FRANKLIN COUNTY, Kansas —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a report of poaching and asking the public for help to identify the suspects involved.
Around noon on January 4, around midday a witness observed the illegal dumping of more than 30 duck carcasses (some were intact and had not been processed) along Georgia Road just north of Interstate 35 in Franklin County, according to a social media report from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Game Wardens. Some of the carcasses were intact and had not been processed.
Georgia Road is located between the Williamsburg and Homewood interchanges and is approximately 12 miles southwest of Ottawa. The witness reported seeing an early 2000’s brown full size Chevy pickup, possibly Z71 model, with an extended cab parked along the roadside. A rounded metal carrier was attached to the rear bumper of the pickup truck.
The witness said several white males in their mid 20’s wearing camo got out of the pickup and left the ducks in the ditch. The witness mentioned that a couple of the subjects had longer hair, like a mullet.
The witness watched the pickup leave the area traveling southbound over the Interstate 35 overpass. At the time of the incident duck hunting was currently open in the Low Plains Southeast Zone, which includes the surrounding areas and water bodies south of Interstate 35.
Anyone with any information on this investigation should contact Franklin County Game Warden Ryan Twellmann at (785) 221-2694.