Arizona man pays more than $30,000 for illegally taking a trophy bighorn ram
Kanab – A well known hunting guide won’t be hunting in Utah—or 46 other states—anytime soon. In addition to losing his hunting privileges for the next 10 years, the guide and outfitter has paid more than $30,000 in fines and restitution.
In July 2017, Larry Altimus of Pearce, Arizona was found guilty of wanton destruction of protected wildlife – trophy desert bighorn sheep, which is a 3rd degree felony in Utah.
An eight-person jury in Kane County listened to three days of testimony before finding Altimus guilty of illegally obtaining a Utah resident hunting permit and then using the permit to kill a desert bighorn sheep ram on the Zion hunting unit in southwestern Utah.
“Kane County Deputy Attorney Jeff Stott did an outstanding job prosecuting this case,” says Mike Fowlks, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “Hats off to the attorneys in Kane County. Stott and Kane County Attorney Rob Van Dyke did an amazing job.”
Acquiring a permit through fraud
Every time a hunter applies for a Utah big game hunting permit, but doesn’t draw one, he or she receives a bonus point. Every point a hunter obtains increases the odds the hunter will draw a permit in the future.
By 2013, Altimus had earned 21 desert bighorn sheep bonus points in Utah. Even with a high number of points, the chance he’d draw a non-resident bighorn sheep permit were still slim. “But,” Fowlks says, “if he claimed residency in Utah, he knew he had a good chance of drawing a permit reserved for Utah residents.”
In August 2013, Altimus rented a house in Kanab, Utah. In March 2014, he used his Kanab address to apply for one of 10 desert bighorn sheep permits available to Utah residents that year.
In May 2014, he drew the permit. In June 2014, he moved back to Arizona.
In October 2014, Altimus came back to Utah where he killed a huge desert bighorn ram using his fraudulently obtained permit.
Severe penalties
Fowlks says Utah is one of 47 states that are part of the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact. “If you lose your hunting privileges in one of the states,” he says, “you automatically lose your privileges in all of them. Altimus won’t be hunting in any of the 47 states for a long, long time.”
In addition to losing his hunting privileges for the next 10 years, Altimus paid $30,000 in restitution and a $750 fine for killing the ram. And Utah DWR investigators seized the head and horns of the illegally taken ram.
Utah Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline
If you have information about a poaching case in Utah, or you see something suspicious while you’re in the out-of-doors, please let Utah DWR officers know by calling Utah’s Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline.
