Wired Arrow Outdoors' Owners, Pro-Staff, Charged With Illegal Harvest of 18 Deer* Illinois Conservation Police Document 134 Wildlife Violations* SPRINGFIELD, IL – IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 3, 2014* CONTACTS: Chris Young* 217-557-1240* An Illinois Conservation Police investigation into the Wired Arrow Outdoors television show has resulted in the company’s owners, pro-staff members and guests being charged with 134 wildlife violations, including the taking of 18 deer illegally in Illinois. After viewing videos of hunts that aired on the Sportsman Channel or were uploaded to*www.YouTube.com, Conservation Police determined that hunting and filming were conducted on properties in the Chicago region without permission from landowners making hunting permits invalid. Hunting and filming allegedly took place on properties owned by several private companies, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and the Village of Lansing.* During the investigation, it was determined the pro-staff members had unlawfully harvested a total of 18 white-tailed deer, including 10 bucks and eight does, nearly all of which were aired either on the Sportsman Channel or the Pursuit Channel. On Sept. 16, 2014, a joint operation involving several state and federal agencies was conducted to interview all pro-staff members who had previously hunted in Illinois. Cooperating agencies included the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Seized during the joint operation were eight unlawfully-taken white-tailed deer heads, one set of antlers attached to a skullcap, and one unlawfully-taken turkey fan, beard, and spurs. Charges include violations documented from the 2012 and 2013 deer seasons.* “The Illinois Conservation Police will aggressively investigate whenever someone violates hunting laws, violates another’s private property rights, or otherwise tries to exploit Illinois’ natural resources at the expense of law-abiding hunters,” said Rafael Gutierrez, Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Chief of Law Enforcement.* “Hunting is a great privilege to be cherished and respected,” said IDNR Director Marc Miller. “Those who violate laws intended to protect Illinois’ wildlife resources and take game illegally will face the full consequences of the law.”* The names of those charged and a list of violations follows:* David T. Brugger - Co-owner of Wired Arrow - 7 Counts of Hunting without Permission, 7 Counts Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 7 Counts of Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 1 Count Unlawful Attempt to Take Whitetail Deer, 2 Counts Failure to Report Harvest by 10:00 PM, 1 Count Unlawful Possession of Unlawfully Taken Whitetail Deer or Parts Thereof, 6 Counts Accessory Hunting Without Permission, 6 Counts Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 5 Counts Accessory To the Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (42)* Jessica E. Stoner - Pro-Staff - 1 Count Hunting without a License, 1 Count Hunting without a Habitat Stamp, 1 Count Hunting without Permission, 2 Counts Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 1 Count Unlawful Attempt to Take Whitetail Deer, 1 Count Accessory Hunting without Permission, 1 Count Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Accessory Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (10)* Ryan T. Ederer - Co-Owner of Wired Arrow - 6 Counts Hunting without Permission, 6 Counts Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 4 Counts Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 2 Counts Failure to Report Harvest by 10:00 PM, 2 Counts Hunting without a Habitat Stamp, 6 Counts Accessory Hunting without Permission, 6 Counts Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 7 Counts Accessory Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (39) Pending Falsification charges through the Attorney General's Office.* Nathan C. Fahndrich - Pro-Staff - 3 Counts Hunting without Permission, 3 Counts Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 2 Counts Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 2 Counts Hunting without a Habitat Stamp, 4 Counts Accessory Hunting without Permission, 4 Counts Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 2 Counts Accessory Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 1 Count Accessory Unlawful Attempt to Take Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (21)* Joseph M. Cater - Pro-Staff - 1 Count Hunting Without Permission, 1 Count Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 1 Count Accessory Hunting Without Permission, 1 Count Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Accessory Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (6)* Wade R. Childs - Pro-Staff - 2 Counts Accessory Hunting Without Permission, 2 Counts Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 2 Counts Accessory Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (6)* Jeremy F. Howard - Pro-Staff - 1 Count Hunting Without Permission, 1 Count Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer, 1 Count Hunting without a Habitat Stamp. Total Violations (4)* Michael W. Porter - Guest - 1 Count Hunting without Permission, 1 Count Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (3)* Susan J. Porter - Guest - 1 Count Accessory to Hunting without Permission, 1 Count Accessory Hunting with Invalid Archery Deer Permits, 1 Count Accessory Unlawful Take of Whitetail Deer. Total Violations (3)* Deer Seized as a result of this investigation:* (1) 10 Point Whitetail Buck shoulder mount (Porter) (1) 10 Point Whitetail Buck head frozen (Howard)* (1) 8 Point Whitetail Buck shoulder mount (Cater)* (1) 10 Point Whitetail Buck shoulder mount (Fahndrich)* (1) 8 Point Whitetail Buck shoulder mount (Ederer)* (1) 12 Point Gross Boone and Crockett Whitetail Buck shoulder mount (Ederer)* (1) 8 Point Whitetail Antler Scull Plate (Brugger)* (1) 11 Point Whitetail Buck should mount (Brugger) (1) 8 Point Whitetail Buck shoulder mount (Brugger)* (1) Turkey Fan, Beard, and Spurs (Brugger)* Assisting Agencies include the Michigan DNR, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Union Pacific Railroad Police, Cook County Forest Preserve Police, and the Lansing Police Department. Never really watched the show or know much about this. Just popped up on idnr FB page
I think it's important to title this thread correctly. Wired to Hunt is a completely different entity than Wired Arrow, to my knowledge the two are not affiliated in any way.
I admit I do like Illinois approach to hunting without permission. Instead of a petty trespassing ticket, a much more severe penalty.
Yeah if you can change the title so people don't start rumors about Wired To Hunt that would be great.
So, lets fix the title. People crucify tv personalities as AFAP without always know the facts. Admin or OP should retitle to Wired Arrow Outdoors. WTH mostly does online and radio interviews with hunters and is a great organization IMO.
It has been edited. I'll be honest, the only reason I opened this was the title. I follow Wired to Hunt and found it hard to believe he would have been tied up in something fishy.
Wired to Hunt is great blog....it would have been a real slap in the face. I don't know these clowns on this show so it doesn't hit home....
Looks like everyone took care of the name mix-up. I remember when I first heard of Wired Arrow I thought to myself "So you ripped off Wired to Hunt and Red Arrow's name for your TV show? Not clever." As I said in the main Bowhunting Talk thread - hunting illegally is dumb by itself. To do it, in a Forest Preserve no less, then film it and put it on TV is simply beyond my comprehension level.
They are of course acting like they did not know all of the charges coming and that they are not going to be convicted of anything. It doesn't take any brains or common sense to realize that the Illinois DNR is not going to post that on their facebook page and open themselves up for a lawsuit if they don't have them by the balls. On second thought brains and common sense...maybe they do think that.
Thanks everyone for calling out the error in the title and sticking up for Wired To Hunt! We most definitely have NO affiliation with these guys.
They, IDNR, just put a press, release out in the website too. Basically same thing above though. It happens alot around where I live with all the outfitters, not this many all at once usually. Even some of the more well know ones, one of which is no longer around.
