This poacher is being forced to face the flock — publicly.
A judge has ordered an aspiring outdoors influencer to post an apology on TikTok after he was convicted on a string of illegal hunting charges and found with 115 pounds of unlawfully taken turkey meat.
The Ohio poacher was also ordered to pay $35,000 in fines and serve 15 days behind bars, a relatively brief jail term tied to a sprawling wildlife crimes case.
Carter Hickey, 21, of Ohio, pleaded guilty to 17 wildlife offenses connected to poaching after investigators uncovered illegal hunting activity that stretched across nearly 20 states, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Officials said Hickey repeatedly flouted hunting laws, seasons and restrictions.
As part of the case, Hickey admitted to killing wildlife out of season, hunting on property without permission and even using a motor vehicle to kill animals, the agency said.
“These weren’t small mistakes,” said service spokesperson Tina Shaw, noting that officers seized the illegally obtained turkey meat along with 47 whole or partial turkey fans.
“While he was busy poaching, Hickey posted false information about his activities on TikTok, bragging about his hunting skills, despite many of his actions being illegal — because of this, he was required to post an apology on the same channel and was required to write a letter to the City of Dover for trespassing and unlawfully taking a 10-point buck in a public park.”
As of Sunday, Hickey did not appear to have posted the court-ordered apology video.
As part of his punishment, Hickey was also sentenced to 15 days in jail and ordered to complete two years of community control sanctions, pay court costs on every charge within 30 days and complete 80 hours of community service within 18 months.
He was also ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution, $5,500 in fines and $11,000 in additional penalties — including $6,000 in lieu of forfeiting his pickup truck — plus a separate $5,000 contribution to the Ohio Turn In a Poacher program, and had his hunting license revoked for five years.
