When an Indiana Conservation Officer came upon a hunter in a stand with mineral blocks and a corn feeder nearby, he issued a citation. The hunter has a court date in the morning.  

James E. Willhoite, 69, Bloomfield, is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court tomorrow morning, Thursday, December 17, for an initial hearing.

Willhoite is accused of hunting deer with the aid of bait, a Class B misdemeanor.

Indiana Conservation Officer Gregory Swanson issued the citation to Willhoite on Saturday, November 21.

Officer Swanson was on foot patrol around 9:30 that morning, west of State Road 45 in Greene County when he came upon a person, later identified as Willhoite, hunting deer with a rifle from an elevated shoot house. Officer Swanson reported there was a brown mineral block on the ground within 75 yards of the tree stand.

When Officer Swanson asked Willhoite if he was having any luck, Willhoite said he had not seen anything yet and he showed the officer a lifetime hunting license.

Willhoite was asked if he thought the mineral block was going to be gone by the time he hunted. Willhoite said it had been there a long time.

Officer Swanson reported that about 50 yards in front of the shoot house was a feeder with corn in the feeder and corn on the ground around the feeder. There was also another mineral block that had grain mixed in with it.

When Willhoite was asked when he had put those items out, he allegedly said probably sometime over the summer.

Officer Swanson said there were several food plots in the area and he told Willhoite about the difference in the law regarding hunting over bait versus hunting over a food plot.

Photographs were taken of the bait.