Conservation police uncover numerous wild turkey violations

Twelve suspects have been charged in six counties and cities in Virginia on various violations of Virginia’s wildlife laws and regulations.

The spring turkey season started on April 13 and ran through May 18. This season provides lawfully licensed hunters the opportunity to harvest up to three bearded turkeys, but only one turkey may be harvested per day. Turkeys that are legally harvested must be tagged at the place of harvest and checked-in upon vehicle transport or at the conclusion of legal hunting hours, whichever occurs first.

The officers conducting this investigation suspected that the involved individuals were failing to adhere to the applicable laws and regulations and were not tagging and or checking their turkeys, exceeding their daily bag limit and exceeding their season bag limit.

Of the violations detected, there were 18 counts of failure to check a turkey, 9 counts of hunting after obtaining the season or daily limit, 9 counts of exceeding the season limit, 6 counts of failing to validate the turkey tag at the place of harvest, 2 counts of exceeding the daily limit, 2 counts of illegal possession of wildlife, and 1 count of hunting without a license.

“These cases are very important not only for the sustainability of our natural wild turkey population, but for those lawful hunters who have been deprived the opportunity to harvest a spring turkey due to the greedy and selfish behaviors by those violating our game laws,” says Major Scott Naff, the Assistant Chief of Law Enforcement Operations for Virginia’s Conservation Police.

“I am very proud of the efforts of our officers and I can assure you that this investigation has sent ripples through the poaching community and will hopefully result in keeping others who are tempted to violate the law, to resist and help to conserve our natural resources.”

Individuals charged:

• Kyle Bjorkman, 29 of Virginia Beach, charged with failure to check a wild turkey.
• Jack Gentry, 18 of Virginia Beach, charged with failure to check a wild turkey.
• Joseph John, 78 of Virginia Beach, charged with failure to check a wild turkey.
• James Modlin Jr., 43 of Virginia Beach, charged with failure to check a wild turkey and failure to validate a wild turkey tag at the place of harvest.
  Mark Morrell, 58 of Chesapeake, charged with failure to check a wild turkey, failure to validate a wild turkey tag at the place of harvest, exceeding the season limit of wild turkeys and unlawful possession of wildlife.
• Alexander Strangways, 28 of Virginia Beach, charged with 4 counts of failure to check a wild turkey and 4 counts of exceeding the season limit of wild turkeys.
• Thomas Vaughan, 40 of Emporia, charged with 4 counts of failure to check a wild turkey, 4 counts of failure to validate a wild turkey tag at the place of harvest, 7 counts of hunting after obtaining the season or daily limit or wild turkeys, 2 counts of exceeding the season limit on wild turkeys and 1 count of exceeding the daily bag limit of wild turkeys.
• Drew Wilkinson, 29 of Virginia Beach, charged with failure to check a wild turkey.
• Matthew Wilkinson, 33 of Virginia Beach, charged with failure to check a wild turkey.
• Hunter Young, 21 of Virginia Beach, charged with hunting without the proper licenses.
• Val Rapp Jr, 51 of Windsor, charged with 3 counts of failure to check a wild turkey, 2 counts of hunting after obtaining bag limit, 2 counts of exceeding the yearly bag limit of wild turkeys, and illegal possession of wildlife.
• James Britt, 43 of Zuni, charged with exceeding the daily bag limit of wild turkeys.

For more information on turkey hunting in Virginia, please visit: https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/regulations/turkey/

Virginia’s CPOs encourage those who see or hear about unlawful hunting to report it to the Wildlife Crime Line at 800-237-5712 or [email protected].