To view the incident report, click here.

On the morning of Nov. 7, 2016, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer pilot Robert Geving found two stands in the Bear Lake area of Freeborn County that appeared to be baited, violating state statutes.

Almost one year later, on Oct. 25, Geving surveyed the land again from the air and found one stand baited with a pile of corn.

What was seen in the two air surveys led three conservation officers to investigate the property further by foot the morning of the firearm deer hunting opener on Nov. 4.

What they reportedly found was a Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office sergeant hunting on the property. That sergeant, Tim Bennett, 41, was later cited for misdemeanor hunting with the aid or use of bait in connection with the incident.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge Feb. 7.

According to charging documents, DNR conservation officer Jeremy Henke, his lieutenant, Jason Beckmann, and conservation officer Chad Davis were working deer enforcement in the Bear Lake area of Freeborn County in full uniform wearing blaze orange clothing that morning.

Beckmann and Henke reportedly parked two DNR squad cars in the driveway of the residence, and as they walked back to the stand 250 to 300 yards behind the residence at 13625 690th Ave. they noticed Bennett, who was wearing blaze orange clothing and carrying a Savage Model 516 firearm, walking from the area of the tree stand.

Bennett, who knew the conservation officer from Henke’s prior employment with the Sheriff’s Office, reportedly said “Hi, Jeremy,” and advised he had not shot any deer that morning and did not know “he had that (expletive) out there.” 

Bennett reportedly said when he walked out to the stand, “he did not notice the corn in the feeder, but did notice the fact that a deer feeder was present,” according to the report.

Henke noted a large trough-style feeder elevated approximately 2 feet on legs.

“The feeder was filled with corn and had a trail camera pointed directly at the feeder,” he said in the report. “The stand was approximately 30 to 35 yards from the feeder location with a direct shot to the feeder from the stand.”

Beckmann took over the case because of the relationship Henke established with Bennett during their shared employment in Freeborn County. He ultimately cited Bennett and seized his gun.

The Mower County Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Bennett because of his employment with the Sheriff’s Office.

Henke stated in his report he found five deer heads without tags in a fire pit on the property, and a trail camera that pointed at the corn was seized.

Joe Albert, communications coordinator with the Enforcement Division of the DNR, said the investigation is ongoing into the deer heads.

Devin Yost, listed in online property records as the primary taxpayer at the address, said he was aware Bennett had been hunting on the property that morning and that the feeder was full of corn, according to Henke’s report.

“Yost advised that it was his fault and Bennett called him and asked where he could hunt to shoot a quick doe,” Henke said in his report. “Yost advised him to hunt behind his house in the stand.”

Yost said the feeder of corn had been there for “quite a while, and that he had not been hunting and that he had been farming,” according to the DNR report.

Yost reportedly advised he thought it was legal to have the bait out as long as you don’t hunt over it and advised he uses the corn for scouting purposes.

According to the DNR, it is reportedly legal to feed deer, but hunting over it is illegal. An area is still considered baited for 10 days after the complete removal of bait.

Yost allegedly said the incident was his fault and may have forgotten to mention it to Bennett.

DNR documents state Yost advised “he was concerned that because of this, it will run his name through the mud and everyone will think he is a baiter and that is how he shoots these big deer.”

He was not cited.

Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag said Tuesday the department will “release what we can once there’s been a final disposition. It looks like aspects of the discipline would be public.”

Bennett declined to comment on the charges, referring any questions to his lawyer, Robert Fowler.

Fowler told the Minneapolis Star Tribune the DNR will have to prove Bennett had knowledge the feeder existed. The lawyer said Bennett was hunting on a friend’s land for the first time and walked into the site under the cover of predawn darkness. Bennett didn’t see the feeder until he quit hunting, Fowler said.

“If you don’t know there is a feeder, you can’t be guilty,’’ Fowler said in the Star Tribune. “They just don’t have the evidence.”

A settlement conference is scheduled for April 5.