Three Lowcountry hunting preserve workers are being fined and put on probation for their involvement in killing federally protected hawks and owls as part of a scheme that authorities say sparked one of the biggest wildlife investigations in South Carolina history.

The federal case centered on the targeted killing of raptors to improve hunting habitat for quail on the 8,000-acre Mackay Plantation preserve in Jasper County. Hawks and owls prey on quail, a dwindling species long prized by hunters.

According to federal authorities, plantation workers illegally trapped and shot more than 30 red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks and great horned owls during quail hunting season the past two years. Charged in the case were Mackay Point general manager William Martin, a 59-year-old Yemassee resident; and employees Keith Gebhardt, 54, of Yemassee and Mark Argetsinger, 63, of Beaufort.

On Friday, the three men pleaded guilty to unlawfully trapping and killing migratory birds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. U.S. Magistrate Bristow Marchant sentenced them to six months’ probation, community service, a one-year ban on trapping and fines of $500 to $1,000, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

In addition, Mackay Point Plantation LLC also must pay a $250,000 fine as restitution, an amount considered one of the largest financial penalties of its kind.

The “federal government has a strong interest in protecting our nation’s natural resources, including wildlife,’’ U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said in a news release Friday. “Today's sentence sends a strong message to unscrupulous hunters and landowners who think they are above the law.”

An attempt to reach lawyers for Martin, Gebhardt and Argetsinger was unsuccessful after the guilty pleas were announced Friday afternoon.

When asked about the fine, Bart Daniel, an attorney representing Mackay Point Plantation LLC, said his client is community minded, "embarrassed that this happened,'' and wanted to make things right. Daniel declined further comment.

According to Nettles office, undercover surveillance cameras captured two plantation employees trapping and shooting hawks and owls during quail hunting season.

The birds often were lured into traps with live chickens, then left in the cage-like traps for several days before they were shot, assistant federal prosecutor Rhett DeHart said. The raptors that died are protected under the federal migratory bird treaty act, which bars killing them without a permit.

DeHart declined to say whether others would be charged in the case but the U.S. Attorney’s office said killing hawks and owls to improve quail hunting habitat is a growing problem in the Southeast.

“This is one of the largest wildlife cases in state history and we hope it has a deterrent effect’’ on illegal actions, DeHart said.

Quail, known for their familiar “Bob White” calls, are hard to find these days in South Carolina and often are hunted only after they are grown in captivity and stocked on game lands. Habitat loss is believed to be the prime reason quail are disappearing from the landscape.

But hawks and owls are meat-eating predators that hunt quail, which can affect efforts to stock the game birds on hunting lands. At Mackay Point, employees release some 6,000 quail each year for hunting, authorities said.

Money from the $250,000 fine against Mackay Point LLC will be provided to local animal charities, such as the Center for Birds of Prey and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Agents with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources investigated. The owners of Mackay point, businessmen from Florida, were not implicated in the killing of hawks and owls, DeHart said.

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