I was recently cited by the PGC for placing
garbage on lands open to public hunting. One day
during archery season in November, I was
approached by the local WCO. Steve Liendecker.
He knows where I hunt. I was at the truck eating
lunch on my own land.
He started with some small conversation and
checked my grandfather and my hunting license.
He then asked me to step aside that we have a
problem. After stepping aside. He started
telling me about some garbage being placed right
next to the Game lands and a piece of private
land open to hunting. He then said that there
was allot of my very own personal information in
it. Bank statements, old bills and plain old
mail. He then proceeded to take me back to his
truck and show me some evidence. I was amazed. I
thought that maybe it was a ploy but he really
did have my stuff. At first I was dumbfounded
but remembered that about a month ago. We hired
a local guy to take away some scrap metal and
some garbage to the dump. I see now that the
garbage never made it to the dump. I explained
what had happened and asked where the garbage
was. He said about 500 yards from my very own
home! Yeh, I am that stupid and I could tell
that he didn't believe my story. I immediately
left the hunt and went to the area and cleaned
every drop of garbage up that was there.
Needless to say, about a month later, I received
the citation and a court date. After explaining
to the magistrate what took place and the
actions that I took to rectify the situation.
She threw it out of court...this is where it
gets better: He is harassing me now...non stop!
Case Number Two
A search warrant served at my residence on
02/24/05 at 2:00pm. For doing Taxidermy work
without a license.
This is my explanation of what was discovered on
the day served. One half printed very old 8x10
computer print of an advertisement for me to do
European Skull Mounts and one 8 point rack that
belongs to a Dr. The funny part was that there
isn't any type of Taxidermy equipment in my
home...NOTHING!That is all that was recovered.
If you notice the phone number given on the
advertisement, you will see that it is a
724-620-???? Phone number. This was made during
the year 2000 while I lived at a completely
different address than I do now. This was done
in May/June of that year. I moved here to
xxxxxx, Dunbar, Pa. 15431 in Jan. 2001. At the
time and until a date stated later in this
letter. I didn’t know that it was illegal to
make these mounts for other people without a
taxidermist license. Even with that being said.
I have not made a business of it…Most of what I
did was my own or family members. All were done
using artificial skulls. Not the real skulls.
Allot of people saw my work with these and loved
them. I then started checking into getting a
Taxidermy License through the PGC. At that
point, I started taking steps to open a
Taxidermy Shop. But as a few months went by. I
realized that I was not going to be able to do
it. So I dropped everything and moved on. Not
knowing that the European mounts were illegal to
make without a license. I have asked a few
people about the legality but according to the
PGC. My recourses provided bad information. I
was told that what I was doing was no different
than going to Wal-Mart, buying a plaque and
mounting the horns. There were no hides involved
in making these. That if you look into allot of
craft shows, you will see that they make candle
holders from antlers, chandeliers and many
different products from antlers and none of them
have a taxidermy permit.
During my employment at ************. A couple
years later. I had one of my artificial European
Mounts on the counter at work as an
advertisement to do these. I believe it was the
winter of 2002. I was contacted one evening by
Steve Liendecker( Wildlife Conservation Officer
for the Pennsylvania Game Commission). He then
advised me that it was illegal to do these…I was
not sure at the time, but I think that he might
have thought that the mount on display was for
sale. It was not. It was the “European Mounts
Work that was for sale” Either way, I got the
message that it was illegal to sale antlers and
doing the mounts was illegal in Pa. without a
license. I immediately removed it from the
counter and dismantled the entire thing. I then
was in contact with Mr. Charles May…another WCO
from the Pa. Game Commission. He told me that it
was ok to do the mounts but I could not accept
any monetary income for doing them…I was
confused but stuck with what Mr. Liendecker said
earlier.
Now this is where I can not deny the fact that a
law was broken. I know that ignorance of the law
is not going to hold in court. This was prior to
being contacted by Mr. Liendecker about the
mount. With the mount sitting on the counter at
Woodlands World. I was asked allot of questions
but never came through with doing any of the
mounts. People didn’t want the 139.00 cost to do
it that I had listed. Except for one person. My
family doctor Dr. Tiffany Pluto. Her husband.
Dr. Jay Lawrence.
We talked for awhile on a couple occasions at
work and became friends. He asked If I’d do a
mount for him if he got one. I told him yes.
Thinking It was going to be a European mount.
Well. Deer season came and he contacted me and
asked me to do a mount of an 8 point that he had
taken. At this point, I found out that he wanted
a regular mount. I agreed and told him that I
could use it to show for getting a Taxidermy
license that I still intended on trying to get
eventually. I had another Taxidermist that was
going to assist me in doing it. (This is Legal
if done is his shop) Jane Woods. My fiancé went
to meet his secretary and picked up the cape and
head. After bringing it home, we found that it
was rotting very badly. It was sitting in a
garage in a plastic bag never frozen for a long
time. Probably over 10 days. We made numerous
attempts to contact him and even told his wife
to call us. We needed another cape but they were
not cheap. Finally. Months later. He had his
wife write us a check for a new cape. I told
them it would be 65.00 for a cape but they
insisted on paying $100.00. Soon after. I talked
to Dr. Lawrence on the phone for about one hour.
At that point the asked if we could do a mount
that made the deer look like it was alive
jumping out of the wall with the front legs
attached. I told him that I was not sure because
I would have to look at the cape to see if there
was enough to do a mount like this. That was the
last I heard from him. We have made numerous
attempts to contact Jay. We even left messages
personally with Tiffany Pluto for him to call or
stop by. The deal was over. Regardless of what
Dr Lawrence says, he never contacted us after
that. I even left 3 messages on his answering
machine.
Since that time, I have dropped the idea of
getting a Taxidermy Permit. I have not touched
or even came close to doing any mounts for
anybody else. Just myself. (European Mounts and
Basic Wal-Mart Plaques) How this all snowballed
into the PGC thinking that I have a Taxidermy
Shop running out of my home or anywhere else for
that matter is mind boggling. I have NEVER owned
even a putty knife, chemicals or anything needed
to mount a deer. I feel that it is a personal
vendetta that Mr. Liendecker has against me for
some reason. Maybe its my success at deer
hunting that labels me as a criminal in his
eyes. it’s a shame that most very successful and
great hunters get this kind of wrap from our
very own PGC. Maybe its because the day prior to
the search warrant I beat him in court over
another issue and attempt to have be cited over
a garbage issue. It was dismissed. I just do not
understand. I am a very ethical sportsman and
very successful Outdoor Writer. With quite a few
articles and publications in the Game
Commissions very own magazine “Pa. Game News”
Seems like a strong attempt to destroy any
chances of future writing in any magazines. I
also write for a few others.
If he comes at me with any more allegations and
I think that he will. He hinted on a bogus
situation from 3 or 4 years ago….Stemming back
to a time frame at ********* again. He stated
that there might be a case of me possibly
shooting 2 bucks in one season. That is
definitely not true. I believe that he is taking
information from an employee at ************. I
used to tease and drive the man crazy at work
because I could not stand the man. He was a liar
and a drunkard. I used to say to him “man!…I
shot another one” “Look at this one” I would
bring an old rack in and show him…I have NEVER
killed more than my legal limit of deer. I did
shoot three bucks in 2003...Maybe that is his
point. I took one in Pa. and 2 in West
Virginia…All Legal and documented in WV and Pa..
Well after going to court and trying to explain
to the magistrate the the Title 34 Statute of
limitations is well up. It stated that I have to
be cited within two years of the violation...It
has been three and this week I lost the case and
was hit with a 300.00 dollar fine. When is this
going to stop...he is constantly following me
everywhere.
