USFS fines Towns County fire chief-coroner for out-of-season hog hunting

HIAWASSEE, Ga. – FetchYourNews (FYN) reported Friday, July 19, that the United States Forest Service (USFS) had launched an investigation into an incident which occurred Tuesday evening, July 16, during a FireWise Communities meeting at Towns County Fire and Rescue Station 6, off State Route 288, situated in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. According to meeting attendees, which included federal employees, gunfire erupted outside of the county facility while the meeting was in progress, the result of Towns County Fire Chief-Coroner Harold Copeland’s decision to shoot a wild hog that had wandered nearby.

Federal investigators with the USFS visited the site of the shooting over the weekend, and determined with metal detectors that the shooting had occurred on federal property. Copeland was fined $330 for the violation. While there is no hunting season for feral hogs on private property, the wild hogs may only be taken on forest service land with proper weaponry during an open hunting season on other wildlife.

Copeland told FYN on Friday, prior to receiving the charge, that he believed that the incident had occurred on property belonging to Towns County Clerk of Court Cecil Dye, located adjacent to the federal jurisdiction. Dye confirmed that he had, in fact, given the fire chief-coroner permission to eliminate the “invasive hogs” on his land in the past.

FYN spoke with Copeland Monday, July 22, following the conclusion of the USFS investigation. “It wasn’t a good decision,” Copeland said. “But today is another day, and life goes on.” Dye, who visited the scene, estimated the distance of the shooting at approximately 75-feet from his property line. “I believe it was because there was a meeting going on at the time, that’s what caused the investigation,” Dye told FYN, sympathetic to Copeland’s plight. The court clerk added that his property is “overrun” with feral hogs, causing widespread damage to vegetation.

Copeland received an abundance of community support on social media, following the release of FYN’s initial report.

Related Archive