BigFin
Active Member
- Messages
- 693
Wish more judges took this chit seriously. Looks like this judge has had his fill of pukes showing up and poaching wildlife.
Good on the judge.
Almost afraid to show up in WY with my MT license plates this fall. Seems that you guys are dealing with a lot of wildlife problems created by folks coming from other states.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Man gets 100 days for shooting doe antelope
By The Associated Press
CHEYENNE - A magistrate in Sweetwater County has sentenced a Tennessee man to serve 100 days in jail and pay $6,000 in fines and restitution for shooting a doe antelope several times with a semiautomatic rifle last weekend. Officials say the case is only the latest in a disturbing pattern of out-of-state energy workers wantonly killing Wyoming wildlife.
Tori Stephen Bowman, 23, of Cookeville, Tenn., pleaded guilty Monday to wanton destruction of a big-game animal.
In addition to imposing the jail time, fines and restitution, Magistrate Stephen K. Palmer forfeited Bowman's rifle to the state and revoked his hunting and fishing privileges for five years. Palmer also fined Bowman $350 on his guilty plea to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, court records show.
Brett Johnson, Sweetwater County attorney, prosecuted Bowman and said he hopes the sentence sends a stern message. "We take our wildlife seriously in Wyoming," Johnson said. "And it's just the usual thing; enjoy them, but don't harm them unless you have a license."
Johnson said he believes the area has seen a rise in the wanton killing of wildlife as a result of the ongoing energy boom drawing young men into the drilling fields from other states.
"There's a real issue because of all the oil and gas exploration," Johnson said of the transient workers. "They're out there. There's very few other people out there, and there's a lot of wildlife. They don't think anybody's going to catch them, and most of the time, nobody does catch them. So I hope it does send a message."
Johnson's office prosecuted another gas field worker who deliberately drove into a herd of antelope last year. That man, a Rock Springs resident, got caught after photos of two carcasses and comments bragging about the killing appeared online. He was also fined $6,000 but didn't receive a jail sentence.
Rock Springs Game Warden David Hays said Friday that he also investigated both Bowman's case and last year's case where the antelope were deliberately run down.
In Bowman's case, Hays said a witness called authorities on Sunday to report the shooting of the antelope off of Highway 191, south of Rock Springs. Hays credited Sgt. Dave Johnson, Cpl. Brett Peterson and Deputy Stephan Paladino of the Sweetwater Sheriff's Office and Highway Patrol Trooper Matt Bracken for stopping the pickup truck Bowman was riding in.
According to a police statement, Bowman acknowledged shooting the antelope with an AK-47 rifle. Hays said Bowman was employed until recently working on a pipeline services company in the area.
"This is just an ongoing problem," Hays said. "This is not the first time this has happened. For about the last four years now, we're starting to see this. People employed in an energy related-field are coming to Wyoming."
Hays said most of the offenders are from out of state and have never been in Wyoming before. He said that they make a lot of money working long hours in the oil fields and then often spend some of it buying guns.
"And then they have to go out and shoot them," Hays said. "It's happening every summer. It's a pattern that you can just see. We're not sure how to deal with it."
Hays said he recovered 18 cartridge casings at the scene and said the doe antelope was lactating. He said the doe appeared to have been shot at least five times and probably left a pair of fawns behind.
Hays said he looked for the fawns on Sunday night and again Monday morning. He said he would have taken them to a research center or someplace else where they could be raised if he had found them. But he said they're dead by now.
"It's pretty disgusting," Hays said. "As many times as I've seen it, I still get angry over the whole thing. These are not sportsmen; these are people out here with little or no values when it comes to wildlife. This antelope, she had been nursing at least one fawn, probably two. She was a 4- or 5-year-old doe, based on looking at her teeth. She was probably able to give birth looking for two fawns."
Hays said the 100-day jail sentence is extraordinary in a wildlife case. "It's great news," he said. "These people are making a lot of money. Even $6,000 is an extraordinary penalty, but they can make that in two weeks. But it's hard to make your money when you're sitting in jail, too."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
"Hunt when you can - You're gonna' run out of health before you run out of money!"
Good on the judge.
Almost afraid to show up in WY with my MT license plates this fall. Seems that you guys are dealing with a lot of wildlife problems created by folks coming from other states.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Man gets 100 days for shooting doe antelope
By The Associated Press
CHEYENNE - A magistrate in Sweetwater County has sentenced a Tennessee man to serve 100 days in jail and pay $6,000 in fines and restitution for shooting a doe antelope several times with a semiautomatic rifle last weekend. Officials say the case is only the latest in a disturbing pattern of out-of-state energy workers wantonly killing Wyoming wildlife.
Tori Stephen Bowman, 23, of Cookeville, Tenn., pleaded guilty Monday to wanton destruction of a big-game animal.
In addition to imposing the jail time, fines and restitution, Magistrate Stephen K. Palmer forfeited Bowman's rifle to the state and revoked his hunting and fishing privileges for five years. Palmer also fined Bowman $350 on his guilty plea to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, court records show.
Brett Johnson, Sweetwater County attorney, prosecuted Bowman and said he hopes the sentence sends a stern message. "We take our wildlife seriously in Wyoming," Johnson said. "And it's just the usual thing; enjoy them, but don't harm them unless you have a license."
Johnson said he believes the area has seen a rise in the wanton killing of wildlife as a result of the ongoing energy boom drawing young men into the drilling fields from other states.
"There's a real issue because of all the oil and gas exploration," Johnson said of the transient workers. "They're out there. There's very few other people out there, and there's a lot of wildlife. They don't think anybody's going to catch them, and most of the time, nobody does catch them. So I hope it does send a message."
Johnson's office prosecuted another gas field worker who deliberately drove into a herd of antelope last year. That man, a Rock Springs resident, got caught after photos of two carcasses and comments bragging about the killing appeared online. He was also fined $6,000 but didn't receive a jail sentence.
Rock Springs Game Warden David Hays said Friday that he also investigated both Bowman's case and last year's case where the antelope were deliberately run down.
In Bowman's case, Hays said a witness called authorities on Sunday to report the shooting of the antelope off of Highway 191, south of Rock Springs. Hays credited Sgt. Dave Johnson, Cpl. Brett Peterson and Deputy Stephan Paladino of the Sweetwater Sheriff's Office and Highway Patrol Trooper Matt Bracken for stopping the pickup truck Bowman was riding in.
According to a police statement, Bowman acknowledged shooting the antelope with an AK-47 rifle. Hays said Bowman was employed until recently working on a pipeline services company in the area.
"This is just an ongoing problem," Hays said. "This is not the first time this has happened. For about the last four years now, we're starting to see this. People employed in an energy related-field are coming to Wyoming."
Hays said most of the offenders are from out of state and have never been in Wyoming before. He said that they make a lot of money working long hours in the oil fields and then often spend some of it buying guns.
"And then they have to go out and shoot them," Hays said. "It's happening every summer. It's a pattern that you can just see. We're not sure how to deal with it."
Hays said he recovered 18 cartridge casings at the scene and said the doe antelope was lactating. He said the doe appeared to have been shot at least five times and probably left a pair of fawns behind.
Hays said he looked for the fawns on Sunday night and again Monday morning. He said he would have taken them to a research center or someplace else where they could be raised if he had found them. But he said they're dead by now.
"It's pretty disgusting," Hays said. "As many times as I've seen it, I still get angry over the whole thing. These are not sportsmen; these are people out here with little or no values when it comes to wildlife. This antelope, she had been nursing at least one fawn, probably two. She was a 4- or 5-year-old doe, based on looking at her teeth. She was probably able to give birth looking for two fawns."
Hays said the 100-day jail sentence is extraordinary in a wildlife case. "It's great news," he said. "These people are making a lot of money. Even $6,000 is an extraordinary penalty, but they can make that in two weeks. But it's hard to make your money when you're sitting in jail, too."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
"Hunt when you can - You're gonna' run out of health before you run out of money!"
