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UNITED STATES v. COMB
March 26, 1962
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF,
v.
PATSIE COMB, DEFENDANT. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF, V. JIMMY DALE GLADDING, DEFENDANT.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: John E. Miller, Chief Judge.
Separate criminal informations were filed against Patsie Comb
on March 6, 1961, and Jimmy Dale Gladding on August 4, 1961,
charging them with violation of 16 U.S.C.A. § 704 and the
regulations promulgated thereunder pertaining to the hunting and
killing of migratory birds.
The defendants pleaded not guilty; waived a jury trial; and by
consent of the parties the cases were consolidated and tried to
the court on March 14, 1962.
The information against Patsie Comb charged:
"That on November 4, 1960, in the Western District
of Arkansas, Texarkana Division, Patsie Comb did
unlawfully hunt and attempt to kill migratory birds,
to-wit: wild ducks, in violation of 16 U.S.C.[A. §]
704."
The charge filed against the defendant, Jimmy Dale Gladding, is
identical except as to the name of the defendant.
The defendants denied that they were unlawfully hunting and
attempting to kill migratory birds at the time charged in the
informations, and also denied that they were at the place
described by the witnesses for the Government.
Title 16 U.S.C.A. § 703 provides:
"Unless and except as permitted by regulations made
as hereinafter provided in sections 703-711 of this
title, it shall be unlawful at any time * * * to hunt
* * * any migratory bird * * * included in the terms
of the conventions between the United States and
Great Britain for the protection of migratory birds
concluded August 16, 1916 * * *, and the United
States and the United Mexican States for the
protection of migratory birds * * concluded February
7, 1936."
"Subject to the provisions and in order to carry
out the purposes of the conventions, referred to in
section 703 of this title, the Secretary of the
Interior is authorized and directed, from time to
time, having due regard to the zones of temperature
and to the distribution, abundance, economic value,
breeding
habits, and times and lines of migratory flight of
such birds, to determine when, to what extent, if at
all, and by what means, it is compatible with the
terms of the conventions to allow hunting * * * and
to adopt suitable regulations permitting and
governing the same * *."
Sec. 707(a) (1961 Supp.) provides:
"* * * any person * * * who shall violate any
provisions of said conventions or of sections 703-711
of this title, or who shall violate or fail to comply
with any regulation made pursuant to said sections
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $500
or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both."
The pertinent regulation promulgated by the Secretary, as
authorized by 16 U.S.C.A. § 704, appears in
50 C.F.R. § 10.51, and provides:
"Subject to the provisions of the preceding
sections of this part, the areas open to hunting,
respective open seasons (dates inclusive), the
shooting hours and the daily bag and possession
limits on the species of waterfowl and on coot and
Wilson's snipe as designated in this section are
...