174 



pond and a beaver dam had been constructed where com stalks were used in construction. 

 Obviously, it would not be surprising to find some com in the pond. Clearly a question of 

 reasonableness in wildlife law enforcement is at issue. The President of the Club was, however. 

 Baron Hilton, of Hilton Hotels, and many of Club's members were well-known West Coast 

 personalities. I am confident this case was brought because of the high visibility of the defendants 

 and, since the "bait" was there, under the strict liability doctrine, it was expected that a plea 

 would be entered or conviction would take place at trial. The defendants chose to go to court, 

 however, and the Magistrate Judge appropriately issued a "not guilty" order at the conclusion of 

 the trial. Such a circumstance is, however, rare. 



Another case I beheve was brought, in part, because of the high visibility of the one of the 

 defendants was United States v. Orme. 851 F.3d 268 (4th Cir. 1995), off 'ming without a pub. 

 opin.. United States v. Diez, 851 F.Supp. 708 (D.Md. 1994). Osboum "Os" Owings owned a 

 farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where many prominent state and federal officials and 

 other prominent guests had hunted over the years. For over thirty (30) years, Mr. Owings had a 

 feeding program for waterfowl where he placed grain on his farm from the time waterfowl 

 migrated in the fall until they left in the spring. He also left standing com in his fields and built 

 two fi'esh water ponds on his farm that was surtounded on two sides by the Choptank River. In 

 short, an ideal hunting venue. He was very proud of his feeding program and even wrote about 

 it in a hard cover autobiography. The Wizard Is Os (1990). For years, federal and state law 

 enforcement oflRcials were aware of his feeding program. They even banded waterfowl on his 

 property over the years. As mentioned earlier in this testimony, the hunting venues were 

 stipulated to be 4,899 feet and 2,790 feet from the feeding program. 



The last day of the waterfowl season in 1993, federal and state wildlife law enforcement 

 officials arrested all hunters gurming from the two blind areas. Mr. Owings was 81 years old and 

 did not hunt that day but was charged with aiding and abetting in the baiting. He passed away 

 prior to trail but the person helping Mr. Owings was found guilty under the "since-it-is-there, 

 you're -guilty-of-hunting-over-bait" strict liability doctrine. The "zone of influence" in tfiis case 



