Property owner snared in Ohio trapping case

The Ohio Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a bird shooting preserve owner for improperly using snares in an effort to trap coyotes that were preying on game birds.

The three-judge panel unanimously rejected a challenge to the jury verdict against Douglas Brannon, a part owner of Arrowhead Pheasant Club in Wilmington, for eight violations of state wildlife regulations.

Arrowhead, which is southeast of Dayton, raises pheasant chukar partridge, quail and guinea fowl.

When coyotes started disturbing hunts and killing game birds in early 2012, Arrowhead employees tried to shoot coyotes they spotted on the property. When that proved an unsuccessful means of control, Brannon set snares to trap the coyotes, according to the decision.

A neighbor discovered that his dog had died in a snare when it wandered onto Arrowhead property. When he complained to authorities, Ohio Division of Wildlife Officer Eric Lamb inspected the area, the court said.

On Lamb’s first visit he found snares without state-mandated ID tags and dead animals that had been left more than the legal maximum of 24 hours. He also saw a “large pile of wings possibly used as flesh bait” to lure coyotes, the court said.

On a return inspection, Lamb found 20 snares without tags, six of them holding dead animals: two dogs, two deer, a fox and a coyote. Some snares had illegal spring assists, and some lacked the required deer stops.

Also, a trail camera Lamb set for surveillance photographed Brannon near the snares.

At trial, Brannon admitted setting the snares to protect Arrowhead’s livestock — the birds.

A jury convicted Brannon of eight wildlife violations but cleared him of three animal cruelty charges. The cruelty charges accused Brannon of “recklessly causing the deaths” of the neighbor’s dog and the other two snared dogs, said Laura Gibson, who handled the case for the Wilmington City Prosecutor’s Office.

A judge sentenced Brannon to a suspended five-day jail term and $100 fine per violation and ordered him to perform community service or attend a trapping education class.

In affirming the conviction, the Court of Appeals said there was enough evidence to support the jury’s verdict, including testimony from Lamb and a second wildlife officer, plus Brannon’s own admission that he’d set snares without ID tags and didn’t inspect them at least once every 24 hours.

“While we acknowledge that Brannon was faced with a difficult situation involving predation on his land and the necessity of keeping wild animals off the property to protect his business, he was still required to abide by the rules and regulations of the Department of Wildlife whether or not he understood that he was in violation of those rules,” Judge Robert Hendrickson wrote in the appeals court’s decision.

The court rejected Brannon’s argument that property owners are exempt from wildlife regulations concerning ID tags and the time limit for removing dead animals from snares on their own land.

“Moreover, he was not forbidden from protecting his property from wild animals through the use of snares,” the court said, but the “time and manner regulations” apply to property owners’ activities.

In addition, the court ruled that Lamb didn’t need a search warrant before installing the surveillance camera on Arrowhead property.

Wildlife officers have authority to enter private property, and the area they entered was considered an “open field” under the law, it said, so Brannon “had no reasonable expectation of privacy.”

Brannon didn’t return calls seeking comment.