Virginia hunter gets single day in prison for killing 20 juvenile bald eagles, hawks in poisoning scheme: authorities

A Virginia hunter got a slap on the wrist for poisoning over 20 young hawks and bald eagles during migration season to stop them from preying on ducks, which he wanted to kill for sport, according to authorities.

William Custis Smith was sentenced to one day in prison and received a $9,800 fine for killing 20 “juvenile” red-shouldered hawks and bald eagles in 2023, which he claimed were “encroaching” on his duck hunting impoundment, according to court documents.

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“He’s a big duck hunter, and he was in the process of trying to really get it going [and attracting ducks],” Virginia Conservation Police Master Officer Brian Bratton said of Smith in a statement.

“He was killing the hawks and eagles because they were killing all the ducks he was attracting to his impoundment. It was the time of year when the hawks are migrating through,” Bratton said, adding, “He was very aware it was illegal.”

Smith baited the migrating raptors with rotting fish heads he had poisoned with the insecticide carbofuran and set up pole traps — which are designed to ensnare birds’ legs, according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Investigators found a “fresh carcass of a juvenile bald eagle” on the bird killer’s Delmarva peninsula property and seized it as evidence shortly after opening their investigation, which was spawned from an anonymous tip, according to court documents.

Agents installed a “plot watcher camera” near the illegal pole trap and documented several birds being killed, including one that struggled for over seven hours before Smith beat it to death with a pole, court documents stated.

A necropsy report on the bald eagle revealed the presence of carbofuran, an insecticide that was banned in 2008 because of its toxicity to humans, according to the documents.

“This particular poison acts so quickly that nine times out of 10, when an eagle, hawk or whatever eats something, it acts so quickly that they die with whatever they’re eating still in their claws,” Bratton said.

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Smith admitted to investigators to “killing in excess of 20 juvenile and mature bald eagles and hawks, primarily red-shouldered and red-tailed,” and handed over his batch of poison to authorities, according to the VDWR statement.

A single, first offense violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act — which outlaws killing the birds among other offenses — can carry with it a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for up to one year, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

A second violation is considered a felony and results in even steeper penalties.

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Smith was charged in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges of Unlawful Taking of a Bald Eagle, Unlawful Taking of a Migratory Bird, and Unlawful Use of a Pesticide, according to court documents.

As part of the plea deal, he was ordered to pay $9,800 in restitution, serve 24 months’ probation, 50 hours of community service, and spend one day in jail, according to the VDWR.

Smith’s hometown of Hallwood, Virginia is near several protected areas including Saxis Wildlife Management Area, Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and Wallps Island National Wildlife Refuge.

US Fish and Wildlife did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.