Utah men sentenced

[rogerthat]

https://gephardtdaily.com/local/two-southern-utah-men-sentenced-for-defrauding-hunters-leading-canned-cougar-hunts/amp/

When I first read the word “canned”, I was thinking domesticated cougars that were released for the hunt but I believe the crime was that cougars were treed and the hunter brought in after the fact. Couldn’t the lion had jumped out of the tree at any moment? I’m not a lion hunter but this seems a bit trivial to me. I don’t think this is the first time this outfitter has been in trouble with game and fish

 

[Bonasababy]

Probably not trivial to the majority of people who are on the fence and this may have them wanting to question whether cougar hunting should be allowed at all--and looks pretty low to many hunters too I suspect.

If I were a cougar hunter I'd not want to see this as I'd fear it would jeopardize hunting of them continuing to be allowed.

 

[npaden]

Wade Lemon has a long history of this kind of thing. Always seemed like he must have some connections because he always seems to dodge actually getting convicted.

Like having his client shoot a desert bighorn sheep in an off limits area but somehow convinced UDWR that an employee had given a verbal approval for it over the phone.

Utah's DWR takes blame for bighorn sheep killed 'illegally' on Nebo

Robyn Waldrip has a passion for shooting very large wild animals. The Texas bodybuilder pays a

archive.sltrib.com

Or illegally baiting bears for Donald Trump Jr.

Utah hunting guide faces felony charge for Donald Trump Jr.’s big-game hunt

Prosecutors have indicated there was no evidence showing Trump Jr. would have known about alleged baiting that went on during the hunt.

www.sltrib.com

It's amazing how guys like this are still in business.

 

[npaden]

Reading through that last article it sounds like he might have been in tight with the previous head of UDWR when the bighorn sheep incident took place. Looks like that guy "retired" in 2018 after the bear baiting came to light and now maybe the connections that Wade Lemon had are pretty much burned and that's why he is actually getting convicted now.

There has been so many accusations it is hard to keep them all straight from using helicopters to haze trophy bucks into the unit his client had a tag for and all kinds of other stuff dating back decades.

Despite the multiple investigations over the years, former DWR Director Mike Fowlks attended at least one hunt with Lemon’s outfit.

In a May 14, 2020, Instagram post from Wade Lemon Hunting, Fowlks is shown posing with a recently killed bear. The post reads: “Had a great day on the mountain with @mikefowlks Congratulations again Mike on a great boar!”

Fowlks was director during the 2018 investigation and also law enforcement section chief during the times of the previous Lemon investigations. A month after DNR provided records of Lemon investigation files, Fowlks announced his retirement.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Be extremely careful who you hire as a guide and outfitter on your out-of-state hunting trips. You can get pulled into a legal matter unknowingly and unintentionally by some unscrupulous outfitters. I will leave it at that…

 

[Bambistew]

Imagine if we took this a step farther and made the definition of canned hunting to include a posse of guides keeping tabs on an animal until the client shows up to shoot it...

 

[TheTone]

Amazing how many WLH guides have started their own outfitting companies in the past two years

Good riddance to another couple bad actors in the hunting world

 

[seeth07]

Imagine if we took this a step farther and made the definition of canned hunting to include a posse of guides keeping tabs on an animal until the client shows up to shoot it...

I didn't think this was "that big of a deal" until joined up with my youth cousin on a late Nov NM deer hunt a few years ago. We were significantly outmatched as the two of us helping her was nothing compared to the rest of the youth hunters. Most had 5-10 people out looking and helping them. It significantly impacted our overall experience on what should have been a "low pressure and easy" hunt.

So I'm all for it!

 

[Wildabeest]

Reading through that last article it sounds like he might have been in tight with the previous head of UDWR when the bighorn sheep incident took place. Looks like that guy "retired" in 2018 after the bear baiting came to light and now maybe the connections that Wade Lemon had are pretty much burned and that's why he is actually getting convicted now.

There has been so many accusations it is hard to keep them all straight from using helicopters to haze trophy bucks into the unit his client had a tag for and all kinds of other stuff dating back decades.

He was convicted in Federal court under the Lacey Act, so UDWR may not have been involved.

 

[FairWeather]

If be pissed if I’d paid for that guide service. I paid for a hunt, not a show up & shoot on a pre-treed cat.

Getting an animal isn't as important as the journey to get there.

 

[elkduds]

As usual, ridiculously light sentences for hunting rule violations. Glad they were convicted, though.

 

[406dn]

All, I'll say is you have not elk hunted on public land very often if you haven't witnessed outfitters moving elk to where they want them.

I've seen both airplanes and horses used to either move elk to their hunters, or away from public land hunters.

 

[whatnot]

About time.

The sheep poach on the nebo was a joke.

Since then he's been charged with tresspass, treeing a bear then lighting a fire under it while trump jr was hauled in, and this.

He was also kicked off AI for harassing a deer out of a closed area.

Utah has a real bad corporate hunter problem.

Wade Heaton, of the famous paunsagaunt unit, just resigned off the Wildlife Board as he faces charges (again). Ryan Hatch was just charged. Few others are under investigation.

 

[TheTone]

.



Utah has a real bad corporate hunter problem.

Utah has a bad corruption and fraud problem in general

 

[406dn]

I think this is more or less what you can expect as game management moves away from the North American model.

When licenses are set aside for landowners etc, it only stands to reason that the animals will be monetized. In reality, it's fraying at the seams nearly everywhere. Land values are not reflective of their agricultural productivity, but more for their wildlife resource.

 

[Forkyfinder]

All, I'll say is you have not elk hunted on public land very often if you haven't witnessed outfitters moving elk to where they want them.

I've seen both airplanes and horses used to either move elk to their hunters, or away from public land hunters.

Switchback ranch? Ive seen them "check fences" to keep elk in....

 

[Bonasababy]

All, I'll say is you have not elk hunted on public land very often if you haven't witnessed outfitters moving elk to where they want them.

I've seen both airplanes and horses used to either move elk to their hunters, or away from public land hunters.

I would hope the public land hunters kept their cool. I could see that going really bad really fast.

 

[406dn]

Switchback ranch? Ive seen them "check fences" to keep elk in....

No, different places. I won't name names, but one of them operates in unit 313 in Montana.

I would expect that it is quite common, wherever elk hunting includes outfitted hunting.

 

[44hunter45]

Co-incidence? I think not!

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Thank you for posting this.

Each state has its own laws on this for lions. Some states, it is totally legal to walk to a tree and shoot a lion if you weren't present at the dog turn out as long as you have all of your licenses and tag in order. Utah it is explicitly stated as being illegal.

I am not sure that "canned" is my favorite way of putting it in this situation, but that seems to be a popular term now. The clients knew they weren't present for the turn out...just not all would know it is illegal there (which in the eyes of the law is irrelevant.)

When outfitters send five or ten houndsmen out to find tracks and catch cats while the client sits in a lodge, it seems to take away the spirit of hunt. The adventure in lion hunting is the chase, not the 10 yard shot at a stationary cat in a tree.

The outfitter knew better, but wanted to keep his stats high and clients with filled tags. I appreciate that outfitters want to make a living off of the land and game, but when this type of stuff happens, it makes them all get viewed in a more negative light.