Colusa Man Fined $7,500 for Baiting and Killing Wood Ducks

Colusa County man Ronald C. Simmons, 76, is out $7,500 after pleading guilty to two federal violations tied to the illegal hunting of wood ducks on opening day of waterfowl season. Simmons admitted to baiting a cornfield and then shooting migratory birds, a direct violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act—one of the oldest wildlife protection laws on the books.

The crime unfolded on October 21, 2017, at Butte Creek Farms in the heart of the Sacramento Valley. That morning, Simmons and his invited guests killed 16 wood ducks over a field he managed. But the hunt wasn’t fair game—it was rigged. Weeks before, Simmons had rolled unharvested cornstalks and scattered corn kernels across the ground, creating an illegal lure for migratory birds seeking food.

Baiting migratory game birds is a federal offense. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, enacted in 1918, prohibits hunting birds like wood ducks using bait to attract them. The law exists to prevent manipulation of natural behavior for sport. Simmons didn’t just bend the rules—he weaponized leftover crops to guarantee a kill zone.

Court documents show Simmons wasn’t some unaware landowner. He managed the field and knowingly prepared it to draw in ducks. Investigators with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uncovered evidence of intentional baiting, including patterns of corn distribution inconsistent with accidental spillage. This was no mistake—it was methodical.

On Tuesday, Simmons stood before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan in Sacramento and entered a guilty plea to two misdemeanor counts: unlawful baiting and unlawful taking of a migratory game bird. Sentencing came fast. No jail time. No probation. Just a $7,500 fine handed down on the spot—a financial hit, but a light penalty for calculated wildlife tampering.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica L. Anderson, part of a broader push by federal authorities to crack down on illegal hunting practices in California’s fertile Central Valley. While some may dismiss this as a minor infraction, federal wildlife officers see it differently: when hunters rig the game, they undermine conservation—and that’s a crime with ripple effects across ecosystems.