ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. — A deer poaching case in Hawkins County involving aggravated assault of a landowner resulted in a felony conviction for a 22-year-old man, according to a release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency.
On Aug. 16, 2023, at around 11:30 p.m., William Stamey and an accomplice were road hunting on McKinney Chapel Road and used a spotlight to kill a doe and a seven-point buck from a vehicle during the closed deer hunting season. When confronted by a landowner, Stamey pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him.
They were later stopped by a Hawkins County Sheriff’s deputy where they found a spotlight and hunting rifles. Both Stamey and the driver were taken into custody and a third vehicle occupant was charged as an accessory, TWRA said. Court dates for both the driver and the accessory are set for March.
TWRA was contacted and started an investigation that led to evidence of further poaching activity.
On Sept. 15, 2023, Wildlife Officer Justin Pinkston discovered a buck deer carcass in Stamey’s backyard while he was attempting to serve him with a criminal summons.
Records indicated that Stamey had checked the deer in as an archery harvest on Aug. 27, but did not possess an archery license, according to TWRA.
On Sept. 19, TWRA executed a search warrant at Stamey’s residence that produced 11 more sets of deer antlers that he admitted to poaching. According to TWRA, he also admitted to shooting a bearded hen turkey in 2022, which he did not check in as required by state law.
Stamey pleaded guilty on Friday to aggravated assault, spotlighting deer, hunting from a motor vehicle and a second and third offense of hunting big game in closed season. He will serve six months of a four-year sentence for the aggravated assault charge and six months for each of the hunting big game in closed season charges, TWRA said.
In addition to fines and court costs, Stamey will also pay $12,500 in restitution and have his hunting privileges revoked for life. He also forfeited a spotlight, a muzzleloader, a rifle, and a compound bow along with deer meat, turkey parts and 14 deer racks.
According to TWRA, Stamey had a previous poaching conviction from May 2021 when he entered a plea agreement for spotlighting, hunting from a public roadway and hunting deer during the closed season in Greene County in November 2020.
“Over a three-and-a-half-year period, Stamey was charged with killing or assisting in killing 15 deer illegally and admitted to poaching 20 deer from the road in 2020 alone," Officer Pinkston said. "Sadly, most of these deer were left lying and were never recovered.”