Oct. 24–Two Kalispell men — Levi Anderson and Hadyn Johnson — have been sentenced for poaching 10 whitetail deer last year.
Both had pleaded guilty in Flathead County Justice Court, according to a news release from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
They killed the deer at night in the Farm-to-Market area north of Kalispell in December 2013 — after the general hunting season had ended.
The meat was left to waste.
Anderson was fined $4,350, ordered to pay $600 in restitution and lost his privileges to hunt, fish, and trap in Montana and 44 other states for 10 years.
Johnson was fined $2,100, ordered to pay $2,100 in restitution and lost his hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges for 20 years in Montana and other states.
The pair were caught Dec. 20, 2013, by two wardens investigating after several antlerless whitetail deer were shot and left to waste in the Farm-to-Market area.
At approximately 10:30 p.m., wardens Wes Oedekoven and Chris Crane made an investigative stop after hearing shots fired from a vehicle driven by Anderson and Johnson in the area where the deer had been poached.
Johnson had an active felony arrest warrant for $50,000 from Oregon and was arrested and turned over to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.
Anderson gave wardens a detailed account of their illegal activities and took wardens back to the kill sites of one deer shot that night and nine other deer they had shot previously.
“It is disturbing that a culture still exists that engages in this type of destructive behavior on Montana’s wildlife,” Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Captain Lee Anderson said. “These animals were taken from the people of Montana and left to waste. ”
Anderson praised Oedekoven and Crane for their dedication to this case.
Anderson said the wardens had just wrapped up the long general hunting season and still took the initiative to go out on a cold, dark night in December just before Christmas to catch the poachers.
Local poaching activity has continued this summer and fall.
Wardens are investigating the illegal killing and wasting of numerous deer in the Farm-to-Market, Kila, Somers and Marion areas.
According to Crane, “We as a community need to come together and work with one another to keep this from continuing to happen; and if it does, take the steps necessary to get the information to the local wardens so they can investigate and solve these cases.”
Call 1-800-TIP-MONT or the local Sheriff’s Office with any information on these or other fish and game violations.
The general big-game hunting season opens Saturday and runs until Nov. 30.