A rural Elgin man is facing charges for allegedly harassing a deer hunter. Forty-four-year-old Brian Gibson is being charged with several violations of the law stemming from allegations from a bow hunter. The hunter, who was not identified, was in a deer stand on November 6th on land not owned by Gibson.
The hunter claims Gibson shot a rifle in the direction of his stand and verbally abused him. A few days later on November 11th, the same hunter was on the land where he had permission to hunt deer and was approached by Gibson. Gibson again fired shots in his area, spat tobacco juice and urinated around his deer stand while the hunter was occupying it, and also turned his dog loose in the area.
The Fayette County Sheriff, D.N.R. game warden and the county attorney investigated the case and then charged Gibson with two counts of hunter harassment, reckless use of a firearm and two counts of assault with use or display of a dangerous weapon.
Contributed by Roger King, KOEL, Oelwein