WEST BAY — Family members of a man who shot a domestic hog for food have put up their home as collateral to bond him out of jail after the killing of a prized pig.
Henry L. Schoonmaker, 36, was arrested in October for allegedly killing a hog in its pen on hunting lease land off State 79. The owner said he paid $1,000 for the prized porker before Schoonmaker shot it without permission. Schoonmaker now faces several felony charges, for which his family has placed their home up as collateral to post his bond, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reports.
Bob Callahan, owner of the land, told FWC officers his son saw Schoonmaker driving off his hunting lease after the shooting, and he wanted Schoonmaker trespassed. Callahan also said he wanted the meat from the hog returned.
--- FILE: SCHOONMAKER ARREST AFFIDAVIT»»
Attempts to contact Callahan were unsuccessful Tuesday.
When FWC officers arrived to Schoonmaker’s Steel Field Road home, he was repentant. Schoonmaker apologized and told them he shot the hog because he was hungry and wanted to feed his family.
“I was riding on St. Joe property and rode up on a hog in the woods and shot the hog in the pen,” he wrote in a statement. “I thought hogs was year round. I am sorry about this.”
While hunting wild hogs is legal year round, it is illegal to hunt hogs on private property without the landowner’s permission, according to MyFWC.com.
--- FILE: SCHOONMAKER ARREST AFFIDAVIT»»
Schoonmaker already had cleaned the hog and placed it in his freezer as FWC officers spoke with its owner.
Callahan “was very upset and wanted to file all the charges he could against Schoonmaker,” Officer Brent Patrick reported.
FWC seized Schoonmaker’s gun and filed charges against him as he surrendered the hog meat, the officers reported. Schoonmaker was arrested for trespassing while armed, felon in possession of a firearm and grand theft. A bond of $8,500 was placed on his release. His immediate family members put up their 2000 Buccaneer mobile home as bond collateral.