Indy Star Reports:

As director of the DNR, Carter extended special privileges to Walkup at least once last fall. He arranged a duck hunting trip with Walkup on public lands without going through a drawing required of other hunters. DNR officials told The Star they are investigating whether any rules were broken.

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Skipping the 'morning draw'

Questions about Carter’s hiring began on a September morning last fall, when more than two dozen bleary-eyed, camouflage-clad men walked up to a counter and added their names to a list.

It was about 5:30 a.m. and the men — coffee cups and energy drinks in hand — were signing up for what duck hunters call the “morning draw,” a lottery for hunting spots at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area in Linton. Make the draw and you get permission for two days of blue-winged teal duck hunting on the state’s premier public waterfowl property.

At Goose Pond and several other public hunting lands across the state, any duck hunter who doesn’t participate or isn’t picked in the morning lottery, and then hunts anyway, could go home with a citation.

But Carter, then-director of DNR, apparently didn’t have to worry about such things.

Three hours after that Thursday morning’s lottery, Carter sent an email to Goose Pond’s manager, Brad Feaster, asking permission to hunt the next day. He jokingly called the planned hunt “a scientific teal survey.”

Feaster emailed his boss: “Absolutely. I’ll be conducting my own research in the morning as well.”

Later, someone signed Feaster’s name and Carter’s hunting party — which included Walkup — onto the list of hunters who entered the Thursday morning drawing. The list doubles as a legal document releasing the state from liability in the event of an accident, but all of the signatures appear be in the same handwriting.

Judy Nadler, a former Santa Clara, Calif., mayor who now directs government ethics programs at Santa Clara University, said the hunt is troubling given that Carter, a former county sheriff and director of law enforcement at the DNR, appeared to be bending his agency’s rules for personal gain.

That, she said, doesn’t reflect well on how he’d conduct himself at his new job as the top security official at Ivy Tech.

“He’s already been the beneficiary of some bending of the rules,” Nadler said. “All of the sudden, is he going to say that now that I’m the sheriff, things are going to change?”

In an emailed statement, Carter denied any wrongdoing. “Under no way was anything done that was unethical when I was (DNR) director,” the statement said. “And all procedures were followed when I was director.”

Carter’s successor at the DNR, Cameron Clark, told The Star he was not ready to conclude there was wrongdoing “without the benefit of a more thorough investigation.” He said he directed his enforcement staff to look into whether any hunting rules or laws were broken.

“If improprieties are discovered,” Clark said, “the matter will be forwarded to the inspector general.”

For hunters who participate in the drawing, the hunt was inexcusable — and patently unfair.

Chris Gruener, 26, Greenwood, arrived at Goose Pond in time for the 5:30 a.m. drawing that day. He said Carter and Walkup not having to go through the same process was wrong.

“Everybody else has to go down and get up to get there for the draw,” Gruener said. “This guy can just call in and say, ‘Hey, reserve a spot for me.’ That’s not fair. It’s unsportsmanlike, that’s for sure.”

Doesn't surprise me a bit.

Me either

Does this really suprise anyone, this type of behavior(favors) has went on in government for years. It does not matter which party or level of government,once you are "IN" you reap benifits not afforded by citizens.

Come on guys, I've seen it for years. We had a handgun rule for deer hunting, it was to be straight wall cartidges. That is until a biologist in IDNR wanted to hunt with his Contender, rule changed! I also heard that Indiana opening waterfowl dates were changed because some in the "IN" had other plans for those dates. Atterbury has an early deer hunt..... by invitation only. This is before regular military and citizens get to hunt. The list goes on and on, get over it! We get to hunt at the whim of the political party in power...

What does amaze me is how these folks(there has been many others) who think that no one will ever request email records. Pick up the phone and call,meet in person....... I guess once you get "IN" you think you are beyond reproach.