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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Thanks to www.outdoorpressroom.com for the story below.

Years-long investigation closes with felony wildlife and weapons charges for multiple offenders.

Photo: A game warden catalogs illegally taken game meat during the investigation.

Nevada game wardens have concluded an investigation of a poaching ring involving three suspects in several counties, spanning almost two years in a case that has netted a dozen felony charges and uncovered the illegal killing of dozens of animals.

The suspects in the poaching ring are Adrian Acevedo-Hernandez, aka “El Pantera,” 36, Jose Luis Montufar-Canales, 31, and J. Nemias Reyes Marin, 31. An initial arrest of a fourth, separate suspect, Jose Manuel Ortega-Torres, 30, led to the three men who were determined to be actively engaging in several different wildlife crimes, prompting an in-depth investigation of the three men by game wardens. Ortega-Torres is from Lincoln County and the men involved in the poaching ring were all living in Las Vegas.

“This case involved a lot of time, effort and commitment by game wardens,” said Chief Game Warden Tyler Turnipseed. “We followed one lead into another in what seemed to be a bottomless supply of wildlife crime. Hopefully the resulting fines, forfeitures and jail time will discourage this kind of systemic criminal activity in the future.”

In June of 2013, Nevada game wardens received information that two deer had been unlawfully killed on a farm near Hiko, Nev. Game wardens viewed an image publicly available through social media and confirmed that two female deer were unlawfully killed out of season in late May.

Photo: A game warden holds a photo discovered while executing a search warrant that that shows Adrian Acevedo-Hernandez, 36, with an illegally killed deer.

Game wardens identified one of the suspects in the photograph as Ortega-Torres. This led to a search warrant in Hiko at his residence, seizing illegal deer meat, trace evidence, unlawfully killed migratory birds, butchering tools, weapons and ammunition. Ortega-Torres was arrested at the same residence and later convicted in Lincoln County of a gross misdemeanor for unlawful possession of a mule deer. Read more

Out of Africa Charged with Wildlife Crimes, Fraud and Money Laundering

The owners of Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris were charged with conspiracy to sell illegal rhinoceros hunts in South Africa in order to defraud American hunters, money laundering and secretly trafficking in rhino horns, announced Sam Hirsch Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division; George L. Beck, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama; and Dan Ashe, Director of the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The indictment was unsealed today in Montgomery, Alabama following the federal indictment.

The indictment charges Dawie Groenewald, 46, and his brother, Janneman Groenewald, 44, both South African nationals, and their company Valinor Trading CC (d/b/a Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris) with conspiracy, Lacey Act violations, mail fraud, money laundering and structuring bank deposits to avoid reporting requirements. The Lacey Act, the nation’s oldest criminal statute addressing illegal poaching and wildlife trafficking, makes it a crime to sell animal hunts conducted in violation of state, federal, tribal and foreign law. Read more