HUDSONVILLE, MI (WHTC) – Four men in their 20’s who thought they had their ducks in a row found out otherwise in an eastern Ottawa County courtroom.
The men – 24-year-old Tyler Meerman of Conklin, 22-year-old Colson Modderman of Wyoming, 20-year-old Justin Beckman of Coopersville and 20-year-old Michael Sorenson the Third of Marne – were each ordered by Hudsonville District Court Judge Kenneth Post to pay over $5,000 into the state’s Fish and Game Fund, as well as other fines and costs, and were senteneced to 18-months of probation, with the threat of 90 days in the Ottawa County Jail if they violate their probationary terms.
The four pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts stemming from an October 9, 2016 incident near a popular waterfowl hunting area in Chester Township.
State DNR officers claimed that the four men used over 200 pounds of corn to lure and kill a total of 58 wood ducks and mallards, violating state law prohibiting the use of bait for duck hunting and exceeding limits allowed per hunter for these two species of ducks.
In addition, Meerman, Modderman, Beckman and Sorensen won’t be able to legally hunt in Michigan until 2021 at the earliest, and the weapons they used have been forfeited to the state for auction in the spring.
