Disabled veteran calls for relaxation of deer-baiting rules

COEUR d'ALENE — A 74-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran filed court documents saying he wants to spend time in jail rather than pay a fine for allegedly using bait to hunt last month.

Tacoma resident James L. Brummett — who is disabled from Agent Orange exposure, depression and heart problems — said he plans to plead guilty to the misdemeanor hunting citation if his recent motion to dismiss the case is denied.

Craig Walker, regional conservation officer for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in Coeur d'Alene, said Brummett was cited for hunting whitetail deer over bait last month at the Tall Pines wildlife area at Hayden Lake.

"The officer (who wrote the ticket) certainly thought he had a good enough case," Walker said Monday.

Possible fines will be up to a judge, Walker said, but state law says they can range from $25 to $1,000. Hunters can also get up to six months in jail and lose their hunting privileges for three years.

Brummett hopes publicity from his case, and any time he might spend in jail, can lead to a relaxation of the rules on baiting deer for disabled veteran hunters.

"I'm trying to get them to think more about disabled veterans," Brummett said in an interview.

He is scheduled to appear in court in Kootenai County on Jan. 5 for a pretrial conference and arraignment in the misdemeanor case. He filed a motion to plead guilty "with explanation" in advance of next week's hearing.

"I would request a small fine and want to serve the fine out in jail to aid any and all future disabled veteran hunters," Brummett wrote in the document.

Brummett said in the interview that his heart condition prevents him from climbing hills or packing heavy weight.

"I can hardly walk," he said.

He is also in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

"The night of the ticket I sat down and cried for hours, because I could no longer hunt the way I used to and I'm a person who never cries," he wrote in court documents.

Fish and Game Commissioner Brad Corkill, of Cataldo, who represents the Panhandle region, declined on Monday to comment on Brummett's case and his efforts to see the rules relaxed for disabled veterans.