Maryland Natural Resources Police Blotter

Officers Seized an illegally harvested nine-point buck

Natural Resources Police officers charged deer poachers and rescued a lost hunter during the opening weekend of firearm deer season.

A Hagerstown deer hunter was rescued by Maryland Natural Resources Police officers on Saturday, the first day of modern firearms season, after he became lost in the Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area.

Robert Lee Winters Jr., 66, called Washington County’s 911 dispatch center late in the afternoon when he could not find his way back to his vehicle.

Dispatchers relayed the GPS coordinates from Winters’ cell phone to officers working the area with a deputy sheriff. When the coordinates did not lead them to Winters, officers called the hunter and told him to fire a single shot in the air.

A short time later, the rescuers found Winters unharmed in the area between Catholic Church Road and the AT&T tower access road off Hanging Rock Road.

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On the first day of the two-week firearms season—Maryland’s most popular deer season—officers issued 30 citations and 39 warnings, and seized three deer during statewide enforcement efforts. They checked 141 hunters. One hunter in Charles County was injured when his muzzleloader mafunctioned.

An Allegany man was issued citations for multiple hunting violations and the nine-point buck he shot was seized after a citizen reported hearing gunfire near his house on Saturday morning.

William Charles Kinser, 62, of Oldtown, was charged with hunting from a vehicle, possessing a loaded weapon in a vehicle and shooting from a road.

When stopped by officers, Kinser admitted he was scouting hunting locations on Mertens Avenue in Green Ridge State Forest when he saw the buck, rolled down the vehicle window and shot it with his muzzleloader. His cousin, who was not wearing orange, jumped from the vehicle and began dragging the deer to the road without first field tagging it.

Kinser said that he knew his permit to hunt from his vehicle because of a handicap came with the conditions that he could not shoot from a road or from a vehicle that was running.

Officers donated the deer to a family that had been legally trying to hunt that buck when Kinser shot it.

Kinser is scheduled to appear in Allegany District Court on Jan. 22. If found guilty of all three charges, he could be fined as much as $4,500.

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Shortly after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, a Charles County man was the victim of a hunting accident when his muzzleloader exploded and caused substantial injury to his left hand. The victim was deer hunting in the woods behind his house.

Daniel Patrick Rice, 34, Port Tobacco was flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for non-life threatening injuries. No foul play was suspected and no charges will be filed.

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On Sunday, officers in Garrett County charged three people with multiple hunting violations occurring after dark in Grantsville.

Acting on tips and complaints, officers targeted a field off Durst Road. At about 8 p.m., a southbound vehicle slowed almost to a stop and used its headlights to sweep the field. After it made a U-turn, officers stopped the vehicle and noticed two rifles on the front passenger seat. The firearms, ammunition and a spotlight were seized.

Travis James Spiker, 27, of Grantsville, was charged with hunting from a vehicle, having a loaded weapon in a vehicle, hunting at night and casting rays with an implement (jacklighting). He received a warning for having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle.

Spiker is scheduled to appear in Garrett District Court on April 6. If convicted of all charges, he could be fined a maximum of $6,000.

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Also on Sunday night in the same location, officers issued three citations each to Alex Wayne Baker, 22, and Jessica Blair Baker, 30, both of Grantsville, for illegal hunting.

A vehicle was observed on Durst Road with a flashlight beam sweeping the field on either side of the road. When officers searched the vehicle, they found a rifle, a flashlight and ammunition.

Each person was charged with hunting from a vehicle, hunting deer at night and casting rays with an implement (jacklighting).

The Bakers are due in Garrett District Court on March 3. If found guilty of all charges, each could be fined as much as $4,500.