Case Name: Jones v. The State
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1915-10-29
Citations: 17 Ga. App. 329
Docket Number: 6750
Parties: Jones v. The State.
Judges: Russell, O. J., dissents.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 17
Pages: 329–330

Head Matter:
6750.
Jones v. The State.
Decided October 29, 1915.
Accusation of misdemeanor; from city court of Waynesboro— Judge Davis. June 2, 1915.
Seaborn A. Jones was convicted on an accusation based on the section of the game law which provides that “it shall be unlawful for any person to shoot at or kill any dove or other game birds at, upon, over, or near any larid baited or baited field or land” (Acts 1911, p. 143; Acts 1912, p. 118; Park’s Annotated Code (Penal), § 594 (d) ). On the trial he admitted that he had shot at doves on baited land as alleged, but he sought to defend on the ground that he did not know that the land was baited. His motion for a new trial was on the general grounds as to the insufficiency of the evidence.
The following evidence was introduced: Edgar Bargeron testified : “I am game warden of Burke county, Georgia. I went down to the plantation of C. I. Belt in this county on February 24, 1915, and looked over the land reported to me to be baited, and where S. A. Jones shot doves. I found about 12 blinds, i. e. stands, around the field of about six or eight acres. There were about 50 to 125 empty shells in each of these stands, and a quantity of dove feathers in each. The blinds were made out of pine tops. There was a considerable amount of wheat scattered on about four acres of this land, which could be readily seen by any one making a search. It is difficult to get birds to stick at a field that is not baited, and people do not shoot them around here with any satisfaction unless they are baited.” J. H. Jordan testified: “I live within a few hundred yards of the lands of .0. I. Belt where the doves were shot on February 22,' 1915. There were ten or twelve people around there, but I did not know them all. Seaborn A. Jones was there with a gun, and I presume he shot birds with the rest. They all got there early in the morning, some by daylight and some by sunup. There was plenty of bait (wheat) scattered over the lands where they were shooting, and it could be easily seen by any one looking on the ground for it. There were a good many birds there, but I do not know how many were killed. . , It was a natural pea field and the birds were there all winter— lots of doves there.” George L. Jones testified: “Some time early in February I noticed that doves were congregating in large numbers on the lands of C. I. Belt in this county, and Mr. Belt agreed that I could shoot the birds, telling me to bait them. I thought it would be a pretty good shoot without scattering any bait, so I did not do so until Friday before we shot them on the 22d day of February. On Friday before we shot them I scattered one bushel of wheat . . over the land. I notified quite a number of my friends, among them my brother, Seaborn A. Jones. I did not tell any of them that the land was baited, nor did any of them inquire as to whether the land was baited or not, and, so far as I knew, none of them knew that the land was baited. I did not consider it baited, as I put out such a small amount of grain, and it was such a short time before we shot them. . . There were ten or twelve persons there, and I had prepared blinds several days before we shot them. I have shot birds for a number of years, and it is true that you can’t have a satisfactory shoot unless the land is baited. There may be a number of birds in the field, but they will not stick. . . I think it was after sunup when my brother reached there. He shot over across the ditch from where the birds were baited, but later on in the day he came over and shot some over the baited land.” E. L. Hutchens testified that the defendant shot from across the ditch where the bait was scattered, and later came over to where the bait was scattered. The defendant made the following statement at the trial: “A few days before Monday, February 23, 1915, my brother . . called me over the phone and invited me to shoot some doves on February 22d on the C. I. Belt place. He said nothing about the doves being baited, and I did not ask him about it. On the morning of the 22d I went over, arriving on the field some time after sunup. I shot the doves along- with the others that were-there, but I did not know they were baited; I heard no one say anything about their being baited. I killed only about twelve or fifteen. I shot over across the ditch from where they were baited, as stated by witnesses.”

Opinion:
Eboyles, J.
The evidence authorized the judgment of the judge of the city-court, who tried the case without a jury; and no error of law appears.
Judgment affirmed.
Russell, O. J., dissents.
Citations by counsel: Miley v. State, 118 Ga. 274; Clark's Crim. L. 68; 1 Bishop's Crim. L. 173, par. 302, sec. 3; Stern v. State, 53 Ga. 229; Reich v. State, 63 Ga. 616.
Joseph Law, O. B. Garlick, for plaintiff in error.
Frank S. Burney, solicitor, contra.