22 



STATEMENT OF CHADWELL BRUCE CLEMONS, UNIVERSITY OF 

 FLORIDA, HIGH SPRINGS, FLORIDA 



Mr. Clemons. Hello; I would like to take this time to thank you, 

 Mr. Chairman and Committee members, for this opportunity to tes- 

 tify regarding a dove hunt that occurred on October 13. I served 

 in this dove hunt as an AGR member, Alpha Gamma Rho. I am 

 attending the University of Florida, and I was invited by a friend, 

 Ray Hodges, who is an aide to Senator Williams. I attended this 

 hunt anticipating to help serve refreshments and help make the 

 guests as comfortable as possible. We were told that if we had 

 enough time and in between all of this, we could hunt, so we did. 

 We had time. 



After the luncheon, I was invited to hunt on a parcel of land that 

 Mr. Boe has spoken about on Mr. Hatch's property, which is adja- 

 cent to the Sanchez farm. I went to the field, never crossing the 

 Sanchez farm, entered the Hatch farm and hunted. I was in an 

 ideal location. I was located between the alleged baited field and 

 a pond, so I was quite content. I hunted for approximately 3.5 

 hours before I was approached by a wildlife officer. Let me make 

 a correction: I was not approached by him; I approached him. And 

 let me clarify that: I was hunting approximately 100 feet away 

 from the Sanchez farm, which was separated by a woven wire fence 

 about 48 inches tall, a field fence. I could not clearly see that field 

 as far as what the contents were inside the field. The field in which 

 I was hunting was a pasture. 



The wildlife officer approached about 100 yards away and called 

 out to other members in the field: I am a U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 officer. The friend with whom I was hunting turned to me and said 

 what do you think we should do? And I said, well, let us go talk 

 to them. I only had six birds; I had a hunting license; I was clearly 

 in no violation. I had no problem going and speaking with Mr. Pil- 

 grim. 



So, we drove about 100 yards to where Mr. Pilgrim was located, 

 and he was taking information from the other hunters in the field. 

 I gave all of the information he requested, and I was questioned 

 for approximately 10 minutes by Mr. Pilgrim. He was very polite, 

 but he was not to the point. He did not tell us why we were being 

 questioned, and I asked: is this a license check? No. What is going 

 on? Well, we will tell you in a minute, when you meet us at the 

 other part of the field and we all congregate at one time. That way, 

 we can simplify this by going over it at one time. 



Well, obviously, something was wrong. We left; we went back to 

 the barn first en route to the field, and that is where I learned 

 from other hunters who had come out of the field that this field 

 was baited, the field was allegedly baited. So, knowing this, as I 

 crossed Sanchez farm and crossed that field that was allegedly 

 baited, I knew now that the field was baited from information from 

 other hunters. Clearly, I was looking for it. I drove through that 

 field, and I did not see any. 



When we got to the point where the questioning was going to 

 take place and where they were going to take further information 

 in regards to the citations, the officer took the information for the 

 citations and told me that the district attorney would contact me 

 in the event that I wanted to appear in court if they were willing 



