# Another caged hunt!!!!!!!!!!



## Fossilman (Mar 12, 2006)

Country star charged with killing tame bear in pen
The incident in Sandstone, Min., was videotaped and edited to make it appear that the bear had been shot in a "fair chase," charges say.
John Reinan, Star Tribune
Last update: August 16, 2006 - 7:40 AM
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Troy Gentry

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The singing duo Montgomery Gentry made its name in country music with such hits as "Good Clean Fun."
But according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday, there was nothing good or clean about the death of a tame bear named Cubby at the hands of Troy Lee Gentry.

Gentry, half of the singing pair, bought the "trophy-caliber" bear for $4,650 from Lee Marvin Greenly, owner of the Minnesota Wildlife Connection in Sandstone, according to the charges filed in federal court in Duluth.

Gentry, 39, and Greenly, 46, made their first court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson in Duluth on Tuesday and were released on bond.

The charges said Gentry killed the bear with a bow and arrow in October 2004 while it was enclosed in a pen on Greenly's property.

Greenly refused to comment on the incident Tuesday, and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said she didn't know how large the pen was.

An adult black bear normally weighs 250 to 350 pounds. Cubby had been raised in captivity and was housed at the Wildlife Connection, a private preserve that bills itself as a place where animal lovers can photograph creatures in the wild.

After the kill, Gentry and Greenly allegedly tagged the bear with a Minnesota hunting license and registered it with the state Department of Natural Resources as if it had been killed in the wild.

The kill was videotaped and later edited to make it appear that Gentry had killed the bear in a "fair chase" hunting situation, the indictment said. The hide was sent to a taxidermist in Kentucky.

"I don't know all the details on what has been said," Greenly said Tuesday. "You're the first person who has really said anything about it to me."

A spokesman for Gentry, who lives in Franklin, Tenn., said he couldn't comment.

Montgomery Gentry has been a top country act since the late '90s, with two No. 1 singles and a string of gold albums.

Gentry was charged with conspiracy to falsely label the animal. Greenly also was charged with two unrelated crimes for allegedly setting up bear-baiting stations and hunting stands in the Sandstone National Wildlife Refuge, then guiding a client there to kill two black bears in 2005.

Fine or prison possible

The charges against the men carry a maximum fine of $20,000 and as long as five years in prison.

The black bear population in Minnesota is healthy, and the state encourages hunting as a way to control it, said DNR spokesman Mark LaBarbara. The department issued 13,670 bear licenses in 2004 and hunters killed 3,391 bears.

"But there's no question that the state does not condone shooting a pen-raised bear," LaBarbara said.

Staff writer Jon Bream contributed to this report.

John Reinan • 612-673-7402


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

You killed Cubby...you [email protected][email protected]!!!

I don't know if I could ever shoot something that had been raised in captivity since a baby and named cubby. Let alone, in his pen.

That's it, break out the steamrollers, time for a good-ol-fashioned Montgomery-Gentry CD-smashin' Yeeeehaaaw!!! :wink:


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## holmsvc (Nov 26, 2003)

njsimonson said:


> I don't know if I could ever shoot something that had been raised in captivity since a baby and named cubby.


Thats because you would miss it. :wink:


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## Irish Mick (May 15, 2006)

Guess this is what happens when you have too much money and no ethics. I'd smash a cd with ya nj but I don't have an Montgomery Gentry cuz they suck.


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## Eric Hustad (Feb 25, 2002)

How can you shoot an animal named Cubby?? :******:


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

No kidding how could anyone be that callous to shoot a pet bear named cubby.

And what kind of ahole would raise him and then allow that?

Both sides need a serious *** kicking


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

Aren't we witty today Holmes? Your dad told me you'd never make it in a labor camp. LOL.


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## Mannlicher (Sep 18, 2005)

Should not come as a surprise. Ethics afield are becoming about as moribund as ethics in politics. :evil:


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

Yeah this is my town, where i shoot penned in bears after playing county fairs. :eyeroll:


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Manager says country singer thought bear killing was legal
Associated Press
Published Thursday, August 17, 2006

DULUTH, Minn. - The manager for Troy Lee Gentry said Wednesday that the country singer thought he had complied with the law when he shot and killed a tame black bear in Minnesota and was surprised when he was indicted.

Gentry, of the vocal duo Montgomery Gentry, is accused of killing a tame black bear that federal officials say he tagged as killed in the wild.

Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tenn., and Lee Marvin Greenly, 46, of Sandstone, appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson in connection with a sealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis.

Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow in an enclosed pen on Greenly's property in October 2004.

Gentry's lawyer said Wednesday that the federal indictment was misleading.

_*"Number one, the bear was not killed in a cage," said Minneapolis lawyer Ron Meshbesher. "The bear was roaming around in a fenced area of several acres, *_and my client spent almost two hours in a tree stand before he got a clear shot with a bow and arrow."

An acre is about the size of a football field without the end zones.

*Meshbesher said Gentry "is extremely distraught about these allegations. He prides himself as an environmentalist and an avid hunter who respects the fish and game laws of the United States."*

The bear's death was videotaped, and the tape later edited so Gentry appeared to shoot the animal in a "fair chase" hunting situation, the government alleges.

Meshbesher said the videotape was made for Gentry's private use. He said it was edited to remove the time spent waiting in the tree stand, cutting the tape from more than an hour to 15 minutes.

"They never edited the videotape to make it look like something it wasn't," Meshbesher said. "Nothing was done to hide the fact that this (hunt) occurred the way it occurred."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis said federal authorities would not comment on Meshbesher's assertions.

Gentry's manager, Johnny Dorris, said Gentry expects to be exonerated.

Gentry "relied on the knowledge and expertise of a local guide to obtain the proper permit," Dorris said in a written statement. "Troy felt what he did was legal and in full compliance of the law and was surprised to hear of the indictment."

Greenly's attorney, Robert Malone of St. Paul, said his client is pleading not guilty.

If convicted, both Gentry and Greenly face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $20,000 fine.

.......................................................................................................

How can you possibly try to justify this??

Bob


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

> He prides himself as an environmentalist and an avid hunter who respects the fish and game laws of the United States."


 uke: uke: uke:


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

The guy knew he was "hunting" in a 2 acre fenced in area? Now I can see how is thought it was ok!

Just one of the idiots that are running around that want to shoot and have no idea what a real hunt is all about.

I can just see it now....at his next concert.....a bunch of guys showing up in bear suits! Now that would be good.


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

FH,

That could be dangerous...this guy would probably take a shot at them.


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## Irish Mick (May 15, 2006)

> _*"Number one, the bear was not killed in a cage," said Minneapolis lawyer Ron Meshbesher. "The bear was roaming around in a fenced area of several acres, *_and my client spent almost two hours in a tree stand before he got a clear shot with a bow and arrow."


You can put a tuxedo on a turd but it still stinks


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

> Number one, the bear was not killed in a cage [rather] in a *fenced area of several acres*, and my client spent *almost two hours *in a tree stand before he got a clear shot with a bow and arrow.


Wow, "several" acres and (almost) two whole hours...our mistake, that makes everything better.

You might have participated in an unethical hunt if...

you're trying to defend the cage as several acres...

your total committment to the process is less than two hours...and

the animal you shoot has a name.


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## Irish Mick (May 15, 2006)

I know we have "canned hunts" here in the state, but is this the kind of garbage that goes on in North Dakota?

If so...what is being done to stop it?


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Ahhhhh, Read the headline. This took place in duluth, MN.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

You know the hunt you're on is unethical if:

The farmer calls the elk by name when he feeds them.
and 
when you're on ANY kind of a buffalo hunt!


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

..........Or if the land you're on has a fence more than five feet high. I wonder if the guy who killed cubby was from Texas?


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## Irish Mick (May 15, 2006)

Ahhhhh...djleye...I actually did read the headline...you probably should have read my question a little closer.

What I asked is: does this same kind of shady behavior go on at the game farms in North Dakota?

I realize that this happened in Duluth but if this is happening in our state, as it appears it did in Minnesota, what are we doing to stop it?

If these guys are indeed guilty, they give all hunters a bad name. Especially if we don't stand up and say we're opposed this kind of behavior. :sniper:


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## Fossilman (Mar 12, 2006)

Reminds me of "SecondHand Lion"..................Anyhow's I just lost respect for those two singers now....Hey they can party with "THe Dixie Chicks" now :wink:


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## greenheadfallon (Oct 19, 2005)

Fossilman u said it all. I give u 2 beers :beer: :beer:


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

> the animal you shoot has a name.


Come on Bueide, I've heard you call ducks lots of names when your hunting. Whats the big deal!!!!


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

:rollin:


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

> I know we have "canned hunts" here in the state, but is this the kind of garbage that goes on in North Dakota?
> 
> If so...*what is being done to stop it*?


Irish, we are working on that really hard in ND. When the time comes it will take some involvement by ND sportsmen to clean up this mess. As progressive states outlaw canned hunts the investors behind these opperations move to "other" states like ours.


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## Hollywood (Jan 22, 2006)

The judge should make part of his sentence consist of Gentry being filmed out hunting on his own. No "guides" (whats this "bear-guide" guide you to....the pen?) I'll bet watching him try a real fair chase hunt of ANY kind would make for good comedy. How many kids that were neutral about hunting swing hard toward the anti side with this kind of crap. Glad I would'nt know one of their songs if I tripped over it. I'll buy a ticket to one of their shows right after I go see "boy george" & michael jackson.


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

Gentry caught in bear trap
The country singer and avid outdoorsman finds himself in trouble with the law on some very dubious charges.
Dennis Anderson, Star Tribune

The legendary country crooner and ex-con David Allen Coe apparently had it wrong. The perfect country song doesn't speak only of Momma, trains, trucks, prison or gettin' drunk, as Coe claimed.
Now such a tune needs Momma, trains, trucks, prison, gettin' drunk and trumped-up indictments, big headlines and bears named Cubby.

Which is one way of saying: Free Troy Lee Gentry.

Last week, with the Mideast on fire and Alaskan oil pipelines leaking, news of a real crisis arose when the feds uncorked a two-year investigation of Gentry, one-half of the country duo Montgomery Gentry.

The charge against Gentry is that he conspired to falsely register a bear he killed near Sandstone, Minn., in October 2004, and subsequently shipped the bear's hide to Tennessee.

For that, the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis wants to convict him of violating the century-old Lacey Act, a felony.

Not because the bear was killed. That, apparently, was done legally (otherwise, why wasn't he charged?). But because, in part, state lines were crossed when Gentry allegedly sent the hide of his ill-registered bruin to his home.

Much about this case, and all it suggests, smells. But very little of it has to do with Gentry, an avid outdoorsman who apparently has had no prior run-ins with wildlife officials.

Let's first look at the indictment and news release about the case from the U.S. Attorney's Offices, copies of which can be found at www.startribune.com/outdoors.

Whoever wrote these can work for the tabloids, should their legal careers tumble.

The indictment speaks of shooting a "tame" bear in a "pen," also Gentry's alleged filming of the animal's demise (by bow and arrow) and -- transgression of transgressions -- the subsequent editing of the video.

None of which matters, because none of it involves anything illegal.

Moreover, the bear, named Cubby (at least it wasn't Smokey!) wasn't tame. Semi-domesticated, yes. And captive. But bears, penned or not (this one was in a three-acre enclosure when killed) aren't tame.

If you doubt that, stand in a pen with one.

Additionally, Gentry owned the bear. He bought it, fair and square, paying about $4,600 for it. It was, therefore, his lawyer says, his to do with as he pleased.

And Gentry's preference -- distasteful and unsporting as it might be to some people -- was to shoot the bear. And to videotape the shooting.

And, yes, according to Gentry's attorney, Ron Meshbesher of Minneapolis, Gentry and/or his agent subsequently edited the video to remove the "dead time" and focus instead on the kill.

Meshbesher said the video was for his client's personal use -- and perhaps someday might have been included in a music video.

But the video apparently hasn't surfaced in the two years since it was taken. And it's possible the U.S. attorney's office and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents who worked the case never would have known about the tape had a copy not been found when the agents busted Lee Marvin Greenly, owner of Minnesota Wildlife Connection in Sandstone, where the bear was killed.

(Greenly has other legal problems, including, allegedly, guiding bear hunters on a national wildlife refuge closed to hunting.)

• • •

The bigger picture here involves Minnesota Wildlife Connection, to which, for a fee, many so-called "wildlife photographers" undertake annual pilgrimages to snap images of so-called "wildlife."

I don't begrudge Greenly his business. From all accounts, he's a good guy who has discovered, like some other game farm owners, that many of these shutterbugs are frauds who turn a good living peddling photos of captive, not-so-wild wildlife to a very gullible public.

Which is why, for example, pheasants that obviously are reared on game farms end up on covers of magazines published by pheasant conservation groups, why deer with obviously fake antlers grace the covers of deer-hunting magazines -- and why the "wildlife" on the calendar hanging over your desk seems so resigned to its fate.

All of which is small potatoes compared to the fraud that often passes for realism under the banner of "outdoors television," much of which is filmed in locales no less contrived than that offered at Minnesota Wildlife Connection. And virtually all of which is supported not only by the sporting goods industry, but by its customers.

People like you and me -- directly or indirectly.

The point is: Gentry's visit to Minnesota Wildlife Connection, his purchase of the bear and his decision to kill it -- again, bothersome as it might be to some people, wasn't unusual.

Consider:

Right now, today, Minnesota not only has plenty of game farms where people can purchase pheasants and other birds, and kill them -- a part of the state's sporting fabric for generations -- it also has game farms where deer and elk can be purchased and killed.

In its last session, the Minnesota Legislature took a run at outlawing the latter. But nothing came of it.

Why not?

Because game farms where deer and elk can be purchased and shot is a business that has supporters -- and customers.

Regular people, like you and me.

And Troy Lee Gentry.

• • •

The Lacey Act, first passed by Congress in 1900 at the urging of Iowa conservationist-congressman John Lacey, never was meant to be applied trivially.

Amended many times, the act makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, buy or possess fish, wildlife or plants taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of any federal, state, foreign or Native American tribal law, treaty or regulation.

The first full year the law was on the books, 48 Illinois men were charged for illegally shipping more than 22,000 quail, grouse, and ducks into that state. Also, some 40,000 illegally traded game birds were confiscated in Brooklyn, with prosecutions following.

Where Gentry ran afoul of the Lacey Act, it's alleged, is in the shipping from Minnesota to Indiana of the hide of the captive bear he killed. Again, it's not alleged he killed the bear illegally, or that he was unlicensed -- because he had a Minnesota hunting license.

Rather, it's alleged that when he registered the bear with the DNR he gave the agency the wrong location where the bear was killed. This is no small deal: The DNR needs to know accurately where big game animals are killed so it can set limits and seasons properly.

The question is whether the ill-gotten registration, a minor infraction in Minnesota (arguably the registration couldn't occur because the DNR doesn't register captive animals), and the alleged subsequent shipping of the hide of a bear Gentry owned, should fall under the auspices of a law whose primary intent never was to protect captive "wildlife" of this kind, in this way.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Either way, the U.S. attorney is loaded for bear, and soon, Troy Lee Gentry, Southerner, will have his day in a very Northerner court -- the makings of a country-western tune, to be sure.

Before then, perhaps, Gentry will make country music history rewriting these immortal words of David Allen Coe:

Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.

And I went to pick her up in the rain.

But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck

She got runned over by a damned old train.

To add something like:

I'm sitting in a cell like Momma's,

My name in big headlines.

Snow still falling here in June

Having stuck a big black bruin

Whose name was Cubby.

Think I'll write a love letter to my wife

And her brand new hubby

©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

Dennis Anderson says that from what he knows Greenly is a good guy. Anderson then goes on to say Greenly has other legal problems including allegedly guiding bear hunters on a wildlife refuge. What the hell is wrong with Dennis Anderson? I thought this guy was on the ball. Another dork sports writer.


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