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Man Convicted Of Hunting In Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

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Published Date

May 30, 2015

If you're going to poach wildlife in a unit of the National Park System, don't leave a tree stand in place where someone might spot it.

That was the downfall of a Michigan City, Indiana, man. Back in November 2013 a park ranger at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore at the southern tip of Lake Michigan spotted a tree stand near Furnessville in Porter County. An investigation was started and over the course of the next few days two additional hunting tree stands were located in the park, a release from the lakeshore said.

The locations were mapped and confirmed to be inside the park boundary. On November 20, 2013, the ranger observed an individual in one of the tree stands located inside the park boundary. When contacted, the hunter, identified as Donald Dolph, 57, of Michigan City, was observed to be in possession of a hunting rifle and was advised he was inside the park boundary. Dolph was also advised that hunting inside the National Lakeshore is prohibited. At the time of contact, Dolph was issued citations for hunting in a national park and unlawful possession of a weapon in a national park, the release said.

This past March, Dolph appeared in U.S. District Court in Hammond, Indiana, and pled not guilty to the charges. A bench trial was held and District Court Judge John Martin found Dolph guilty on both counts. The man, who had not actually shot anything in the lakeshore, was fined and released. Park officials did not know how much the fine was, but said it was minimal as this was the man's first offense.

 

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Comments

Submitted by Donald Dolph Jr on March 24, 2016 - 5:58pm.

jmI was just informed this article existed. You should probably ask a few questions before you post things like this. The property in question was in no way in the national park. This was confirmed by several GPS devices along with a porter county sheriff, and a reporter from the Chesterton tribune. If the author of this story would like venture to this spot and see for him/her self, we would be more than happy to take you. As for the "fine" ....  It was $2 total. 0 court costs, and the federal judge was quite irritated that this was even in his court room. 


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