As the old saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
According to Outdoor Life, this video that surfaced in 2016 shows Josh Neuwiller, an eight-time world champion goose caller and waterfowl guide, driving his truck around a field blanketed with snow.
He and his co-pilot were scouting out a flock of snow geese that had landed in the snow, and once they figured out where they had settled, they hatched a plan.
Neuwiller loaded up in his truck, got a trailer-full of some of his shotgun-wielding friends, and decided to drive out and bag some snow geese.
Once they got out to the flock, they first checked to see if the coast was clear, then yelled “cut em'” and a multitude of people opened fire, including Neuwiller right out of his driver side window.
They ended up killing over 80 snow geese, which is good for a hunt, but bad when what are you doing is legally considered poaching. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service obtained the video and immediately started investigating Neuwiller and those who accompanied him (most likely clients).
After the investigation concluded, Neuwiller was put on federal probation in 2021 and was no longer allowed to guide, outfit, or hunt snow geese for three years.
However, that didn’t stop him from continuing to discretely work as a waterfowl guide, and after the USFWS found that out, they brought the hammer down on the goose hunter.
John LaCorte, a special agent for the USFWS, told Chesapeake Bay Magazine:
“When he continued to book snow goose hunts, which is outfitting for snow geese, he violated his terms of probation.
The other part was the lack of license to guide or outfit for snow geese, or any waterfowl for that matter.”
Thus, Neuwiller was sentenced to a prison sentence of 90 days last week for violating his probation and working as a waterfowl outfitter without proper licensing.
The well-known champion goose caller will now do hard time, and it all stems from the dumb, viral video that first got the USFWS on his back.
And, he was less than remorseful according to agent LaCorte:
“He admitted to shooting those geese… he also made a statement that they should have shot more.”
Below is the video of Neuwiller leading a large group of people to a field full of snow geese and illegally flock-shooting and killing over 80 birds.
The clip is captioned:
“Josh Neuwiller, a Maryland-based waterfowl guide and champion goose caller, was put on probation after this video surfaced and later sentenced to 90 days in prison.
It shows Neuwiller and a trailer full of people (not visible in the video) shooting more than 80 snow geese from his truck.”
