Any thoughtful judge should have given him a life-time ban on firearms ownership and hunting.


Regards,

carpediem

Shoot too many birds AND bring them back to the US......LACEY.

Why is it if applicable that Lacey was not applied?! Was this guy too "big" for Lacey?

I find his sentence to be entirely too mild. 13months, probably get out in 13weeks. Sentence should have been in years and not 1.0833333333333 years.

People like this make me sick!

Correct me if I'm wrong but, Federal sentences are only shortened by pardon not parole. Thus, if you're sentenced to 13 months you're doing 13 months.

13 months, weeks days.....still entirely too light a sentence.

13 years would have been more like it with a $1,000,000.00 fine and 10,000hrs community service. And if that isn't enough revocation of priveledges to hunt in every country with hunting regulations for the next 20 years.

When you are a celebrity you are in the public eye much more than the average joe. It is my belief you have a responsibility to behave yourself and thus should be held to a higher standard.

Then there are all the professional athletes and actors/actresses that just get a slap on the wrist where average joe would have done time.............bastards!