Conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are seeking information regarding the illegal killing of a bull moose that occurred in late November in Baraga County.

The moose carcass was discovered on Saturday, Dec. 13. Based on evidence collected at the site, officers believe the moose was killed in late November along Heart Lake Road near Petticoat Lake Road in the Three Lakes area. Logging is occurring along the road and road hunting violations have been reported in the area, according to officers involved in the investigation. Read more

LIVINGSTONE-On December 2, authorities in Zambia arrested alleged ivory trafficker Ben Simasiku, a Zambian national and one of nine fugitives targeted by INTERPOL’s Operation Infra Terra, the first fugitive operation to specifically pursue individuals wanted for crimes against wildlife or the environment. Simasiku was wanted for unlawful possession of elephant tusks and for escaping arrest in Botswana. He was captured by the Zambia Wildlife Authority’s (ZAWA’s) Intelligence and Investigations Unit, which is supported by African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

“The Zambian authorities are to be congratulated for acting quickly and capturing this criminal,” says Nathan Gichohi, African Wildlife Foundation’s senior program officer for species protection. “It’s important we focus on stopping the middlemen, traffickers and kingpins of the ivory and rhino horn trade as much as the poachers. This can effectively be achieved by supporting intelligence agencies at the various wildlife authorities in Africa.” Read more

Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers are seeking information on two separate wolf poaching cases that recently occurred in in Mackinac and Schoolcraft counties in the Upper Peninsula.

The first case occurred near the Mackinac-Luce county line close to M-117 southwest of Newberry. The wolf was found near County Road 468 in Lakefield Township Nov. 26 and died of a gunshot wound as determined through a forensic examination. The wolf had been killed at another location and transported to where it was dumped.

The second poaching occurred in Schoolcraft County near Gulliver in Doyle Township. In this case, a wolf, which was part of a wildlife study, was killed and the tracking collar was removed and disposed of. Evidence of this poaching was also located Nov. 26. Read more

GW:  I didn’t want to believe the Sportsman Channel was associated in any way with these poachers, and now I don’t have to…

The Illinois Conservation Police has issued a correction regarding their media release on Wednesday, December 3 that ran as the Top Story in yesterday’s Outdoor Wire detailing more than 130 charges brought against a TV show, its owners, pro-staff and guests. The original report, however, misidentified an outdoor TV network that aired the television show “Wired Arrow”. The show did not air on the Sportsman Channel as was stated in the release.The Conservation Police correction goes on to make it clear that the Sportsman Channel was not implicated in any wrong-doing in the original media release. The Illinois Conservation Police correction also apologizes to Sportsman Channel for the error.

It wasn’t our error, but the mistake is so significant we felt the correction deserved the same exposure and emphasis as the original report.

GW:  An innovative reward system that could prompt someone to come forward…

MAYBELL, Colo. – Colorado Parks and Wildlife is investigating three additional incidents of illegally killed bull elk in high-quality hunting units in Northwest Colorado, adding to three high-quality bulls illegally killed in Game Management Unit 10 in early November, near the town of Dinosaur.

Two bulls were found along Highway 318 late last week, northwest of Maybell. Both were estimated to have been killed before Thanksgiving and were entirely field dressed. The other was found several miles away on Highway 10N, south of Irish Canyon. Thought to have been killed at the end of the Fourth Rifle season, only the front shoulders and backstraps were removed from that bull.

With the known total of illegally taken elk in this area now at six this year, CPW officials are asking the public for help, reminding of a unique, CPW reward program available to anyone that can provide information about the person or persons responsible for killing the high-quality bulls. Read more

GW:  More heroes to zeros.  From wannabes to wanna hide their faces in disgrace.

SPRINGFIELD, IL – An Illinois Conservation Police investigation into the Wired Arrow Outdoors television show has resulted in the company’s owners, pro-staff members and guests being charged with 134 wildlife violations, including the taking of 18 deer illegally in Illinois. After viewing videos of hunts that aired on the Sportsman Channel or were uploaded to www.YouTube.com, Conservation Police determined that hunting and filming were conducted on properties in the Chicago region without permission from landowners making hunting permits invalid. Hunting and filming allegedly took place on properties owned by several private companies, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and the Village of Lansing.

During the investigation, it was determined the pro-staff members had unlawfully harvested a total of 18 white-tailed deer, including 10 bucks and eight does, nearly all of which were aired either on the Sportsman Channel or the Pursuit Channel. On Sept. 16, 2014, a joint operation involving several state and federal agencies was conducted to interview all pro-staff members who had previously hunted in Illinois. Cooperating agencies included the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Seized during the joint operation were eight unlawfully-taken white-tailed deer heads, one set of antlers attached to a skullcap, and one unlawfully-taken turkey fan, beard, and spurs. Charges include violations documented from the 2012 and 2013 deer seasons. Read more

GW:  From heroes to zeros

Two Kawkawlin, Michigan, men have been ordered to pay $4,000 each in restitution payments to the Game and Fish Protection Fund and $625 each in fines and court costs and were sentenced to five days in jail for being over the bag limit for redhead ducks, according to conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Travis Vennix, 22, and Timothy Diehl, 22, both of Kawkawlin, admitted to shooting 20 redhead ducks while hunting Oct. 13. The bag limit for redheads is two per hunter. In addition to their fines, restitution and jail time, both had their hunting privileges for the remainder of 2014 revoked, along with the next three calendar years. They were sentenced last week by Judge Allen Yenior of the 81st District Court in Arenac County.

Vennix and Diehl were waterfowl hunting Oct. 13 when they encountered DNR conservation officer Nick Atkin, who was checking waterfowl hunters, at the Pine River boating access site in Arenac County. Officer Atkin noted they were acting nervous when he spoke to them, but because of the darkness and fog he couldn’t see that the pair hid a stringer of 18 redhead ducks under the boat dock at the site. When Vennix and Diehl arrived on shore with their boat, Officer Atkin noted they had two redhead ducks in the boat with them.

On Oct. 14, the DNR received a Report All Poaching (RAP) Line complaint from a hunter who found a stringer of 18 redhead ducks shoved underneath the boat dock at the access site. Officer Atkin, along with conservation officer Phil Hudson, then tracked down the hunters he had encountered the previous night and obtained a confession from them that they shot 20 redhead ducks while hunting that day. Read more

GW: So, what about knowing your target? Maybe the sleeze did, maybe he didn’t, but he’s still a sleeze.

A 51-year-old man from Waterford, Michigan, has confessed to killing an elk on the opening day of firearm deer season, according to Department of Natural Resources conservation officers who investigated the incident.

A deer hunter hunting in Montmorency County north of Atlanta Nov. 15 contacted the DNR’s Report All Poaching (RAP) Line to report he had found a dead elk. Conservation officers from the DNR’s Gaylord Customer Service Center responded and located the 4×4 bull elk and determined it had been killed by a single gunshot.

After a lengthy investigation by the officers, a suspect was identified and a confession was obtained. Charges currently are under review by the Montmorency County Prosecutor. Read more

DENVER- Hunting outfitter and guide Christopher W. Loncarich, 56, of Mack, Colorado was sentenced to 27 months in prison, and 3 years probation for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law. During his probation he is prohibited from hunting or fishing. The conspiracy involved felony interstate transportation and sale of unlawfully taken wildlife, and felony creation of false records concerning wildlife that was sold in interstate commerce. The sentence was the result of a joint investigation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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