Hunter Accused Of Bear Baiting Using Doughnuts

FORESTBURGH, NY — A hunter in Sullivan County was accused of bear baiting with doughnuts.

Environmental conservation officers said, on Oct. 2, used intelligence gathered by investigators with the Department of Environmental Conservation Bureau of Environmental Crime Investigations to identify an area of state land potentially being baited for bears.

After hiking many miles over several days, the officers located two hunting locations on a ridge that appeared to be baited. They said the earth near the hunting stand and blinds were freshly disturbed.

The ECOs set out as daylight broke and found a hunter bowhunting for bear over bait in one of the suspected stands.

According to the officers, the bait consisted of doughnuts place in trees, smeared on tree bark and place in tree knots.

The hunter initially said the doughnuts, including a large package of the pastries in his backpack, were for his own consumption and that he had simply dropped the others.

Officers ticketed the hunter for hunting bear with the aid of bait, failure to display a backtag, damaging trees on state land, littering on state land, failing to label stands/blinds with a name and address and several other state land offenses.