Topeka ? A Morris County farmer will be able to hunt again after President Bush pardoned him on Tuesday, clearing a felony from his record that prevented him from being able to hunt for the past 10 years.

Kenneth Charles Britt, 57, of White City, said he had been working on getting a pardon for the past two or three years. His wife took a phone call at the couple’s home Tuesday morning from the government saying the president had granted the pardon.

“A woman said, ‘Your husband has been pardoned by President Bush and you’ll be getting a letter in a few weeks,'” Patty Britt said. “I wasn’t expecting the call. It was from out of the blue.”

Kenneth Britt, on the advice of his attorney, pleaded guilty to one felony charge related to a deer-hunting incident that involved several other people, including his brother, Ronald Britt.

Kenneth Britt was sentenced in 1998 to three years of probation for conspiracy to violate federal and state fish and wildlife laws, and was ordered to pay $8,250 in restitution.

Ronald Britt, who was 64 when he died of cancer in April 2007, also was convicted in the case.

“He was hoping for his pardon, too, but he didn’t get it,” Britt said. “We filed for the pardon at the same time.”

Britt called the pardon – one of 15 Bush granted this year – “good news,” adding that it removed what had been “a big headache for the past 10 years.”

He said he had been hoping to get the pardon before the November elections, and noted that he always thought the sentence was too severe.

“I think it was pretty unfair,” he said. “They sort of said they wanted to make an example of somebody. They chose us.”

Several of Britt’s previous employers sent letters urging Bush to grant a pardon and clear his name of a felony that has prevented him from owning a gun.

“I live on a farm out here in the middle of Kansas and I like to hunt,” Britt said. “I haven’t been able to hunt for about 10 years. I’d like to do it again.”