Game farm owner sentenced for selling snow goose meat

[h2ofwlr]

Staff Report, Mn Outdoor News
October 24, 2014

Bloomington, Minn. — A Wisconsin game farm owner was convicted of a felony due to his illegal selling of snow goose meat in homemade sausage.

U.S. Attorney James Santelle said that on Oct. 20, Todd David Doughty, 50, owner of the Thunderbird Game Farm in Chilton, was sentenced to five years probation, ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, and had his hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges revoked for five years by Chief U.S. District Court Judge William C. Griesbach.

Griesbach also ordered Doughty to forfeit two shotguns and sausage-making equipment.

According to the plea agreement and other documents filed with the court, Doughty illegally engaged in the sale of sausage containing snow goose, a migratory bird.

According to court documents, Doughty killed hundreds of snow geese in Nebraska in 2007. He brought the birds back to Wisconsin and sold 53 pounds of goose sausage in May 2010. Investigators also purchased sausage products made of venison, snow goose, duck, or a mixture of all three on three other occasions.

While sentencing the defendant, Griesbach noted a litany of past wildlife offenses that “spoke to the defendant’s character” and his “disregard for wildlife laws,” which necessitated the lengthy revocation of hunting privileges.

As a convicted felon, Doughty will never again legally possess a firearm for any purpose.

Court records noted previous illegal behavior factored into the sentencing. In this case, Doughty implicated himself by inadvertently tipping off investigators through side activities related to his game farm operation and lodge. The larger U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation started because of concerned citizens and the follow-up of game wardens in Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Kansas.

“This case is an example of a best-case scenario, where engaged citizens and conservation agencies from multiple states work together with our partners in federal wildlife conservation law enforcement,” said Todd Schaller, Wisconsin DNR chief warden.

In 2007, local DNR conservation wardens followed up on a couple of reports of dead owls found along the road in a garbage bag. Wardens contacted a USFWS special agent and turned over 13 dead long-eared owls that appeared to have been shot.

The USFWS Forensics Laboratory, based in Ashland, Ore., analyzed the owls and determined they were killed with birdshot. The USFWS agent noticed that Thunderbird Game Farm was just down the road from the places where the dead owls first were found. After combining that evidence with information received from other states, the USFWS began an undercover operation to learn more about Doughty and his game farm operation. The agent, with the assistance of the Wisconsin wardens, uncovered an illegal operation built around commercializing wild game as processed sausage at Doughty’s lodge.

“Congress directed us to stop systematic decimation of bird populations back in the early 1900s because they saw the consequences of this kind of greed on a nationwide scale. While we are disheartened that people like Doughty are continuing this behavior, we are pleased to have stopped him,” said Pat Lund, USFWS resident agent in charge for Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri.

As for the original illegal activity that first alerted the public and state wardens, the undercover elements of this investigation went on to document Doughty’s statements that showed he routinely shot owls, hawks, and other predators that he found at his pheasant farm. His predator-control measures were extensive and illegal, officials said.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel R. Humble.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[gimpfinger]

Only thing that concerns me is the geese were shot in 07 and people were eating it in 10. Talk about liquid chits.

your mom...

[Goldfish]

They should really make an exception for snow geese. Carp too. Might actually be able to do something about their populations then.

[NitroZ9 Duck Killin]

I am confused....what did the guy do wrong?

[Drunk_Dynasty]

Ha, what a dummy. Glad he got caught.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[h2ofwlr]

Carp too. Might actually be able to do something about their populations then.

Well you can indeed sell carp. The commercial fisherman net thousands of tons of rough fish every winter.

[cstemig]

IMO, it was all about greed and financial gain. Had this idiot donated the goose meat in 2007, he would have been hailed as a hero. Instead, it appears that he saw some financial gain by selling "old" meat for profit.

Personally, I wouldn't touch anything frozen that long!

[get-n-birdy]

So they guy shot snow geese, which are so over populated that they have a spring season to seriously try to reduce the numbers to save the tundra. Then he did some predator control on avian predators that are way over populated and protected. They might want to dig a little deeper, I'd bet he even shot some feral cats, man then he'd really be an even bigger d bag.

I get it he's a d bag for trying to put filler in sausage but is this really that big of a bust?

Hunted on a popular wma this past week. A friend went to go find a cripple and his dog found 3 dead birds looking for his. That scenario played out any time we had to go get a bird. We'd be looking for a big drake redhead and find a teal. Or looking for a teal and find a big duck. The amount of pitching ducks into the weeds from mis-id-ing them, shooting early and sky busting is a way bigger issue than this imo.

[h2ofwlr]

Personally, I wouldn't touch anything frozen that long!

Vacume packed my friend, vacume packed.... Being he was a big time producer, very likley he had commercial grade vacume packaging.


FYI, I've ate 6 YO venision that was wrapped tightly (no airspaces) in plastic wrap and then 2 layers of freezer wrap and it showed no sign of freezer burn.

And I've seen poorly wrapped venison that was freezer burnt after 3 months.

So a LOT has to do with how careful and detailed that you are when packaging it.

[Fish Felon]

There shouldn't be any laws when it comes to snow geese. They should be the same as carp.

The USFWS is trying to play it both ways and it is a joke.