Country star pleads guilty in shooting of captive bear [with a bow and arrow]

[The Stranger]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611280075nov28,1,3686084.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Country star pleads guilty in shooting of captive bear

Published November 28, 2006


DULUTH, Minn. -- Troy Lee Gentry pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of falsely registering a captive bear as being killed in the wild.

Under the plea, the 39-year-old country singer agreed to pay a $15,000 fine, give up hunting, fishing and trapping in Minnesota for five years, and forfeit the bear's hide and the bow he used to shoot the animal in 2004. The bear, named "Cubby," was killed in a 3-acre private enclosure.

The plea meant Gentry avoided a trial, which had been scheduled to start Monday.

Gentry, of Franklin, Tenn., declined to comment to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis as he left the courthouse.

[valerief]

1. How Cheneyesque. nt

[yellowcanine]

13. Exactly. Cheney shoots captive pheasants. What is the difference?

Other than the fact that pheasants aren't as cute and cuddly as bears and pheasants can fly, I really can't see the difference.

[Bigmack]

20. I see it a testicular problem...

If you shoot tame pheasants, at least it's obvious that you have no pretentions of being a hunter.

Shooting a captive bear indicates you have teeny tiny balls, but you're pretending to have a pair.

[warrens]

19. Cheney's probably grumbling that this guy beat him to Cubby

I grew up in New England, where EVERYBODY used to hunt. Someone pulling a stunt like this would get a rifle butt to the mouth. Beneath contempt.

[AzDar]

2. 'Harvesting' a tame bear? How small must your penis be, Troy?

:eyes:

[jobycom]

14. Yeah, something about a jackass who uses that word "harvesting"

to refer to killing animals makes me sick. It's like, they don't have the courage to admit that they are killing, and they don't have the courage to stop doing something that they must think of as wrong, since they have to come up with a ridiculous euphamism to describe it. Like a cocaine addict refering to the drug as her "diet."

I can almost understand the word when a hunter is killing a deer or small game for food. But playing GI Joe Bear Hunter in an electric cage and videotaping it for sport--there is nothing resembling "harvesting" in that action. That's just a small man butchering a defenseless pet. I guess Nashville is as detached from reality as Hollywood or DC now.

[MindPilot]

3. Why do country singers always have names that sound like

serial killers?

[Lurking Dem]

5. It's the penchant for middle names.

Although I think his sounds like a Chinese yacht manufacturer.

http://www.cheoyleena.com/index.html?section=Yachts


It's always an adventure living here (outside Franklin, TN).

[Tyler Durden]

16. My boss is in Franklin today.

If you see someone crossing the street who looks a little like a young, clean shaven Abe Lincoln while you are driving, I have one word....

ACCELERATE.

[Lurking Dem]

24. LOL!

That good, huh?

[superconnected]

25. hahahhahaha

[OneBlueSky]

4. sorry, but people who kill animals for the fun of it are sick mf's . . . n/t

.

[tularetom]

6. No friggin jail time?

It's assholes like this that give hunters a bad name. It's almost as bad as someone who would shoot a bunch of tame pheasants and a few months later shoot his buddy in the face.

[leftofthedial]

7. He'll have to drive around Nashville in his Hummer now

shooting dogs and cats with his bow and arrow to get his kicks.

[Botany]

8. This is so sick and I deer hunt too

Big Man.



What do you do with a dead bear anyway?

Trust me the fur looks better on it's original owner.

[Lisa]

29. I bet Teddy Roosevelt would have agreed with you, Botany

He hunted a lot, but he refused to shoot that bear someone had already caught for him in Mississippi.

[MadHound]

9. A much more fitting punishment

Throw him naked and weaponless into a cage with a pissed off grizzly, and let him go at it for fifteen minutes. If he walks out, he's paid his debt to society.:shrug:

Big fucking badass, shooting a caged animal:grr:

[dbt]

10. I notice the Country stations are still playing his songs.

Not one living creature died when Natalie Maines "disrespected" our "president" on foreign soil. All she did was speak her mind and was crucified for it.

This ol' boy murders a bear in a canned hunt and gets a slap on the wrist. Go figure.

:freak:
dbt
Remember New Orleans

[Coventina]

11. Beyond despicable. Why is it a misdemeanor?

What a brave man, to shoot arrows at something that can't defend itself.

Here's hoping his genes don't get passed to the next generation.

:puke:

[Porcupine]

30. Because a felony would take his penis er,,,,,,guns away.

Nobody who wasn't as rich as this guy was would have even been offered a plea bargain that amounted to more than "plead guilty or we'll double your jail time."

"When you're a Celebirty adios ReeALity"

[kenny blankenship]

12. Normally I'm against torture as either an interrogation method or as punishment

but I find myself more flexible on this point today.

[sinkingfeeling]

15. Too bad he didn't get some time in jail! And $15,000 in fines isn't enough!

[Tyler Durden]

17. Where is Hannibal Lecter when we need him most?

Read the book: You'll know what I mean.

OR...watch the movie "Ghost Dog."

[Mabus]

21. Sounds like a job for Dexter

http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do

Orphaned at the age of three and harboring a traumatic secret, Dexter was adopted by a Miami police officer who recognized his homicidal tendencies and taught his son to channel his gruesome passion for human vivisection in a "constructive" way—by killing only heinous criminals who have slipped through the cracks of justice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_%28TV_series%29#Premise

[jaybeat]

18. It gets better...check out his lyrics

Heard about this on Al Franken this morning. Turns out this guy wrote a song called "You Do Your Thing":

I ain't tradin' in my family's safety
Just to save a little gas
And I'll pray to God any place, any time
And you can bet I'll pick up the phone if Uncle Sam calls me up
You do your thing, I'll do mine

I ain't gonna spare the rod
Cuz that ain't what my daddy did
And I sure know the difference between wrong and right
You know, to me it's all just common sense
A broken rule, a consequence
You do your thing, I'll do mine

I'm gonna keep on working hard
Make my money the old-fashioned way
I don't wanna piece of someone else's pie
I don't wanna piece of nobody else's pie
If I don't get my fill on life I ain't gonna blame no one but me
You do your thing, I'll do mine

Complete lyrics here.

So, he's on record in favor of child abuse, wasting gas and state-supported religion.

But being a pop star means he can "make my money the old-fashioned way"???

And I guess that line about "A broken rule, a consequence" only applies if you get caught?

:puke: :puke:

I say, let the bears have him. How's that for "old fashioned"?

[superconnected]

26. His lyrics spell freeper

But then I guessed that when I saw the thread.

[tabasco]

31. There's just not enough puking smilies in the whole world for that

pandering drbbble.

[EnviroBat]

22. Hey Troy, why don't you and Toby "Tough Guy" Keith go pump each other...

Like real "Ford Truck Men!" What a bad-ass...

[atomicdawg38]

23. I thought

a short jail sentence was appropriate. Something. This isn't right.

[colorado_ufo]

27. And used bow and arrow, too!

This is the poorest way to bring down an animal the size and strength of a bear. A lot of chance for wounding and a slow death. The asshole could at least have made it quick, with a gun.

For those of you who hunt bear in the wild with bow and arrow - this is not meant for you. The bear has the great advantage in those circumstances.

[colorado_ufo]

28. By the way -

his accomplice the "guide" - great guy - sets up baiting stations in a wildlife refuge! Passes himself off as a "guide" and sells the kills! Puts a captured bear in an electric enclosure to videotape the kill!

Souless bastard.

[mitchum]

32. Miserable no talent piece of shit

[Virginia Dare]

33. He shot a bear named "Cubby"?

how sick is that? By the way, I have absolutely no frickin idea who this "star" is, but I admit I'm not totally up on country music.