Authorities say a hunter in Virginia was slapped on the wrist for poisoning more than 20 juvenile hawks and bald eagles during the migration season to prevent them from consuming ducks that he intended to shoot for fun.
According to court documents, William Custis Smith was given a one-day prison sentence and a $9,800 fine for killing 20 “juvenile” red-shouldered hawks and bald eagles in 2023 because he claimed they were “encroaching” on his duck hunting impoundment.
“He’s a big duck hunter, and he was in the process of trying to really get it going [and attracting ducks],” Virginia Conservation Police Master Officer Brian Bratton stated.
“He was killing the hawks and eagles because they were killing all the ducks he was attracting to his impoundment. It was the time of year when the hawks are migrating through,” Bratton said, continuing, “He was very aware it was illegal.”
Smith set up pole traps, which are meant to entangle birds’ legs, and baited the raptors with rotting fish heads that he had poisoned with the insecticide carbofuran, according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Shortly after the inquiry began, following an anonymous tip, investigators discovered a “fresh carcass of a juvenile bald eagle” on the bird killer’s Delmarva peninsula property and confiscated it as evidence, according to court filings.
According to court records, agents set up a “plot watcher camera” close to the unlawful pole trap and recorded multiple birds being killed, including one that fought for more than seven hours before Smith struck it to death with a pole.
According to the documents, a necropsy report on the bald eagle found carbofuran, an insecticide that was outlawed in 2008 due to its danger to people.
“This particular poison acts so quickly that nine times out of 10, when an eagle, hawk or whatever eats something, it acts so quickly that they die with whatever they’re eating still in their claws,” Bratton stated.
According to the VDWR statement, Smith turned over his batch of poison to authorities after confessing to investigators to “killing in excess of 20 juvenile and mature bald eagles and hawks, primarily red-shouldered and red-tailed.”
According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a single, first-time infraction of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which forbids killing the birds among other things, can result in a $100,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
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A second infraction carries considerably harsher penalties and is classified as a crime.
According to court records, Smith entered a guilty plea to five misdemeanor charges of Unlawful Taking of a Bald Eagle, Unlawful Taking of a Migratory Bird, and Unlawful Use of a Pesticide after being charged in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
According to the VDWR, he was sentenced to 24 months of probation, 50 hours of community service, $9,800 in reparations, and one day in jail as part of the plea agreement.
Saxis Wildlife Management Area, Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and Wallps Island National Wildlife Refuge are all close to Smith’s hometown of Hallwood, Virginia.
