iStockphoto
Audio By Carbonatix
Every state requires you to jump through some hoops if you want to get permission to hunt animals within its borders. That includes Kansas, which has banned one man from doing so for the rest of his life after he posted multiple clips of illegal deer kills on the YouTube channel he runs.
The internet has made it easier than ever to leverage a hobby into a pastime that has the potential to give you a taste of fame and make you some money in the process, and YouTube offers Content Creators the opportunity to do exactly that.
Matt Jennings is one of the many people who’ve attempted to go that route, as the Georgia native and bow-hunting enthusiast decided to start documenting some of his excursions in 2019 when he dropped the first episode of the series he dubbed “The Game” on his YouTube channel.
Jennings has managed to rack up over 62,000 subscribers, but the bulk of the 47 videos he’s uploaded to date aren’t exactly giving MrBeast a run for his money. Most of his earlier ones only garnered a few hundred views while the majority of the rest peaked at a few thousand, although he did have his best showing to date with one from last summer chronicling his quest to bag a velvet buck in Tennessee that’s currently sitting at over 18,000.
It was also home to some now-deleted videos featuring some kills he made in Kansas, which ended up attracting the attention of the authorities before he was slapped with some significant penalties.
Kansas has banned YouTube hunter Matt Jennings from hunting in the state for the rest of his life
According to the Kansas branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jennings headed to the Sunflower State in 2022 and managed to obtain a non-resident tag that allowed him to hunt for deer in designated areas.
That did not include grounds in the vicinity of Florence, Kansas, which is where he nabbed a buck on November 11th. He was apparently aware that this was the case, as records show he drove to Oklahoma the following day to register the kill he falsely claimed he made in that state (catapulting into Federal Crime Territory thanks to the ill-advised decision to ferry the carcass between borders).
The permit he obtained in Kansas did allow him to hunt near the town of Wakeeney, but it also only gave him the right to kill a single buck in a season—a rule he violated when he took down another there on November 19th.
Prosecutors say Jennings subsequently told on himself by including both of those hunts on his YouTube show, and he was eventually charged with two counts of illegal taking of a white tail deer in interstate commerce after that development came to their attention thanks to the evidence he posted online.
Jennings pleaded guilty to both of those charges earlier this week and agreed to pay a $10,000 fine on top of the $15,000 the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks will be receiving in restitution.
Kansas also handed out a lifetime ban that bars Jennings from engaging in any form of hunting and fishing in the state for the rest of his days, and he’ll also spend five years on probation while barred from “guiding, hunting, trapping, fishing, or being with anyone engaged in those activities in Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota.”
Bummer.