https://wqow.com/news/top-stor...lling-mountain-lion/



3 northwest WI men plead guilty to illegally killing mountain lion

4:12 pm
December 12, 2018

*TOP STORIES, CRIME & COURTS

Madison (WQOW) – Three northwest Wisconsin men have pleaded guilty to illegally killing a mountain lion in Montana.

According to the Department of Justice, Robert Peters, 53, and Steven Reindahl, 55, both of Turtle Lake, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Madison to hindering a federal grand jury investigation by providing false testimony about a January 2017 Montana mountain lion hunt.

A third man, David Johnson, 31, of Barnes, pleaded guilty to shooting a mountain lion in 2017 without a Montana hunting license, and conspiring with Darren Johnson to transport the mountain lion from Montana to Wisconsin.

Charges are pending against Darren Johnson. He is not related to David Johnson.

On January 6, 2017, Darren and David Johnson, Bob Peters and Steve Reindahl were in Mosby, Montana hunting mountain lions with their dogs. That morning, the dogs treed a mountain lion. Only Darren Johnson and Steve Reindahl had valid licenses to hunt mountain lions.

Despite not having a valid license, David Johnson used Darren Johnson’s rifle to shoot and kill the mountain lion, and Darren Johnson took out his tag and tagged the lion. According to witness testimony, Darren Johnson told the group that everyone needed to stick to the story that he killed the mountain lion.

On January 10, 2017, all four men drove from Montana to Wisconsin, and Darren Johnson and Steve Reindahl transported the mountain lion hide. A few days later, Darren Johnson dropped off the hide at David Johnson’s home.

In late May 2018, Bob Peters and Steve Reindahl were served with grand jury subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury on June 21, 2018, in Madison regarding the 2017 mountain lion hunt.

On Sunday June 17, 2018, Darren and David Johnson, Robert Peters, and Steve Reindahl met at Peters’ home in Turtle Lake to talk about the upcoming grand jury session. At the Sunday meeting, Darren Johnson allegedly told everyone to stick to the story that he killed the mountain lion and that the agents did not have any proof to say otherwise.

On June 21, 2018, Bob Peters and Steve Reindahl appeared before the grand jury. Later, Peters and Reindahl admitted that they lied to the grand jury and agreed to cooperate and tell the truth. They took back their prior testimony and explained that David Johnson killed the mountain lion and Darren Johnson tagged it and told
everyone he killed it and they all needed to stick to that story. Both men explained that they were told by Darren Johnson at the meeting in Turtle Lake not to tell the truth to the grand jury.

Peters and Reindahl face up to six months in prison, a $50,000 fine and five years of probation.

David Johnson faces one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and five years of probation.

Sentencing is set for February 26, 2019.

Some one didn't understand that the only way to keep a secret is that nobody else knows about it.

Or drunk bragging isn't helpful.

There is no honor among criminals.

Most likely a bunch of friends the shooter most likely never shot a lion before.

His friend said you want to shoot it.

Knowing it was going to get shot anyway. Why would it matter who did it.

Shooter goes homes tells the story and brags about shooting his first lion. Somebody drops the dime.

Very Very stupide on all parties involved.

You can't fix stupid!

Yikes! I bet that non-resident lion tag doesn't seem so expensive in hindsight.

I guess this post is what ellicited the comments from another member concerning the possible "Facination" over members posting such news articles.

Personally I feel that as if some on here claim that the anti's monitor this site in an attempt to find information to use against, then if they, the anti's open one of the discussions about poaching and see multiple negative responses concerning poachers/poaching, that will not be very useful information to try and use against hunters.

Either hunters that obey the laws and want to see hunting continue into the future, openly denounce on sites such as this the actions/activities of Poachers at every opportunity, we will appear to support such activities!

this one or the three surrounding it.

https://www.hudsonstarobserver...ntain-lion-hunt-case



Deer Park man sentenced in mountain lion hunt case
By Kevin Murphy on Feb 26, 2019 at 3:50 p.m.

MADISON — A Deer Park man who allowed another man to shoot a mountain lion in Montana using his license was fined $30,000 Tuesday, Feb. 26 in federal court and banned from hunting "worldwide" for four years.

Darren Johnson, 52, had previously pled guilty to two wildlife law misdemeanor violations in connection with allegedly registering a mountain lion in January 2017 that had been shot and killed by another man in the hunting party.


Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Graber called Johnson the "tip of spear" in the offense. Johnson's dogs had treed the adult male mountain lion and he gave his .223 caliber scoped rifle to David Johnson, no relation, to shoot it.

It was the second time that Darren Johnson had been caught illegally hunting mountain lions. During a 2013 hunt in Colorado, he shot a mountain lion and had another man tag it, Graber said.

"He's had a pattern of illegally hunting mountain lions and a pattern of lying about hunting violations," Graber told Magistrate Stephen Crocker.

Johnson orchestrated a cover up among the other members of the Montana hunting group to lie to a grand jury about who shot the mountain lion, Graber said.

Johnson, who owns a construction company, could have been charged with a felony wildlife violation, Graber said, considering his total involvement in the illegal hunt.

"A four-year hunting ban is a pretty significant sentence for someone who likes to hunt. But he's demonstrated complete disregard for hunting laws and the criminal justice system," Graber said.

Graber asked Crocker to impose a sentence that sends a message to hunters that they are not "chumps" if they follow the rules, but face consequences if they don't.

Johnson told Crocker that he was "very sorry," and initially, didn't understand the severity of his conduct, but does now.

"I'll never be in this situation like this again," he said.

In addition to the four-year ban on hunting and trapping or accompanying anyone engaged in those activities, Johnson forfeited his 2012 F250 pickup truck, three GPS tracking dog collars, a rifle, a radio, a mountain lion skull, and rights to a life-sized mount of a bobcat fighting a mountain lion taken during the 2013 Colorado hunt.

David Johnson, 31, of Barnes, Wis., took home the mountain lion in Darren Johnson's truck after the latter registered it with Montana wildlife authorities claiming it was his kill.

Federal authorities began investigating the circumstances of the hunt and in April 2018, Darren Johnson falsely told a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service agent that he killed the mountain lion and David Johnson had not, Graber said.


Two other members of the hunting group, Steven Reindahl, 55, and Robert Peters, 53, both of Turtle Lake, were summoned to testify before a grand jury in Madison in June 2018. Days before their appearance, Darren Johnson had the four hunters meet at Peters' residence to discuss their testimony.

If they "stick to their story," that Darren Johnson shot the mountain lion, they would be okay because the authorities would have no proof otherwise, Graber said, quoting Darren Johnson.

Instead, Graber had talked to Dan Johnson, Darren's uncle, who hosted the mountain lion hunters at his ranch near Mosby, Mont. Dan Johnson "told the truth" about the hunt, Graber said.

Believing that Dan Johnson wouldn't cooperate with authorities, both Reindahl and Peters lied to the grand jury about who shot the mountain lion. On their drive home from Madison they learned they had perjured themselves, Graber said.

They subsequently testified before a grand jury that they saw David Johnson shoot the mountain lion that Darren Johnson tagged.

David Johnson, whose hunting license became valid one day after he shot the mountain lion, pleaded guilty to hunting without a valid permit, a misdemeanor.

On Tuesday, he was fined $25,000, banned from hunting or trapping for three years and forfeited the cape mount of the mountain lion he unlawfully shot.

Crocker said taking away hunting rights, "is the stake through the heart," punishment to those who "live to hunt."

Crocker acknowledged that the penalty hurts those who love hunting but, it's "supposed to hurt." It shows violators that the government can take away a privilege they hold dearly when they knowingly violate the law, he said.

The day after Johnson shot the Montana mountain lion, Peters shot a bobcat while pointing a rifle through a rolled down truck window. He was fined $5,000 and banned from hunting for two years for lying to a grand jury.

Crocker imposed the same sentence on Reindahl for lying to a grand jury.

Not the brightest bulbs in the pack.

The horror....the horror.

That said, follow the law.

And the heroin dealer on the corner just walked on his charges because it was a "victimless crime" acoording to liberal judges.
A guys kill a cat that was going to be killed anyway by one of the group and he pays huge fine and looses his hunting for a couple years.....some justice system!

It's like blind limits for ducks and geese.....if there's 4 guys and the limit is 6 each there will still be people here whose heads explode if one guy shot 8 and another shot 4.

In my mind though, I don't have a cat tag I'm not even on that hunt.

I was glad when they passed party hunting for deer in Wis.

It is a practice that has been going since man has been hunting together.

I do not think that it makes a bit of difference to the animal that is killed.

Funny about some of the game laws
In one state hero, in another state criminal
In some of these instances, two people is one too many in the party so that way you only use your own tag

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Funny about some of the game laws
In one state hero, in another state criminal.....

Where I hunt in Pa. no baiting for anything is allowed but I am able to climb into my treestand and see into Ohio where it is legal. Pa. claims no baiting it causes CWD apparently the deer in Ohio did not get the word yet. An they've been baiting in Tx. since before I was born how is they have any deer left?