A Smithville man recently cited by the TWRA for illegally killing a black bear appeared in General Sessions Court last Wednesday.
Jim Beshearse entered a guilty plea on the citation for killing big game during a closed season.
Judge Bratten Cook II handed down a six month suspended sentence. Beshearse will be on unsupervised probation. He was fined $250 and he must make restitution to the TWRA in the amount of $1,000. His hunting privileges have also been suspended for a period of one year.
Beshearse shot and killed the bear on Friday, June 3 after it wandered onto his property on the Old Snow Hill Road near the Smithville city limits. The bear had been spotted by several other people in DeKalb County that morning and the evening before.
Although the bear was killed during a closed season there is not an open season for black bear in DeKalb County.
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