CODY -B. Joe Coy, owner of Yellow Creek Outfitters in Cody, was recently ordered by a Park County court to pay $2,820 in fines and relinquish his 2012 outfitter license in his conviction for five wildlife violations.

The violations included accepting payment for outfitting services on a resident guide license, outfitter's failure to report the waste of a bighorn sheep and a mountain goat, and two counts of outfitting in unauthorized areas. Coy, 59, also received one year of probation and lost his hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges for three years.

An 18-month joint investigation by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Shoshone National Forest revealed that Coy had unlawfully outfitted and guided out-of-state hunters. Kathy Crofts, lead wildlife investigator with the Game and Fish, said that although Coy was a licensed outfitter at the time, the Wyoming Board of Outfitters andProfessional Guides allowed Coy's Yellow Creek Outfitters to operate only on pre-approved private and Bureau of Land Management lands. Crofts said that in 2005, Coy's commercial operating permit for the Shoshone National Forest was not renewed due to a long history of repeated violations with the forest service.

Since he could not outfit on the Shoshone, Coy obtained a resident guide license to take a Wisconsin hunter on an archery bighorn sheep hunt in August 2010. Coy accepted $8,500 from the out-of-state hunter for this hunt, an act that is illegal under a resident guide permit.

Nonresidents are required to have a guide while hunting in wilderness areas of Wyoming. Resident guide licenses giveresidents the opportunity to take out-of-state friends or family members in wilderness areas to hunt without the hunter paying for a professional guide or outfitter.

"To obtain a resident guide permit, a person must confirm that they are not accepting any compensation, either directly or indirectly, for their services," Crofts said. "The Wisconsin hunter was clearly a paying client, not a family friend."

In September 2010, Coy outfitted two other sheep hunters on the Shoshone National Forest. During this hunt, Coy witnessed his client leaving edible portions of a harvested bighorn sheep in the field and failed to report it, as required bylaw. Both men were hunting with Governor's bighorn sheep licenses purchased at auction for $54,000 and $56,000.

"By law, hunters are required to retrieve all edible portions of big game animals from the field after harvest," Crofts said. "In addition, if an outfitter or professional guide observes a game law violation, they have a legal responsibility to report it to the Game and Fish."

When the sheep was checked in at the Game and Fish office two days after harvest, Coy and the sheep hunter couldonly produce the head, full body cape, and a 12-pound bag of meat containing the back straps from the animal. The hunter was also issued a citation for waste and adornment of a big game animal.

"Coy knowingly allowed waste of the sheep, failed to report it to the Game and Fish, and even paid for his hunter's fine," said Crofts. "There are many law-abiding hunters who would be grateful for the opportunity to hunt a bighorn sheep and be thrilled to take all the meat from a successful harvest, not just the trophy parts."

Coy also pleaded guilty for failure to report the waste of a mountain goat that one of his clients harvested in 2008.

Seems like a recurring nexus between various "Outfitter of the Year" winners and illegal acts.

From his website:
•Life Member National FNAWS (2002 Frank Golata Award)
•Life Member Mn-Wis Chapter FNAWS (2003 Outstanding Outfitter of the Year)
•Life Member Eastern Chapter FNAWS (1998 Outstanding Outfitter of the Year

quote:

Crofts said that in 2005, Coy's commercial operating permit for the Shoshone National Forest was not renewed due to a long history of repeated violations with the forest service.

Looks like he was real good at building up lots of violations besides the awards his peers gave him. I wonder if that counts in the awards, LOL!

Sheep meat is without a doubt the best wild game meat in North America. Why anyone would waste a scrap of it is unbelieveable. Every couple of years my family gets a couple ewe bighorn tags in Colorado just for the meat. It is simply fantastic.

Considering that they could bring out the head, the entire skin and the backstraps merely proves that they made no effort to fully utilize the animal. There is simply no way to justify this type of action. When I took my Mountain Goat, I buried the meat in a snow bank while I packed the head and hide out. Then I made a 12 mile round trip pack to bring out every scrap of it. Boned out it made a heavy load, but I never even thought one minute about leaving it on the mountain.

I've heard his daughter now has a outfitting license....

Great! Another black eye for outfitters and hunters.

quote:

Posted 09 March 2012 05:43 Hide Post
I've heard his daughter now has a outfitting license....

That's the way cheaters can get away with things! One gets pinched and another family member takes over. Pretty sorry!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Topgun 30-06:

quote:

Posted 09 March 2012 05:43 Hide Post
I've heard his daughter now has a outfitting license....

That's the way cheaters can get away with things! One gets pinched and another family member takes over. Pretty sorry!!!

Can you back that statement up with any fact?

Perry

quote:

Originally posted by Flags:
Sheep meat is without a doubt the best wild game meat in North America. Why anyone would waste a scrap of it is unbelieveable. Every couple of years my family gets a couple ewe bighorn tags in Colorado just for the meat. It is simply fantastic.

Considering that they could bring out the head, the entire skin and the backstraps merely proves that they made no effort to fully utilize the animal. There is simply no way to justify this type of action. When I took my Mountain Goat, I buried the meat in a snow bank while I packed the head and hide out. Then I made a 12 mile round trip pack to bring out every scrap of it. Boned out it made a heavy load, but I never even thought one minute about leaving it on the mountain.

Sorta off topic but is sheep snd goat meat the same? How do they compare to venisons; taste, texture, etc?
If you want to put your answer in a new thread as to stay on topic I understand.

Perry

For our South Tejas amigo
As different as "Cabrieto" pardon the spellin'
and a 6 year old billy. IMO
Even a "Big ole' Ram" is tasty,
a big ole' billy... not so much

perry---You must live way off the beaten track if you are questioning that statement! I've seen plenty of cases where someone lost their license or to protect themselves had the business under the spouse's or kids name, under a LLC, etc. Try George Taulman as an example. He runs the USO, but it's under his wife's name now and don't think for a second that his guides were footing the bill when they were suing AZ over the tag deal with their names in it. There was no way that Gilbert Montoya, one of Taulman's top guides could have done that on his own with the little money he was making guiding hunters. You are a little more than naive if you think my statement isn't accurate. That outfit down toward you in Gonzalez, Texas that scams people on those "free"hog hunts being advertised all over the net is another example. Your AG issued an injunction on the way they were scamming perspective hunters. They just changed the name and address, tweeked the false advertising a little bit to get by and are still doing the same thing as I write this!

Top

I'm not questioning the rationale of your thinking, its the way they usually work. In this case however, I was wondering if you had any facts about this girl or are you just openingly slandering this girl on pure speculation. Just because she happens to be the daughter of a game theif is absolutely no reason for you to wrecklessly trash her name and business. In the manner you have done it, publicly on an open forum, it is illegal and you are liable for damages. If she is dirty then by all means lets get it out there but if you have no proof of any wrong doing...well it's just wrong.

Perry

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
For our South Tejas amigo
As different as "Cabrieto" pardon the spellin'
and a 6 year old billy. IMO
Even a "Big ole' Ram" is tasty,
a big ole' billy... not so much

gotcha. Thx for the info.

El Perry

perry---I never said anything bad or slandered her in any way. That was just a general comment and without even knowing her name or stating her name is not a violation of any law on the books. All it was was another general statement that when a cheater gets caught they can still get another person, usually a relative, to keep the business afloat. Somtimes the name is changed and sometimes just the ownership and the name stays the same. If she runs whatever she has control of properly, then that's great. If they continue to operate in a violative manner, just by getting an outfitting license in her name, then I hope they get nailed. If the family is so great working together and there are that many violations with his business, my suspicions are raised because the chances are good that all of them were aware and condoning it. Families working businesses like that are very close knit and I find it hard to believe that none of them were aware of what was going on illegally. The same thing has happened over near TenSleep where the Outfitter/guide family is getting nailed for selling fake and Resident licenses to NRs, guiding and allowing them to shoot illegal animals. It all started when a NR got nailed under the Lacey Act for killing a bull on a cow license and transporting it across state lines. I know locals that are very familiar with that family and the Father appears to have raised the kids to continue violating the G&F laws just like he has done his whole life. One rancher friend even stated he caught them stealing his cattle off BLM land that he had a grazing permit on for his animals. PS: I was in law enforcement for 30+ years and pretty well know what I can and can't say under the law.