Whitetail Hunting photo
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Warren “Spook” Spann just can’t seem to get it right. Spann, on probation after being convicted of Lacey Act violations last fall, was caught turkey hunting this spring in violation of his parole, which included a six-month hunting ban. That led U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara to sentence Spann to 30 days in jail and ban him from hunting anywhere in the world for one year.

According to this story in the Wichita Eagle, federal game wardens received information that the host of the television show “Spook Nation” was not only assisting other turkey hunters, he was also illegally spreading bait during the 2013 Tennessee spring season. Spann was under a hunting ban as a condition of his parole at the time.

Last fall, Spann admitted to violating the Lacey Act when he killed a Kansas whitetail during the 2007 season. Spann had permission to hunt the property where he killed the giant buck, but he did not have the proper license. Kansas issues “hunt own land” deer permits to nonresidents who own or lease property in the Sunflower State. He had such a tag but was not hunting property he owned. Federal wardens cited Spann for transporting the illegally killed buck across state lines when he brought the 230″ whitetail home to Tennessee. He was fined $20,000, banned from hunting in Kansas for a year, and anywhere in the U.S. for six months. Spann also had to forfeit the trophy buck’s antlers.

Though Spann’s jail sentence is not severe (he can serve on nights and weekends), perhaps the worldwide ban will send a clearer message to a man whose bulb doesn’t seem to burn too brightly. Though I have my doubts.