Game and Fish authorities investigating three poaching incidents


Wednesday, October 13, 2010 1:30 am

.GREEN RIVER -- Southwest Wyoming game wardens issued a slew of big game hunting citations last weekend and are investigating two separate poaching incidents as well, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Game and Fish's Green River spokeswoman, Lucy Wold, said poachers shot two elk on Aspen Mountain south of Rock Springs over the weekend, killing one elk and leaving the second animal to die slowly.

The wounded animal, alive but unable to move, was euthanized by a Wyoming highway patrolman, she said.

Game warden Dustin Kirsch said authorities were notified Sunday that the two cow elk had been shot and left along Sweetwater County Road 27.

He said investigators determined that the two elk were shot and left on Aspen Mountain sometime between Friday and Saturday.

"One of the elk could not move, but was very much alive for at least 24 hours before being euthanized," Kirsch said in a media release.

"It is a shame to see two healthy animals, which could have been legally harvested, go to waste in such a senseless act," he said.

In another incident in the Bridger Valley, authorities found a large mule deer that had been poached for its antlers in the Ashley National Forest south of Mountain View on Sunday.

Mountain View Game Warden Daniel Beach said poachers killed the mature deer about 11 miles up from Wyoming Highway 410 on Uinta County Road 275.

Beach said evidence at the scene suggests the deer was not killed in that location, but was transported to the site in a pickup truck after being shot elsewhere.

He said the deer was shot in the neck with a single round from a high-powered rifle. Decomposition rates point to the deer being killed sometime between Oct. 5 and Friday.

Beach said the deer was apparently shot for its antlers. The animal was not field dressed, and its antlers were removed. The rest of the deer was left to waste.

"This (animal) was a big-bodied deer and very mature ... he probably had a good sized set of antlers on him," said Beach. "Someone is in possession of these antlers with no meat to show for it ... and it's a shame. Who knows how big he could have been next year."

Elsewhere, on Monday morning Game and Fish officials issued a media release asking for help in finding the owner of a pickup truck they believe was used in a deer poaching incident near Casper.

Authorities were contacted the evening of Oct. 6 by residents who reported shots had been fired near Wyoming Highway 487 approximately six miles south of the Highway 220 junction.

Witnesses said they observed three men in a Dodge truck parked on the highway around 6:45 p.m. One of the men allegedly shot a buck deer and then dragged the animal across the road and into the pickup bed. The Dodge Ram is either a 2500 or 3500 series. It's a four-door cab with a short-box and possibly a lift kit.

Rash of incidents

Green River Wildlife Supervisor Steve DeCecco said he is troubled by the number and type of citations issued to area hunters last weekend.

He noted an elk hunter was cited near LaBarge Creek for killing a bull elk instead of a cow; game wardens from Kemmerer and Cokeville cited a Green River man for killing two deer on one deer license; and there were three instances of hunters killing yearling buck antelope on doe licenses.

Additionally, numerous hunters were cited for violations including hunting without conservation stamps, hunting in the wrong area or wrong portion of a hunt area, and not being able to show proof of hunter education.

Some hunters also have shot game for other people, commonly called party hunting, DeCecco said.

Wardens are reporting a big increase in hunters using off-road vehicles to retrieve game animals in roadless areas on public rangelands.

"More often than not, some violations could have been avoided if the hunter just took his or her time, assessed the entire scenario, considered his or her own physical limitations and exercised ... common sense and good judgment," DeCecco said.

"We urge all hunters to read and follow all laws and regulations, carefully consider their actions and model sportsmanship while enjoying their hunt," he said.

Meanwhile, Wold said the agency seeks the public's help in identifying the poachers in last week's incidents.

She said wardens are hopeful that someone in the area may have seen the poachers or their vehicles and can help with the investigations.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to contact the Game and Fish Department at (307) 875-3225.

Tips can result in a reward and informants can choose to remain anonymous.

quote:

Originally posted by kudu56:
The wounded animal, alive but unable to move, was euthanized by a Wyoming highway patrolman, she said.

Is that politically correct New Speach for "killing"?

It wasn't really KILLED...meaning simply having it's life ended.
It was euthenized, meaning to me; killed to end it's suffering.

The few times where I had to write a report and describe EXACTLY the same thing; having to shoot a previously injured, and suffering animal...I would use the word euthenize. Seemed to me to be the right description.

FN in MT

Kinder, gentler, softer, world!

2 men charged with poaching deer


.HAMILTON — A Ravalli County man and his friend are facing charges on suspicion of poaching a trophy mule deer and then sending mass e-mails and text messages with photos of the buck.

Michael Don Gates of Corvallis and Justin Davis, reportedly of Portland, Ore., were charged on Friday with two felony counts — unlawful possession of a game animal and tampering with evidence — in Ravalli County Justice Court.

The two also face a misdemeanor charge of waste of a game animal. Gates also faces misdemeanor charges of hunting without a license and failure to get landowner permission to hunt.

According to charging documents, on Oct. 7 a photograph allegedly showing Gates posing with an 8-by-8-point buck was sent to the phone of a Ravalli County resident who had seen recent video and photographs of the same “unusual”-looking buck in the Corvallis area.

Gates did not have a permit to hunt antlered mule deer in the hunting district near Corvallis.

The concerned citizen contacted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden Lou Royce.

Warden Joe Jaquith showed the pictures to an expert in scoring game and received confirmation that they showed the same animal, the court affidavit states.

Gates’ text allegedly claimed he had killed the deer in the Anaconda area while there with Davis.

The affidavit claims such a scenario is unlikely: “As Hunting District 214 is near Anaconda, Montana, it would have been necessary for this distinctive 8-by-8 mule deer buck to leave a group of does, and travel over two mountain ranges, a distance of about 80 road miles, in a week’s time in order to be shot in that district by Gates.”

The affidavit says that when Royce contacted Gates about the whereabouts of the buck, Gates said Davis had brought the head and antlers to his brother’s house to have him score the trophy. Later the same day, Davis told Royce that the head and antlers had disappeared.

The next day, when Royce asked Gates where the meat was, Gates claimed the deer had spoiled. Gates said he dumped the carcass in the Willow Creek area east of Corvallis.

Wardens located a carcass that appeared to be the distinctive buck along the roadside about five miles from where it had been videotaped earlier this fall.

To date, the affidavit continues, Davis has not brought the head and antlers to FWP officials, despite repeatedly saying “he would find the antlers and have them to the wardens ‘within the hour’ or shortly after speaking with them.”

On Friday, Justice of the Peace Jim Bailey issued arrest warrants and set $20,000 bail on both Gates and Davis.

quote:

Originally posted by kudu56:
2 men charged with poaching deer


.HAMILTON — A Ravalli County man and his friend are facing charges on suspicion of poaching a trophy mule deer and then sending mass e-mails and text messages with photos of the buck.

Michael Don Gates of Corvallis and Justin Davis, reportedly of Portland, Ore., were charged on Friday with two felony counts — unlawful possession of a game animal and tampering with evidence — in Ravalli County Justice Court.

The two also face a misdemeanor charge of waste of a game animal. Gates also faces misdemeanor charges of hunting without a license and failure to get landowner permission to hunt.

According to charging documents, on Oct. 7 a photograph allegedly showing Gates posing with an 8-by-8-point buck was sent to the phone of a Ravalli County resident who had seen recent video and photographs of the same “unusual”-looking buck in the Corvallis area.

Gates did not have a permit to hunt antlered mule deer in the hunting district near Corvallis.

The concerned citizen contacted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden Lou Royce.

Warden Joe Jaquith showed the pictures to an expert in scoring game and received confirmation that they showed the same animal, the court affidavit states.

Gates’ text allegedly claimed he had killed the deer in the Anaconda area while there with Davis.

The affidavit claims such a scenario is unlikely: “As Hunting District 214 is near Anaconda, Montana, it would have been necessary for this distinctive 8-by-8 mule deer buck to leave a group of does, and travel over two mountain ranges, a distance of about 80 road miles, in a week’s time in order to be shot in that district by Gates.”

The affidavit says that when Royce contacted Gates about the whereabouts of the buck, Gates said Davis had brought the head and antlers to his brother’s house to have him score the trophy. Later the same day, Davis told Royce that the head and antlers had disappeared.

The next day, when Royce asked Gates where the meat was, Gates claimed the deer had spoiled. Gates said he dumped the carcass in the Willow Creek area east of Corvallis.

Wardens located a carcass that appeared to be the distinctive buck along the roadside about five miles from where it had been videotaped earlier this fall.

To date, the affidavit continues, Davis has not brought the head and antlers to FWP officials, despite repeatedly saying “he would find the antlers and have them to the wardens ‘within the hour’ or shortly after speaking with them.”

On Friday, Justice of the Peace Jim Bailey issued arrest warrants and set $20,000 bail on both Gates and Davis.

They should get Dumphuc awards.

I believe that poaching is the single biggest threat to trophy whitetail hunting today. We all know that it goes on but I don't think that the average hunter has any idea of the mass scale it is happening. This past spring I interviewed a Minnesota DNR conservation officer about the problem.

He told me in the one central MN county that he worked in last fall they found 35 headless deer carcasses along the roads! Think about that in one county 35 deer poached in a season. I think we can assume that nobody is poaching small bucks or does for the heads so if you extrapolate that out hundreds maybe thousands "trophy deer" are being poached in MN every year. (MN has 87 counties X 35 each = 3045)

I think a new form of quality deer management should be enacted that allows for the shooting of poachers on sight.

They caught this one!



LANDER - Although the violator claimed he launched the arrow accidentally on Sept. 5, 2009, the mature bull moose was still killed south of Lander and the contended accident had nothing to do with all the meat being wasted.

But the actions - and lack of actions - of the violator and his hunting partner have everything to do with the stiff sentences they are dealing with for their roles in the crime.

Gilbert A. Mascarenaz of Pavillion pleaded guilty to knowingly taking an antlered moose without a proper license and was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Robert Denhardt in Lander. Mascarenaz, 37, was fined $7,530, ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution and sentenced to five days in jail. He also had his hunting privileges revoked for 10 years and was placed on one year unsupervised probation.

Devon D. Scherf of Riverton pleaded guilty to waste of big game (allowing game animal to intentionally or needlessly go to waste) and transporting game animal parts without an interstate game tag, was fined $1,560 and given a 60-day suspended jail sentence. Scherf, 26, also had his hunting license privileges revoked for three years and was placed on one year unsupervised probation and ordered to complete a hunter education course by December 2012.

The investigation started Sept. 10, 2009 when an archery elk hunter reported finding an ungutted bull moose carcass. The carcass, which had its antlers removed, was reported to be located near Blue Ridge about 20 miles south of Lander in the Shoshone National Forest.

Finding no evidence at the scene that pointed to any suspects, Lander Game Warden Brad Hovinga and Investigator Scott Browning contacted the five hunters who were fortunate to draw a moose license in hunt area 2 in 2009 and possible archery elk and deer hunters who may have been in the area that Labor Day weekend.

On Oct. 8, the officers asked the public for information about the crime through the local media and received some tips. That response combined with details gleaned from some of the interviews directed the officers towards the defendants.

Browning contacted Scherf at his Riverton home Oct. 8 and received a full confession about his role in the crime. Both officers interviewed Mascarenaz at his home Oct. 9. He admitted killing the moose, but contended he thought it was an elk when he shot. He said he was hunting near dusk and the long antler points he could see in the timber convinced him the animal was an elk. He did take the officers to where he stashed the moose antlers sporting a 38-inch-spread in willows near his home.

On Oct. 12, the officers got a unique response from the media request. Eric Manasco of Lander offered a series of photos - taken less than two hours before the crime occurred - of two bull moose just east of the crime scene. "It was easy to see, the moose in the photo with the wide palms and long points was the same moose that was illegally killed," Browning said.

The officers interviewed Mascarenaz again on Nov. 2 and the suspect admitted he knew the animal was a moose when he shot and collaborated most of Scherf's statement. But he contended he nocked and fully drew the arrow on his recurve bow just to get a "sight picture" on the mature bull and the arrow was released inadvertently when he accidentally hit the trigger release.

From the collaborating interviews with the suspects, both unemployed oil field workers during the investigation, the officers reconstructed the crime: Around noon Sept. 5, the archery elk hunters were returning to camp on an ATV from the back side of Blue Ridge when Mascarenaz spotted two bull moose a short distance from the two track road. He approached the moose raising and drawing his bow twice and one animal trotted off. He drew again on the remaining bull and released the arrow. The men followed up on the shot discovering the dead moose and returned to camp. Later that day, they hiked back to the moose from camp, removed some meat, but left it at the scene. The next night, Scherf returned to the scene and retrieved the antlers by sawing the skull plate off the moose and Mascarenaz later picked up the antlers at Scherf's house.

"This crime was just such a waste of the resource in several ways," Browning said. "All the meat - upwards of 250 pounds - was wasted and so was the chance for a long-suffering moose hunter to legally harvest this dandy bull, which is the nicest moose I've ever seen in the Lander area. Plus, moose populations have been depressed in western Wyoming and the Game and Fish works hard to tightly manage this species."

In 2009, it took 14 years of accruing preference points for a resident and 10 years for a nonresident to draw a license in moose area 2. In the random draw, residents had a one-in-241-chance of drawing the one license available.

In addition to the hunting license suspensions delivered, Judge Denhardt also ordered that Mascarenaz cannot be in possession of a firearm, or be in the company of someone in possession of a firearm while in the field, during any hunting season during his license suspension. The same order also applies to Scherf - with the exception that Scherf can accompany his wife on her hunts. In addition, if Scherf is cited for any Game and Fish violation during his three-year license suspension, the suspension is extended for an additional three years.

"The judge did not take this crime lightly and also viewed it as a needless waste," Browning said. "He actually gave Devon Scherf a harsher sentence than Brad and I recommended. It's clear that the judge takes wildlife violations very seriously."

Man denies charges in illegal hunting case

HELENA — The president of a Florida retirement community and his family are among eight people who have been charged with poaching in Montana, state wildlife officials said Thursday.

Mark Morse, president and chief operating officer of The Villages retirement community 45 miles northwest of Orlando, faces felony charges that carry penalties of more than 20 years in prison and $203,000 in fines if he is convicted.

His attorney, Jay Lansing of Billings, said Morse will make an initial court appearance on Nov. 23 and plead not guilty. Lansing declined to comment further on the charges.

Morse owns a ranch in Montana's Yellowstone and Big Horn counties, and co-owns another ranch with another defendant, James "Ike" Rainey, the owner of Rainey Construction Co., which does work in The Villages.

Others charged and issued summonses include Morse's wife MLissa and daughter Kelsea; Lenard Lee Powell, president of LPI Curb Service, a concrete construction company that does work at The Villages; Richard Staton, a former employee on Morse and Rainey's ranch; Toby Lee Griffith, an employee on Morse's ranch; and David Duncan, a hunting outfitter.

The charges date back to 2006 and are the result of a year-long investigation, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Bob Gibson said. Charges are pending against 10 other people identified during the investigation, he said.

Morse and Rainey are accused of killing and possessing elk and deer without a license. They face felony charges because the elk and deer are trophy animals with values that exceed $1,000. Morse is also accused of hunting under Duncan's outfitter license when Duncan was not present, which is illegal.

"They were duped by nobody," Gibson said. "They were fully aware of what the law was. They just violated it."

In separate incidents, Morse's employees, Griffith and Rainey, are accused of putting their tags on game that they didn't kill in an attempt to cover up that Morse shot the animals without a license, Gibson said.

Griffith is charged with felony possession of a buck deer and bull elk that were killed by Morse in 2006 and with putting his tag on a bull elk shot by Morse in 2007. Staton is accused of using his license to tag a deer and an elk he didn't kill, along with possessing a mule deer illegally killed in South Dakota.

Besides the felony charges stemming from two bull elk and four mule deer he allegedly killed in 2008, Rainey also faces two misdemeanor charges, including an accusation that he removed the head from an elk and allowed the meat of the carcass to rot.

Powell faces felony charges of illegal possession of the two bull elk and four mule deer.

If convicted, Rainey faces penalties of more than six years in prison and $53,000 in fines. His attorney, Michael Sherwood of Missoula, was in court Thursday and was not immediately available for comment.

MLissa Morse is charged with killing a mule deer buck in 2008 without a license, a misdemeanor. Kelsea Morse is charged with wounding a bull elk in 2008 and killing a turkey in 2007 without a valid license, also a misdemeanor.

The guide, Duncan, actually lives in Utah and used his parents' Montana address to obtain a state outfitters' license, Gibson said. He is charged with falsifying required outfitter license documents, applications for hunting licenses and client logs.

The felony charges could carry more than 20 years in prison and $101,000 in fines.

Montana voters passed an initiative in Tuesday's election that will abolish outfitter licenses and raise the fees of nonresident licenses. Some outfitters in Montana charge clients more than $10,000 for the promise of shooting a trophy elk on private land. The initiative's backers say the practice encourages landowners to limit access to paying clients only.

Gibson said it is not clear that the poaching would have still happened if the new law were already in effect, but he noted that only some of the charges are tied to the illegal use of an outfitter license.

Other animals were killed without any license, he said.

MN Hunter As I patrol a large area of northern Wis. I find dozens of headless deer along the highways every year most of them are car kills that the driver or some one passing buy has cut off the head to get the horns.

Unless one checks for bullet holes just making the statement that they were poached is not accurate or truthful.

Wildlife officials seek info on latest poaching
StoryDiscussionWildlife officials seek info on latest poaching
.GREEN RIVER -- Wyoming Game and Fish Department wardens have discovered another double mule deer poaching case in southwest Wyoming.

Game and Fish spokeswoman Lucy Wold said the two poached buck mule deer were located Nov. 12 at a site just outside of Evanston.

Evanston game warden Brian Baker said "blatant" poachers have now illegally killed five buck mule deer in Uinta County since late October.

"These deer appeared to have been killed at a different location and dumped where they were found," Baker said in a media release this morning.

"Nothing was taken from either deer," he said. "This is another senseless killing of mule deer ... and another two buck deer have been stolen from the honest citizens and sportsmen and women of Wyoming."

Game wardens are also investigating the poaching of a buck mule deer and young bull moose in late October.

Two more buck mule deer were poached around Piedmont on Nov. 5 or 6.

Baker is asking anyone with information about any of the poaching incidents to call him at 307-789-3285. Tips may result in a reward and informants can chose to remain anonymous.

Good job Kudu

Keep it coming.


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