CDFW officer found a tom turkey and squirrel wounded but alive in the trunk of a Honda Civic in a suspected case of road hunting.
An alleged poacher was caught near Paso Robles after a California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer found a tom turkey and squirrel wounded, but alive, in the trunk of the poacher’s car. According to a post on Facebook by Fish and Wildlife, following an uptick in reports of poaching in the rural area , a wildlife officer noticed a slow-moving car in the rural area near Paso Robles.
While contacting the driver and passenger, the officer noticed blood on the trunk, bumper and license plate of the person’s Honda Civic, according to the post.
In the trunk, a tom turkey and squirrel were found wounded but still alive, leading authorities to believe that the driver and passenger were engaging in illegal road hunting, according to the post.
In a separate incident two weeks later, another wildlife officer spotted another slow-rolling car in a different part of Paso Robles, this time a Chevy Malibu carrying a driver and two passengers, according to the post.
The driver admitted to carrying a hen and tom turkey in the car’s trunk, along with a .22 caliber rifle in the rear floorboard, according to the post.
The wildlife officer involved in the initial incident reached out and confirmed that the driver was the same individual who was cited for road hunting; neither the driver nor passengers had carried hunting licenses, and were cited, according to the post.
Following the most recent incident, the 26-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of unlawful wildlife hunting and other wildlife violations including a recommendation of felony animal cruelty charges, leading the court to set a $20,000 bail, according to the post.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case. “It is unlawful to pursue or hunt any bird or mammal species in California from motor-driven air, water or land vehicles, unless allowed under extremely limited CDFW-permitted exceptions such as those for hunters with disabilities,” the post read.
Source: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/crime/article306392631.html
By Joan Lynch
May 14, 2025 10:39 AM
