Public helps in hunt for bear killers

Three Eastpoint men are in trouble in connection with the killing and disposing of a black bear. In the past, a Lanark Village man received a sentence for a smiliar crime.

On Nov. 14, 2011 Ruel Raker III, a law enforcement officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was called to the Eastpoint Apartments at around 8:30 a.m. after the apartment complex manager and a maintenance worker discovered a large pool of blood in the parking lot of the complex in front of Building 200.

Raker reported finding a broken arrow in the pool and the manager gave him the names of several tenants who were bow hunters. After investigating further and conducting several interviews; Raker photographed the scene, seized the Goldtip Extreme Hunter arrow and left.

He was called back to the apartments shortly after noon by the manager who had found more blood, this time located directly in front of apartment 406.

 “The blood appeared to have dripped in a straight line possibly from out the back of a truck,” wrote Rake, who photographed the blood and took samples for genetic analysis.

Two hours later, the manager called Raker and told him Jordan Odom, resident of apartment 406, had arrived home. When Raker arrived at Odom’s apartment, he found him wearing jeans covered with blood.

Odom told Raker the he and his friend, Bradley Cardin, and a neighbor, Joseph Thompson, had helped a man named Chris load a dead bear into Chris’ truck the night before, and dispose of it off Gilbert Street in Eastpoint.

Raker said he photographed blood and fur in Odom’s truck and seized the blood stained jeans. Later that day, he interviewed another resident of the apartments who said that around midnight the previous evening, he had seen a man in his early 20s walking around the apartments with a fully-drawn compound bow.

Odom was arrested Jan. 4, posted $2,500 bond and is under house arrest at his parents’ home in Bristol. He is charged with killing a species of special concern, a third degree felony.

Cardin has been arrested and charged with possession of a species of special concern, a misdemeanor. Law enforcement officials said a warrant has been filed for Thompson’s arrest.

Odom’s arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 14, his 21st birthday.

Lanark Village bear baiter convicted

In a separate incident on the eastern end of the county, and coincidently on the same day, Nov. 14, Gene Kent Strickland, a fishing and hunting guide, was taken into custody, pled no contest and found guilty of killing black bear, a species of special concern.

FWC officer Eric Johnston said he saw Strickland shoot a bear Oct. 20, 2010 with a compound bow, on a hunting lease at the end of McIntyre Road in Lanark Village.

Johnston said he was told by an informant that Strickland was baiting bears with fish. The officer staked out Strickland’s camp and, within an hour, saw him shoot a bear.

When Johnston revealed himself, the officer said Strickland expressed surprise and initially tried to deny the shooting. Later, after he was placed in a holding cell, he asked to speak to Johnston in private and told the officer he and his wife could lose their jobs and  “his way of life” if convicted.

He also admitted to having killed more than one bear, read Johnston’s report.

According to his report, when Johnston returned to Strickland’s hunting camp he found, “a ground blind and a feeder with fish hooks screwed into the pipe which was used to hold the feeder up.  The hooks were large double hooks about an inch and a half long; the kind used on large trolling lures.  If a bear climbed the feeder, the hooks would catch it on the way back down the pipe.  The hooks were placed with the points up.  There were three double hooks screwed in the pipe.”

Johnston found the bones of at least one additional bear near the stand. He said he removed the feeder after receiving permission from the lease holder.

Strickland was convicted of a third degree felony, and spent 10 days in the county jail and will remain on probation for 18 months. He cannot legally possess a gun in Florida, and had to forfeit his bow and arrows and iPhone, which an informed source said contained pictures of dead bears.

He lost his state hunting and fishing license for one year and under the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact could lose his ability to hunt in other states for three years. The compact is an agreement among 36 states, including those adjacent to Florida, that recognizes suspension of hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses in member states.

Strickland must pay $1,000 to the state’s wildlife violator reward fund at a rate of $100 per month; and more than $700 in court.

Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for the FWC said he was pleased with the outcome of the Strickland case. “We are lucky to get one conviction out of 10 cases of bears being shot,” he said, adding that the low conviction rate was largely due to the public’s unwillingness to testify in illegal attacks on wildlife.

Both Odom and Strickland were identified as persons of interest due to the cooperation of Franklin County residents. Kirkland said names of citizens who report wildlife offenders can be kept anonymous and informants may be eligible for a reward.

Members of the public can call the Wildlife Alert Hotline, 888-404-FWCC, or go to MyFWC.com/WildlifeAlert to report known or suspected violations or text or email to Tip@MyFWC.com.

When submitting information via text message, the FWC encourages including as much information as possible, such as the specific violation and location. Once a report is initiated, FWC dispatch has the ability to respond via text message to the reporting party to gather additional details. The FWC encourages people to report any known or suspected illegal activity, such as illegal hunting, taking saltwater game fish out of season, taking protected wildlife species, boating under the influence and more.