On Oct. 2, Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) Glen Parker and Christopher Doroski completed a bear baiting investigation in the town of Forestburgh. 

Utilizing intelligence gathered by Investigators with DEC’s Bureau of Environmental Crime Investigations, ECOs identified an area of State land potentially being baited for bears. 

After hiking many miles over several days, ECOs located two hunting locations on the ridge that appeared to be baited, as the earth near the hunting stands and blinds was freshly disturbed. 

ECOs set out just as daylight broke and located an individual bowhunting for bear over bait in one of the suspected stands. The bait consisted of donuts placed in trees, smeared on tree bark, and placed in tree knots. The hunter initially claimed the donuts, including the large package of donuts in his backpack, were for his own consumption and that he had simply dropped the others. 

ECOs ticketed the hunter for hunting bear with the aid of bait, failure to display a backtag, injuring trees on State land, littering on State land, failing to label stands/blinds with a name/address, and several other State land offenses. ECOs were assisted by Lt. Michael Buckley who helped process the individual and evidence.