GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Two men, a father and a son, lost their hunting privileges after the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said they were charged with several big game hunting violations over recent years.
The TWRA said Shelby Gene Church, 73, and Gene Allen Church, 47, were charged with illegally harvesting an eight-point buck deer from the road in the fall of 2019. It said both pleaded guilty in Greene County General Sessions Court and had to pay fines and court costs. They also lost their equipment, as well as the deer meat they hunted.
Shelby also lost his hunting privileges for life, while Gene's privileges were revoked for five years.
The TWRA said in the fall of 2023, officers investigated complaints of road hunting in the same area. It's illegal in Tennessee to hunt from the road. Authorities said Gene had harvested and checked in three deer after revoking his hunting privileges. He was arrested in December and appeared in court in February 2024, according to a release from the TWRA.
It said he pleaded guilty to three counts of hunting on revoked privileges and three counts of illegally having a deer. He had to pay a $25 fine plus court costs on each charge, the TWRA said. He also lost his hunting privileges for life and was sentenced to six months in jail with time suspended.
People who lose hunting privileges in Tennessee can still buy hunting and fishing licenses, but are barred from physically hunting, the TWRA said. People who lose hunting privileges also cannot legally hunt in any of the 46 states participating in the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact. They can continue fishing, the TWRA said.