VA Hunter Sentenced For Poisoning Bald Eagles, Beating Hawk

ACCOMACK COUNTY, VA — A Virginia hunter was sentenced to a single day in prison after he admitted to killing at least 20 juvenile and mature bald eagles and hawks on his Accomack County property.

William Custis Smith of Hallwood was also ordered to serve two years of probation and pay nearly $10,000 in fines after pleading guilty in March to violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the taking of bald or golden eagles, their parts, nests or eggs without a permit.

According to court records, federal authorities launched an investigation into Smith in January 2023 after receiving a report about a pole trap located near a waterfowl impoundment on his Hallwood property.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents interviewed Smith and inspected his property, where they found the pole trap used to attract birds of prey and snare them. Agents also found a juvenile bald eagle carcass on the ground.

Agents installed a plot-watcher camera on Smith's property. The camera captured a red-tailed hawk landing on the platform before it was caught by the pole trap. The raptor struggled in the trap for several hours before Smith returned and bludgeoned it with a pole he had retrieved from the back of his truck.

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Smith removed the hawk's carcass from the trap and discarded it on the ground nearby, court documents say. He reset the trap and left the area.

A few weeks later, agents spoke with Smith, who admitted to killing more than 20 juvenile and mature red-shouldered and red-tailed bald eagles and hawks.

“We’re fairly familiar with the guy. We’d dealt with him before on some waterfowl violations,” Virginia Conservation Police Master Officer Brian Bratton said in a news release. “He showed us what was going on and told us what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was killing the hawks and eagles because they were killing all the ducks he was attracting to his impoundment."

Smith also surrendered a can of carbofuran, a pesticide he used to poison some of the raptors. Carbofuran was banned in the United States in 2008 because of its toxicity to humans, according to court documents.

“This particular poison acts so quickly that nine times out of 10, when an eagle, hawk or whatever eats something, it acts so quickly that they die with whatever they’re eating still in their claws,” Bratton said.

According to Bratton, Smith was "very aware" that killing the raptors was illegal, but in his mind, "the ends justified the means."

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