I have actually met this guy, and shot archery with him. I thought he was locked up. He is makeing a mockery of the legal system and the Wyoming Game and Fish! ("LETHAL INJECTION TIME)! His brother shot an elk with a rifle during archery season in the Big Horns, and was caught, a long time ago, before they busted his brother! Runs in the family!

Christmas Eve ram!



Is ‘serial poacher’ killing game again?
By Kristen Inbody

Gary Vorhies poses for a friend, and later co-defendant, with one of two bighorn rams he was convicted of poaching on Christmas Eve 2000 on the North Fork. Vorhies is in jail in Basin on new charges after more than three years in Colorado. (Photo courtesy G&F)

A serial poacher with ties to Cody is in jail in Big Horn County after more than three years out of state.

“He was aware these charges were pending against him,” game warden Bill Robertson of Greybull said. “That has kept him from returning to Wyoming.”

Gary Vorhies, 47, faces poaching charges from three incidents:


•In fall 1999, Game & Fish says Vorhies poached a 4x4 white-tailed buck with a broken brow tine near Greybull, his former home.

Robertson said the deer had an unusual tine. It was taken out of season and while Vorhies was suspended from hunting.

Robertson said Vorhies used an interstate game tag falsely obtained and declared the deer was killed in 1990.

“He made false statements to try to legalize that deer,” Robertson said.

•In September 2000, Vorhies allegedly shot a five-point white-tail deer near Burlington without a license.

•In November 2000, Vorhies allegedly guided an out-of-state hunter west of Shell to a white-tailed buck, which the hunter shot. Vorhies told him not to tag it and guided him to another, G&F say. The hunter took home the meat from both. Later that day, Vorhies allegedly shot another deer without a license.

Robertson said consequences may be pending for the out-of-state hunter, who has cooperated with G&F.

The investigation into the three incidents began as G&F wrapped up a case against Vorhies in Cody, but the evidence took months and even years to surface, Robertson says.

For example, the broken-tine deer showed up at a taxidermist but then disappeared, only to resurface later with another taxidermist.

With Vorhies in Colorado, establishing a case against him became more challenging.

“To leave the state and interview him took quite a bit of effort,” Robertson said.

Deputy Big Horn County Attorney Jim Hallman said Vorhies has been charged with three misdemeanors: taking an antlered deer without a license, conspiracy to take an antlered deer without a license and wanton destruction of a big game animal.

All are misdemeanors with a maximum sentence of one year in prison each. Destruction of a big game animal is punishable by a maximum fine of $2,000.

The charges of conspiracy and taking big game without a license carry a fine of $5,000-$10,000 each.

Vorhies appeared in circuit court Aug. 5 and pleaded not guilty. Bond is set at $28,000, and trial is scheduled for January. Hallman said Vorhies waived extradition from Colorado and remains in the Big Horn County Jail.

Vorhies in Cody

Vorhies became notorious in Cody after two poaching incidents.

“In Mr. Vorhies’ words, he’s like an alcoholic who can’t not take the next drink. He has no ability not to take the next shot,” game warden Craig Sax said.

“Guys like this simply will not stop poaching,” Sax said. “He has no self-control and will not stop.”

In 1992, Vorhies was convicted of poaching the “Growler Elk,” a 365 in Boone and Crockett scoring. He published pictures of the animal in hunting magazines.

Shot on the Two Dot Ranch, Growler became part of an G&F antipoaching display in the Casper regional office. The mount was later stolen from the building and remains at-large.

Robertson said Growler and a trophy-class mule deer were both stolen.

“There were no suspects identified. There’s been no leads,” Robertson said. However, Vorhies apparently had been in the office that week and is a “person of interest,” he added.

Bighorn rams

On Christmas Eve 2000, Sax received a call from a man who’d been taking pictures of bighorn sheep near Newton Creek on the North Fork.

He told Sax one of the bands of sheep no longer had its big ram. He looked at another spot he’d seen sheep and noticed a dead ram on the hillside.

“I think somebody shot it,” the man told Sax.

Sax began to look for suspects and soon spotted Vorhies and Cody J. Canady in a pickup with blood on the tailgate.

They told Sax they’d been taking pictures and had no weapons.

Sax looked behind the truck seat and saw a rifle.

“They went with a plan to kill bighorn sheep,” he said.

Then-sheriff’s deputy Scott Steward and then-Division of Criminal Investigation agent Bryan Skoric arrived, warning Sax that Vorhies was a known poacher and had a warrant out for failure to pay a fine for employment fraud.

When Vorhies learned his truck would be impounded, “he proclaimed that he wanted to talk to me,” Sax said.

Vorhies admitted killing two bighorn rams. Sax found in Vorhies’ backpack a scrotum, backstraps, knives, a camera, a saw, hunting vest and other gear.

Pictures on the camera showed Vorhies and Canady posing with a slain ram. In one trophy picture, they are shaking hands above the animal.

In the truck’s toolbox, Sax found a ram’s head and cape. Sax later found the body hidden under branches against a tree on a steep slope.

The other ram was killed from the road and left to die with an arrow behind its shoulder. Sax said it was in too visible a location for them to risk harvesting it.

In court, G&F testified that it takes luck to draw a bighorn ram tag (a four in 100 chance) or an average of $38,700 to buy one at auction.

Sax said thousands of people wait for the opportunity to hunt the animals.

“The demand outstrips the supply, and that’s why they’re such a valuable trophy,” he said.

In 2001, Vorhies was sentenced to four years jail with $52,000 in fines and restitution for two counts of wantonly taking a bighorn ram and two counts of taking the animals with no license. Two years jail were suspended, and he ended up spending only about one year in jail, Sax said.

Vorhies was banned from possessing or being near hunting equipment, watching hunting, having contact with hunters or with Sax and being in national forests or state parks. His pickup was forfeited to the state.

Vorhies told the court poaching made him “feel alive.”

Wildlife are not safe if Vorhies possesses a gun, Sax testified at the sentencing hearing.

“The person who chooses not to take the shot is the real sportsman, not the one killing everything he sees,” Sax said.

“He’s left a trail of death, but real hunters know it’s the hunt itself,” Sax said. “He has a different agenda than the rest of us.”

G&F pushes for felonies for poaching

After poaching two bighorn rams on the North Fork, Cody J. Canady lost hunting privileges for 10 years, and Gary Vorhies lost privileges for 50 years.

But the other penalties imposed with the sentence, such as a ban from national forests or from associating with hunters, were limited by the length of the longest possible sentence for the misdemeanor charges, one year for each count.

That’s why Cody game warden Craig Sax and others with Game & Fish are pushing for felony penalties for some G&F violations. A bill to that effect failed in the 2009 Legislature.

“We have no way to raise that deterrent,” Sax said. “That certainly can’t stop him from poaching, but it’s unfortunate we don’t have a better tool for stopping people like him from destroying something so near and dear to so many: wildlife.”

The Wyoming Game Wardens Association backed the bill not to punish sportsmen but to combat repeat offenders, game warden Bill Robertson of Greybull said.

“This particular concept is of high interest to both G&F and the wardens’ association,” Robertson said. “It has direct influence on how we do our job and how we can effectively enforce the laws.”

People who are fined but don’t have money anyway aren’t deterred by financial penalties, Robertson said.

Time in jail costs the county, so jail time is rarely handed down, he added, and taking away G&F license privileges clearly means little to someone like Vorhies.

“There comes a time you have to ask what other penalties for the more egregious cases can be levied,” Robertson said.

“That’s where the concept of three strikes and you’re into a felony comes in,” he said.

“You lose many privileges with a felony, such as being unable to possess firearms,” Robertson said.

The animals Vorhies has been charged and convicted of killing illegally are likely the “tip of the iceberg” of the total number of animals he’s poached, Sax said.

“I’m so glad he’s finally been caught,” he said. “The people of Wyoming have lost much to him.”

Sportsmen spends millions on QDM every year. How about a little QHM, Quality Human Mgmt? Sterilization to keep these genes out of the "herd" may be one option.

Sounds like the only way to keep him from poaching is to keep him in jail....What a sad individual.

quote:

How about a little QHM, Quality Human Mgmt? Sterilization to keep these genes out of the "herd" may be one option.

His partner, canady, is supposedly in Africa working on a game ranch. I don't think they will tolerate any of his nonsense over there.

I bet those two shot coots with rifles as kids, were caught, and were then told that they were just coots, so it wasn't a big deal.

A pathetic slap on the wrist!


Greybull poacher pleads guilty, will spend year in jail, pay $27K
by Kristen Inbody



Serial poacher Gary Vorhies has been found guilty of four poaching charges in Big Horn County.

Vorhies, 47, formerly of Greybull, pleaded no contest Saturday to three charges and guilty to a fourth new charge.

Vorhies was sentenced to four years in jail with three years suspended and $27,120 in fines and restitution.


His actions were a “serious violation against Wyoming citizens,” Judge Thomas Harrington said in court.

Vorhies fired his public defender shortly before the hearing and represented himself as he entered his pleas and at sentencing.

During his four-year probation, Vorhies is banned from hunting, fishing and antler collection.

He can’t possess in any state any firearm, bow, trap or anything else that could be used for any form of hunting or to be with anyone who does.

He also is prohibited from setting foot on state or federal land, though he can drive through without stopping.

“He’s to have no connection with any wildlife,” deputy county attorney Jim Hallman said. “We asked for this kind of penalty because according to Game & Fish he is a repeat offender, and he’s been convicted of charges in Park County in the past.”

Vorhies was found guilty in Cody in 1992 of poaching an elk and in 2001 of poaching two bighorn rams.

G&F suspended his hunting privileges for 50 years.

The duration of his probation is limited by the maximum length of possible sentencing, in this case one year for each of the misdemeanor charges.

The four charges in Big Horn County were for these incidents:

•In fall 1999, Vorhies killed a 4x4 white-tailed buck with a broken brow tine near Greybull.

Game warden Bill Robertson of Greybull said the deer had an unusual tine. It was taken out of season and while Vorhies was suspended from hunting.

Robertson said Vorhies used an interstate game tag falsely obtained and declared the deer was killed in 1990.

•In September 2000, Vorhies shot a five-point white-tail deer near Burlington without a license.

•In November 2000, Vorhies guided an out-of-state hunter west of Shell to a white-tailed buck, which the hunter shot. Vorhies told him not to tag it and guided him to another.

•Also in November 2000, Vorhies shot another deer in a closed area without a license.

The investigation into the four incidents began as G&F wrapped up a case against Vorhies in Cody, but evidence took years to surface, Robertson said.

Reminds me of the guy we caught on our property who poached an elk. fish and game was closed and all the sheriff could do was get him for trespasing. Bastard snuck off with a quarter of the meat too. We also found out later that he had been caught once killing a deer on a GOLF COURSE!! ya they kind of piss you off

Ah, come on, he has killed less animals than a wolf. Where are the shoot-shovel-shut up guys for him?

They should make it a felony after the first time, and he should do serious jail time, not what he got.

Then again, I hunt northwestern Missouri where you can watch the outpouring of poachers start driving the roads at dark and driving through people's fields after dark to catch the deer in the headlights before they shoot them.

I bet some hard jail time would change his views on poaching.He is stealing from all of us!!!

quote:

Originally posted by larrys:
Ah, come on, he has killed less animals than a wolf. Where are the shoot-shovel-shut up guys for him?

They should make it a felony after the first time, and he should do serious jail time, not what he got.

Then again, I hunt northwestern Missouri where you can watch the outpouring of poachers start driving the roads at dark and driving through people's fields after dark to catch the deer in the headlights before they shoot them.

Larry, those are only the kills that they could prove he did. How many more animals did he kill that they don't know about? They just list 4 animals in 1999 and 2000 and he was already a convicted poacher then. He's probably poached multiple animals per year for most of his adult life.

If ever someone deserved a good cane spanking! Waterboarding too.

Unfortunately there is probably no amount of punishment that will ever deter this individual. One of the biggest problems to come of this would be if he was some child's "hunting uncle" and they want to grow up just like him. The most severe punishment should be handed out. The community should recognize and speak with their children on the evil of stealing and tresspassing and make it known that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

I wonder if this thrill seeker would have poached on property in a state with Castle Doctrine laws?

quote:

I wonder if this thrill seeker would have poached on property in a state with Castle Doctrine laws?

Ok, Shoot, shovel and shut up! In Zambia in the mid 80's poachers were shot and fed to the Croc's! 100% effective on the perp!

Dall85, the hardcore part of me says the same thing. Zimbabwe did it for poachers as well. How about chain gangs with guys like him cleaning up and maintaining the state and federal lands instead of paying a bunch of other folks. Let them drain the toilets for 15-20 years.

Actually,Outfitters in Wyoming have stolen more wildlife from hunters then any poacher ever thought of.

Wyoming used to base Sheep,Mountain goat and Moose tags among other species on a 45% harvest success.Meaning 45% of license holders would fill their tags.Then outfitters started showing up and upped the harvest rates from 45% success to 80%-100% success.Which resulted in an average of 50% reduction in tag allotments by G&F.

So by all means thank an outfitter for phucking you out of a coveted tag.Along with implementing special points/tags for outfitters clients.

Castle Doctrine would never pertain to poachers,even in TEXASS.