Cheyenne, WY poacher....

[BuzzH]

pleads guilty.

I was asked to testify against this guy, who is a taxidermist in Cheyenne, and was all set to do it.

Got a letter last week stating I no longer had to since he plead guilty. Slap on the wrist IMO...but better than nothing I suppose.

 

[JLS]

That is an outstanding sentence for a fish and game violation. WY routinely has some of the harshest pentalties in the western US. I could give you alot of appalling examples of a true "slap on the wrist".

 

[idahofishnhunt]

Nice. Glad to see at least some justice done once in a while...although something harsher would have been even more preferred.

 

[mdunc8]

Sounds like they dropped several additional charges too. $10,000 seems more than reasonable. However, I'd like to see some additional penalties other than probation and loss of privileges for five years.

 

[Oak]

Slap on the wrist for how much crap he has done.

 

[Lawnboy]

So Buzz how were you involved in this case? Just curious if you ran into this guy committing these acts while you were in the field. We need more juicy details.

 

[BuzzH]

Lawnboy,

Long story with lots of twists and turns along the way...crazy really.

But, the short version, very punctuated, is that a friend of mine moved to Cheyenne about 9-10 years ago and through work, got to know Troy.

My buddy went with Troy, hunting for elk in November, in an area Troy had an elk tag in. Troy didnt get an elk, but killed a deer while hunting elk (on private that he said he had permission to hunt). I thought it was odd that he killed a deer in this particular elk area in November as there hadnt been an open deer season since October 15th.

My buddy was convinced that Troy was legal, I was convinced he wasnt. I hadnt lived in Wyoming long either, so I had to double check the regs. In the meantime, I'd seen the deer and pictures of it...no monster, solid 170 type deer though. When I found he'd taken that deer illegally I wasnt happy about it.

I contacted the G&F shortly after about it, talked to a warden...and heard nothing back.

Flash forward to this last spring and out of the blue I get a phone call from a different Warden asking what I knew about the deer in question. I told the Warden pretty much what I'd told the other guy 10 years ago. Apparently there had been a new "break" in the case...an anonymous tip with lots of details that I knew nothing about.

A few months later I get a letter asking for my testimony against Poacher Hall regarding the deer he poached in Johnson County. Eventually leading to the letter I got last week and his guilty plea.

Thats the very, very short version...it would take an hour long phone call to fill in the details. See Oaks post as to why, the whole story would make you sick...

 

[1_pointer]

I agree it's a bit light, but then again I think the "man" doesn't see these as heinous a crime as I and many here do. I applaud your effort in helping get this done though.

PS- I hope to get to a place where I consider a 170" deer to be "no monster"...

 

[Zach]

"Suspended in favor of" a slap on the wrist.

Good on you Buzz! Does Wyo give anything to the reporting party for a conviction? A free tag?

 

[Dinkshooter]

Without knowing the whole story I’d say it is safe to say the wonderful thing about poachers is every D-bag seems to only get popped for one thing. Rarely does a drug dealer get caught his first time……………………..

Then 15 years from now everyone will say oh it was just one incident, you should let it go. Yeah right. One incident.

 

[ihuntelk]

Interesting. I'd like to know if more was involved. Troy (and his family) have killed a pile of smoker antelope in the last 15 years. Seems like they're always drawing unit 61. I know he killed an unbelievable moose a couple years ago in Canada. Now, I'm wondering about the legitimacy of any of it. What a shame that he's been stealing our wildlife.

I received an email earlier this week about my Idaho elk hunt. The wardens were watching me stalk and kill my bull from across the huge canyon. Quite a few guys on the nevada side were tagging Idaho bulls so they were out checking. I had no clue they were watching.
The year before, we had a Wyo warden watch my brother Zane kill an 85 inch antelope. We let it cross the fence to where we were legal before he pounded it. The warden came down from his perch almost 2 miles away to check us. First thing he said was, "I'm glad you let that antelope cross the fence before you shot it." Not near as glad as we were!!!
You never know who's watching...............

-Cade
www.HuntForeverWest.com

 

[Buckmania]

So did he just now get nailed for an offense over 10 years ago? Statute of Limitations didn't come into play?

 

[Z Barebow]

Kudos to you Buzz. I agree that this wasn't a slap on the wrist, and way better than many areas of the country. Also, I am not saying I wish it were more harsh (Which I do). Especially in the context that this happened 10 years ago. I think this ended up as good as anyone could hope for. It sounds like karma has finally come home to roost with this guy.

 

[BuzzH]

So did he just now get nailed for an offense over 10 years ago? Statute of Limitations didn't come into play?

No statuate of limitations on wildlife violations, and it was just this year he was sentenced.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Way better than nothing and the big thing is this gets out on the net and through the grapevine such that maybe other cheaters will think twice when they read about it! Good job BuzzH.

 

[mtmiller]

Well done.

 

[Summitthunting]

Slap on the wrist IMO..

I agree with Buzz, the DA's should hammer these guys with actual jail time (not suspended), huge fines ($30,000-40,000), and lifetime bans of hunting privileges. It's cheaper to poach an animal and risk getting caught, than it is to apply for years, draw the tag and hire an outfitter. Make the risk out-weigh the reward. I hate poachers.