Article - Country star accused of illegally killing tame bear

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He didn't use a gun but still a black eye for the hunting community none the less. :mad:

Wednesday, August 16, 2006; Posted: 9:44 p.m. EDT (01:44 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/16/people.troyleegentry.ap/index.html

DULUTH, Minnesota (AP) -- Troy Lee Gentry, of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, has been accused of killing a tame black bear that federal officials say he tagged as killed in the wild.

Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tennessee, and Lee Marvin Greenly, 46, of Sandstone, appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson in connection with a sealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis.

Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow in an enclosed pen on Greenly's property in October 2004.

The government alleges that Gentry and Greenly tagged the bear with a Minnesota hunting license and registered the animal with the state Department of Natural Resources as a wild kill.

Gentry allegedly paid about $4,650 for the bear, named Cubby. The bear's death was videotaped, and the tape later edited so Gentry appeared to shoot the animal in a "fair chase" hunting situation, the government alleges.

If convicted, both Gentry and Greenly face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $20,000 fine.

Gentry's manager, Johnny Dorris, said Wednesday that Gentry, an outdoorsman and hunter, expects to be exonerated.

Gentry "relied on the knowledge and expertise of a local guide to obtain the proper permit," Dorris said in a written statement. "Troy felt what he did was legal and in full compliance of the law and was surprised to hear of the indictment."

Greenly did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Montgomery Gentry, along with co-singer Eddie Montgomery, are known for hits such as "My Town" and "If You Ever Stop Loving Me."
 
If he is guilty ......

If this fellow is guilty of what he is charged he doesn't deserve to call himself a sportsman. Hunting involves wild animals in wild places that can actually get away. This situation is canned hunting at its worst.
 
Wow just when I thought I had a limit to how low I could view a person...pretty unsportsmanlike for sure. What a bunch of ass-hats these two are. :mad:
 
Gatehouse said:
FOr $4650 US, he coud have bougth himsef a nice wilderness black bear hunt in BC

What an idiot..............
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seriously wtf was this guy thinkin

oh.. he's a rock star.. was probably on all sorts of coke acid and heroin when he bought the bear!
 
legend has it , when we get to the pearly gates, our animals are going to meet us and we'll go through together- this guy has a pi**ed off bear to meet him, waiting
 
Is it just me, or does it seem that this type of "enclosure hunting" is common in the south? I for one am a supporter of fair chase. As much I like pulling the trigger, it would bring me no satisfaction if I had not actually hunted the animal.

I don't care whether or not it was legal according to the laws of that state, what that country singer did was perform an execution. He did not hunt.

Ninepointer
 
Not hunting

In my oppinion it doesn't matter if the enclosure is a cage or 1000 acres in a high fence it is not hunting and anyone who takes an animal where it cannot escape is not a hunter. We all like to be successful and many have little time to spend in the field but I'd rather be a true hunter with an unfilled tag than some ****hole who goes around bragging about a trophy buck taken in a canned hunt. I know there are those who earn a legal living with these canned hunts but calling it hunting is false advertising.
 
ensuring a kill is hardly hunting-because it defines success as killing.Does that mean all the hunting trips I spent with my boys was a failure simply because we came home without meat?
 
what he did was unethical, and portraying it as wild hunt was just stupid.... but really what laws did he break??

the only thing I can think of is the tagging of the animal...... illegal tagging of a domestic pet ?
 
This guy doesn't deserve to call himself a man, let alone a sportsman! Canned hunts are an affront to true hunters everywhere! Fair chase or no chase, that's why its called HUNTING and not KILLING! I count a hunt as successful, even if I don't harvest an animal! Best hunt I was ever on was with my Dad. We didn't get our animal, but boy did we have a heckuva trip and we still cherish the memories we made that Fall. Killing has never been the over riding factor for me. In fact I've passed on easy shots, simply because I didn't want the hunting to end. Sometimes the animal you're hunting "deserved" a repreive, simply for being what it was...then for this guy to buy some guy's pet bear and kill it? Gotta' shake my head at some people.
 
This story aint about no one famous...but I knew of this guy who moved to alberta from NB who wanted to shoot a deer (he had a nice piece of property out in the woods)...so for about 6 months he put out apples regularly and eventually gained the trust of this young buck. anyways, come the fall he had the buck taking apples nearly right out of his hand...so the one day, hammer in hand, he attemted this one more time. sure enough the buck took it out of his hand and just like that he smoked the deer on the head with the hammer. thinking he killed the deer, and figuring he'd clean it INSIDE his house, he began dragging the deer through his house. well as he got dragging it through his narrow hallway, the deer came too and bucked and thrashed the #### out of him and tour the crap out of his house. anyways, he couldnt get the deer out of his house and had to call animal control, and you better believe he got charged up the ying yang.

he deserves every bit of it and then some....why the hell wouldnt he have just SHOT the deer....frig'n imported albertans!!!
 
On the plus side, they have just announced a new reality series hosted by The Nuge where Eddie Montgomery takes out a big insurance policy and stalks Troy Lee Gentry with a crossbow.

"You did WHAT in Minnesota? Our careers are over!"
 
Fake country and fake hunting seem to go hand in hand:

As the Crow Flies
Posted: Wednesday, Jan 19, 2005 - 10:44:37 am EST





'Canned hunts' all about the trophy, not the sport

By Mark Crowley-Warrick Publishing Online

A two-week trial that concluded this week in South Bend will undoubtedly set the parameters for "high-fenced" hunting in the Hoosier state and elsewhere in the nation.

It has also exposed to the public as to just what a farce these operations really are. The hunts are all about big trophy bucks and not the sport of hunting.




The subject of "canned hunts," or hunting behind fences, has been festering in Indiana over the last three years. Opponents, comprised of hunters and conservation groups, have argued from the beginning that these types of hunts are not hunting.

Their argument is simple: There is no sense of fair chase and it cheapens the sport by placing a dollar value on the animal itself.

The trial centered around the crusader of "high-fenced" hunting Russell Bellar, owner of Bellar's Place, a 1,400 acre deer farm near Peru.

At one time he offered outdoor writers, including this one, the opportunity to hunt a specific buck at no charge to prove his point that these types of operations really are hunting.

However, as it came out in testimony, most of the deer were killed in penned areas ranging from three to 10 acres. Other deer farmers from around the state had heralded Bellar as the "messiah" who would lead the charge to legitimize such hunting operations.

Bellar and his farm manager, Hinds Tom Jones, faced 39 counts following an intense investigation by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Some of the counts centered around violations of the Lacy Act that prohibits the transportation and sale through interstate commerce of any wildlife taken or possessed in violation of state law.

Hinds was the first called to the stand. He had reached a plea agreement in exchange for testimony against Bellar. He presented the first round of damning evidence against Bellar and how he operated.

Over the two week period more than 70 witnesses were called and included such names as renowned outdoor TV personality Jimmy Houston, country music star Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn, former Miami Dolphins quarterback Jeff Wickersham and Fred Rowan, CEO of Carter's Clothing, Inc.

Some of the witnesses paid as much as $25,000 to kill specific bucks.

Indiana law prohibits the killing of specific bucks and to get around this, Bellar at one time allegedly released two deer into the fenced area, one of which had its antlers sawed off to stubs so that the hunter would know which deer he paid for.

Here's a recap of how these witnesses characterized the hunts:


Dunn testified that Bellar had pointed out a specific deer for him to kill in a small pen. Dunn commented that it was like "slaughtering cattle."


Wickersham said he chose the deer he killed from a magazine and paid $20,000 to kill that one deer. The deer had been brought from another farm, drugged and released into the pen. Bellar and his employees then herded the deer away from the fence for Wickersham to shoot in about 30 minutes.


Rowan testified that he and his son shot three bucks in a four-hour span and paid $20,000 for the largest deer and $8,000 to $10,000 for the smaller two.

But these weren't the only hunters called to the stand. According to news reports, witness after witness told the same type of stories where deer were drugged, shot with a variety of weapons in small fenced areas, including rifles which are illegal in Indiana.

Many told of how the hunts were then staged for video cameras to make the hunts look legitimate.

One hunter even testified that fake blood was applied to the animal to make it look more realistic. "That was a nice touch," the hunter testified.

But the money and the fact that the deer were drugged and shot behind fences aren't the core of the legal issue.

What the investigation uncovered were violations of Indiana hunting laws ranging from the use of illegal weapons, taking more than one buck per year, hunting over bait, use of drugs banned in animals meant for human consumption, illegal sale of wildlife, the hunting of specific deer and the failure to obtain hunting licenses.

Many witnesses said they were improperly informed that they needed hunting licenses and could not use certain weapons.

In some cases, they claimed they were told outright that since Bellar's Place was a deer farm, some of these laws did not apply. But they did.

The trial has now since concluded and realizing that he has been caught dead behind a fence, so to speak, Bellar reached a plea that will undoubtedly land him in jail for several years in addition to more than $575,000 in fines and restitution.

The details of the trial go on and on, much too long for this column space.

The one thing that the trial does bring out is that "canned hunts" are bad news. They project a bad image for the sport and takes away any sense of fair chase. Unfortunately, the issue of this sort of hunting isn't dead yet.

Prior to the "truth" coming out as to just how bad this "business" is, deer farmers from around the state have been courting Indiana lawmakers to pass new laws that would take management of white-tailed deer and other cervids away from the DNR and place it into the hands of the newly formed Indiana Department of Agriculture so that they can be treated simply as livestock.

Emergency rules were put into place two years ago that halted the transportation of live cervids in and out of Indiana in an attempt to prevent Chronic Wasting Disease from entering our state.

Let's hope more are on the way to protect hunting itself.

If "canned hunting" is eventually legitimized in this state, Indiana can be proud of the fact that the sport of hunting has been slaughtered, just like the deer in small pens at Bellar's Place.

Outdoor tidbits:

The L.A. Sportsmen's Club of Lynnville will be conducting and Indiana Department of Natural Resources Hunter Education Program on Jan. 29 and 30 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time.

Attendance is mandatory on both days in order to receive the hunter education certification. Pre-registration is required.

Indiana law requires that any person born after Dec. 31, 1986 to complete the course in order to purchase an Indiana hunting license.

The classes will be geared towards the youth but all ages are welcome. Indiana's hunter education certification is accepted by all states that require certification of hunters regardless of age.

Persons under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

The directions to the L.A. Sportsmen's Club are: From the intersection of Ind. 68 and Ind. 61 in Lynnville, turn north on Ind. 61 and proceed to the Petersburg "Y" intersection and turn onto the Petersburg Road. There is a sign for the club. From Petersburg Road, turn west onto Doerner Road. Proceed approximately 1 mile and the clubhouse is on the left.

For more information7 contact the District headquarters of the DNA's Division of Law Enforcement at 812-789-9538.
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