MDC forced El Dorado Springs family to courts over legal bear tagged by 12-year-old son

Hunting justice?

By Matthew McFarland

For the El Dorado Springs Sun

25k135@gmail.com

Three years ago, in 2022, Wiley Williams of El Dorado Springs received some good news. The youngest in a family of avid outdoorsmen and hunters, all of whom had tossed their names in the hat, had “won the lottery.”

At the age of 12, Williams had won one of 20 black-bear tags available in his area of the Missouri Ozarks.

That year, 5,880 individuals entered the lottery held by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), hoping to win one of 400 permits. Each permit entitled the winner to harvest one of a maximum of 40 black bears.

In other words, 400 winners would get the chance to hunt one of the 40 bears allowed that season. To put those numbers in perspective, if every hunt was successful, each applicant would’ve had a 0.67-percent chance of getting a bear.

El Dorado Springs business owner and resident Lyndel Williams, Wiley’s father, understood the rarity of his son’s good fortune. It might look like a longshot, but it was the chance of a lifetime.

Making the most of it was crucial. They chose the site and began to leave corn out, hoping to attract their quarry to the area on property they hunted in Christian County.

Missouri’s regulations regarding the hunting of bear are quite strict.

And quite clear.

Bear may not be taken with the aid of bait. No bear baiting is allowed. You can’t leave a three-course dinner out and shoot the bear when he comes up to help himself. While you are allowed to entice bears into the area, you have to remove any kind of bait or food-containing lure at least 10 days before you hunt.

So, according to the rules, leaving the corn was no issue.

In fact, the only problem was that the bears didn’t care for it.

The Williams were absolutely sure of this, as they had the game-camera footage to prove it. Seeing that the bears of Christian County are particular about their food, Wiley and his father began leaving more-tempting items — strawberry soda, peanut butter, barbecue sauce and even stale doughnuts.

That did the trick. The stage was set. The Williams had done everything they could to ensure success.

Ten days before bear season, Lyndel dutifully cleaned up the area. He removed anything the bears might eat, all the sweet and salty snacks they came for, even scooping up the now-molding corn and moved it far from the site, using a large blue barrel.

Record bear tagged

The third Monday of October marks the beginning of bear season in Missouri, and Wiley along with his father had plans to camp and hunt the whole week. The first day passed with no sign. Tuesday the same. Wednesday morning again brought nothing, and the pair left the site that evening to attend church services.

What Wiley might have prayed for that night no man can say for sure.

They returned on Thursday, and spent another day and night waiting for that distinctive huffing sound, the quiet tread of heavy paws that never came. Friday at lunch time, Wiley’s father left to take care of some chores, and Wiley’s older brother Wynston arrived to supervise the hunt.

As any fisherman or hunter will tell you, it’s always after you leave that things get good.

Wiley got his bear that afternoon.

In fact, it was a state record when he shot it with his Winchester .30-.30.

It weighed 424 pounds.

The Williams were ecstatic, calling family and friends and eventually sending the bear to Lyndel’s nephew, a taxidermist in Oklahoma. Wiley’s lottery ticket had paid off.

Trouble with the MDC

A month later, there was a knock on the Williams’ door. An anonymous tip, made through Operation Game Thief, had come in. The tipster accused Lyndel of shooting the

bear in his son’s place. The case was assigned to a new agent of less than a month’s experience, still in her probationary period, Mikayla Leppert.

Leppert had walked the property in response to the accusation, conducting what must be acknowledged to be an extremely thorough investigation, which uncovered evidence of a crime. She took pictures of 20 to 25 kernels of corn, some stuck to the wall of the blue barrel. In addition to the kernels were other substances, one of which is alleged to be a bit of dog food.

Lyndel was surprised.

“There were three of them, and I didn’t try to get a lawyer or anything,” he said. “I just talked to them, you know. Tried to straighten things out. I didn’t know, at that point, what was going on.”

“Somebody called and told them it was a fraudulent hunt, that I’d shot the bear,” Williams continued. “Which, I wasn’t even there when it happened; they let that go pretty quick. But the thing that they were stuck on was the corn. I had moved everything far off, 170 yards or more, and that’s fine, not in the area. But these, what was it, 21 or 25 kernels of corn, were a problem.”

For three hours, Williams spoke with the agents, who recorded the interview.

He was issued a citation for placing bait, “to put others in violation,” a violation of gaming regulations. Now, if a hunter violates those regulations in the taking of game, the hunter is not entitled to that game. In other words, you aren’t allowed to keep what you broke the regulations to get.

Wiley’s bear, sent to Oklahoma for taxidermy, was seized at the request of the MDC.

Lyndel protested.

“I did the best I could,” he explained. “I didn’t have a vacuum cleaner out in the woods.”

State won’t return bear

In short order, the prosecutor assigned to Lyndel’s case amended his ticket to the lesser charge of littering, a non-wildlife violation. Without the charge of bear-baiting hanging over the hunt, Williams expected the return of his son’s trophy. The MDC, however, doesn’t see it that way. Williams, who had sat through hours of questioning, decided to take action. On behalf of his son Wiley, he went to a lawyer, Ava’s Christopher Swatosh.

“I mean, it’s a once in a lifetime chance for him … he’s 12 years old,” Swatosh said. “People wait literally their whole lives for just the opportunity, and then to actually get (a bear) is just out of this world.”

Since the season ended with eight bears taken, Wiley’s actual chance came in at 0.13 percent.

The family’s request to the MDC was simple and fair.

Simply return Wiley Williams’ record-setting black bear, which was the first, and without a great deal of luck, the last one he’ll ever get.

The MDC’s response?

No.

“They essentially said, ‘Too bad, it’s our policy, we are not returning the bear,’” Swatosh said. “They claim they want the bear for training purposes. So, a lawsuit followed. Wiley can’t do it himself, he’s 14 now, so (the legal action is) brought under his father’s name.”

The case, ‘Wiley Williams, a minor child by Next Friend, Lyndel P. Williams vs. The Director of Department of Conservation State of Missouri,” currently is in the hands of Circuit Judge Cotton Walker. Each side has submitted its proposed judgements, and all that is left to do is to wait.

“Nobody disputes that Wiley Williams is the shooter, the hunter, and he tagged the bear,” Swatosh said. “Nobody disputes that Lyndel cleaned up the food items in the areas where Wiley was hunting 10 days prior to the season. Agent Leppert maintains that Lyndel, ‘Did not do a good enough job cleaning up the bait.’ The prosecutor amended the ticket to littering, which is a non-wildlife violation. Lyndel paid a $50 fine.”

He continued, “Wiley’s rights are separate and distinct from Lyndel’s anyway, and nobody is saying that he committed a gaming violation or Missouri Wildlife Code violation. He didn’t even litter.”

Family awaits verdict

Wiley and his father, Lyndel, currently await the verdict. “It was between 21 and 25 kernels of corn,” Lyndel concluded. “They accused me of shooting the bear; I wasn’t even there. I feel like the conservation department — look, the way they’ve treated this 12-year-old …”

At this point in the interview, an emotionally spent father stopped speaking.

“It was hard to take,” Wiley said into the silence. “Listen, we didn’t know, didn’t find out until after they got it. None of them ever even talked to me. I was mad, and I’m frustrated. But when we walked out of court, we felt like it had gone as good as it could go for us. I mean, the judge, the people in the room seemed to understand.”

He then took a long breath.

“I’m only asking to get my bear back,” Wiley Williams said. “That’s it, sir.”

Very soon now, he’ll have his answer.

And if justice is served, he’ll also have his bear.