Four men from Camden have pleaded guilty to federal hunting violations.
U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee Michael Dunavant announced Friday that 20-year-old Hunter Rainwaters, 20-year-old Cody Brown, 20-year-old Peyton Mayberry, and 20-year-old Jay Maiden, all of Camden, pleaded guilty Monday in Jackson federal court to illegally placing bait to attract waterfowl and taking or attempting to take waterfowl over a baited area.
The area the subjects illegally baited is a TWRA owned and managed Wildlife Management Area in Benton County.
Dunavant says the effects of this baiting on a public waterfowl hunting area resulted in the closure of a portion of the WMA and the subsequent loss of hunting opportunity for other hunters in the affected area for the first 10 days of the 2017-2018 waterfowl hunting season.
In the sentencing, Rainwaters loses his hunting privileges for two years, and was fined $1,000.
Mayberry, Brown, and Maiden lose their hunting privileges for one year and were each fined $1,000.
The case was investigated by the TWRA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
