Hunters had 50-pound bag of corn and piles of dead waterfowl, Michigan officials say

Three hunters in Michigan are facing thousands in fines after using a bag of corn to bait and poach waterfowl, the state Department of Natural Resources said.

On Dec. 6, the agency received a tip to its poaching hotline that some hunters in Macomb County were shooting waterfowl over the legal limit, the DNR said Thursday in a news release.

Two conservation officers went to the area and heard gunshots before finding three men — identified as Richard Schaller, 52, Robert Kucinski, 49, and Timothy Morris, 58 — and watching them shoot several Canada geese, according to the agency.

The officers approached the men as they finished hunting and “began collecting a number of waterfowl that clearly exceeded daily limits from a pond littered with corn.”

Officials said they also found three piles of waterfowl hidden in brush.

Together, the men killed 23 Canada geese (14 over the legal limit) and 16 mallards (four over the legal limit), officials said. Eight of the mallards were hens, putting the hunters over the hen mallard limit by two.

One of the hunters told officials he’d put out a 50-pound bag of corn days before because he wanted the group to “have a good hunt,” according to the agency.

Both Michigan and the federal government prohibit baiting waterfowl.

The hunters pleaded guilty Thursday to 13 misdemeanor charges including taking, possessing an over-limit of Canada geese, mallards and hen mallards as well as taking, hunting waterfowl over a baited area.

They were fined $500 per waterfowl for a total $19,500 — or $6,500 per person, the agency said. They also faced a collective $3,000 in court fines.

The hunters each “permanently forfeited the firearms used to take the waterfowl” and are barred from hunting waterfowl until February 2022, the agency said.

Todd Szyska, DNR Law Enforcement supervisor in Detroit, said hunting over legal limits can have adverse effects on waterfowl populations.

“In the past, hunting over-limits of waterfowl led to low population numbers and species protection — such as the canvasback duck,” he said in the release. “It is through effective biological management, established seasons and bag limits, and enforcement that we are able to continue the waterfowl hunting heritage.”

Macomb County is just north of Detroit.