By PAUL HAMMEL
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — A Georgia hunter was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution on Friday for illegally shooting two mule deer while guided by a North Platte commercial outfitter.
Chad M. McCullough, 34, of Franklin, Georgia, is the third person prosecuted by federal officials for illegal hunts through Noble Outdoors in 2020. Four additional defendants have pleaded guilty in Nebraska state court, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.
All told, the seven people convicted have been ordered to pay a total of $37,500 in fines and restitution.
Shot from road, out of season
A joint investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission found that in October of 2020, McCullough traveled to North Platte for an archery mule deer hunt.
During the hunt, McCullough unlawfully shot a mule deer buck with a rifle while seated in a Noble Outdoors vehicle parked on a public roadway, despite knowing that rifle deer season was not open at that time.
U.S. District Judge John Gerrard also sentenced McCullough to two years’ probation for unlawful transportation of wildlife in interstate commerce. He was also ordered to surrender the taxidermy mounts of two mule deer taken unlawfully during the 2020 hunt.