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Jim Matthews column 12/19/07
ONS
LIKE A BAD PENNY: A year-long poaching investigation has led to the arrest of two infamous wild hog and bear hunting guides and three others.
The Department of Fish and Game announced that Don Hennagan Jr., his wife Tiffany Hennagan, both of Dos Palos, Cruz Villegas of Merced and Michael Tilton Jr. of Mariposa were arrested this week. All four were charged with conspiracy to operate as hunting guides without a valid guide license and various poaching charges. Hennagan and Villegas also faced felony charges, Hennagan for felony perjury and Villegas for illegal possession of a firearm by a felon.
Don Hennagan Sr., Dos Palos, was also arrested on a bench warrant from a 2001 conviction on similar charges, when both father and son were fined $910 each on misdemeanor offenses that included cruelty to animals, operating canned hunts, and releasing domestic hogs for clients who believed they were wild hogs. In its investigation, the DFG learned the fines had never been paid and bench warrants had been issued but never served. The DFG served the bench warrants at the same time as the other arrests.
The Hennagans have operated the Panoche Valley Game Ranch, but the DFG said the operation was never legally permitted. The five also faced various other charges including illegally guiding bear hunters in the Stanislaus National Forest, hunting bears over bait, hunter trespass, illegal take of mountain lion, waste of game, and use of more than one dog per hunter during deer season.
These guys are bad, said Captain Brain Naslund, a DFG warden who worked on the operation. They dont care about Californias natural resources. Theyre only interested in profits.
Naslund said the DFG was pleased the Mariposa County district attorneys office was willing to file felony charges in this case.
Rick Bean, editor of California Hog Hunter, said the newsletter staff was looking into the possibility the top two archery-killed hogs listed in the California Bowman Hunters record book were actually released hogs killed with the Hennagans on canned hunts.
ONS
LIKE A BAD PENNY: A year-long poaching investigation has led to the arrest of two infamous wild hog and bear hunting guides and three others.
The Department of Fish and Game announced that Don Hennagan Jr., his wife Tiffany Hennagan, both of Dos Palos, Cruz Villegas of Merced and Michael Tilton Jr. of Mariposa were arrested this week. All four were charged with conspiracy to operate as hunting guides without a valid guide license and various poaching charges. Hennagan and Villegas also faced felony charges, Hennagan for felony perjury and Villegas for illegal possession of a firearm by a felon.
Don Hennagan Sr., Dos Palos, was also arrested on a bench warrant from a 2001 conviction on similar charges, when both father and son were fined $910 each on misdemeanor offenses that included cruelty to animals, operating canned hunts, and releasing domestic hogs for clients who believed they were wild hogs. In its investigation, the DFG learned the fines had never been paid and bench warrants had been issued but never served. The DFG served the bench warrants at the same time as the other arrests.
The Hennagans have operated the Panoche Valley Game Ranch, but the DFG said the operation was never legally permitted. The five also faced various other charges including illegally guiding bear hunters in the Stanislaus National Forest, hunting bears over bait, hunter trespass, illegal take of mountain lion, waste of game, and use of more than one dog per hunter during deer season.
These guys are bad, said Captain Brain Naslund, a DFG warden who worked on the operation. They dont care about Californias natural resources. Theyre only interested in profits.
Naslund said the DFG was pleased the Mariposa County district attorneys office was willing to file felony charges in this case.
Rick Bean, editor of California Hog Hunter, said the newsletter staff was looking into the possibility the top two archery-killed hogs listed in the California Bowman Hunters record book were actually released hogs killed with the Hennagans on canned hunts.
