WARREN COUNTY, Ind. — A 25-year-old turkey poacher from West Lafayette has become the first person in Indiana state history to be given a lifetime hunting suspension.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources announced that on top of the first-of-its-kind lifetime hunting suspension, 25-year-old Hanson Pusey was also sentenced by Warren County Court to home detention, probation and a slew of fees.
Pusey’s lifetime suspension of his hunting privileges didn’t come without warning as the DNR stated Pusey had been caught several times abusing and breaking the law. In 2019, Pusey had his hunting privileges suspended yet he continued to illegally hunt turkeys both in Indiana and six other states.
In February, Pusey was charged in Warren County for hunting without permission and theft of a trail camera card.
Pusey is accused not only of continuing to illegally poach turkeys in Indiana and other states but was also documented by conservation officers helping friends and family members poach turkeys.
The DNR stated that a search of Pusey’s residence revealed that he’d kept spent shotgun hulls from turkeys he had harvested, identifying the states and dates of the hunt. Officers reportedly documented 83 spent casings in Pusey’s collection dating back to 2012, including 14 dated within three months of his first suspension of hunting privileges in 2019.
The DNR said Pusey poached turkeys in Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Pusey has been issued thousands of dollars in fines from each of the states where he’d poached turkeys and been given hunting suspensions in Pennslyvania, Massachusetts, and was also hit with an indefinite hunting suspension in Connecticut.
DNR reminded the public that hunting and fishing violations can be reported by calling the Indiana Conservation Officer Central Dispatch at (812) 837-9536 or at (800) TIP-IDNR.
For more information about Indiana hunting regulations see on.IN.gov/huntingguide
