Poacher Finally Brought To Justice In Wyoming

The Long Road To Justice

It started with an anonymous tip about a hunter who’s residency was kind of fishy. In the tight-knit hunting community of Lincoln County, Wyoming, rumors spread that an out-of-stater was gaming the system. Sure enough, the Afton Game Warden at the time, James Hobbs took notice and launched an investigation that year. What followed was a six-year rigamarole of detective work across three counties and two states, ending in 2025 with a poacher facing the music in court. The wheels of justice turned slowly, but they did turn. For Wyoming’s wildlife, it was worth the wait.

Faking Residency

The culprit, an Idaho man posing as a Wyoming resident, had spent years cheating the licensing system to take trophy big game. By the time wardens served a search warrant on his Idaho Falls home in 2022, they uncovered a cache of illegal trophies: four large mule deer bucks, two bull elk, and one pronghorn antelope that were all taken without valid tags. 

To put it in perspective, those mule deer were giants, scoring between 180 and 220 inches on the Boone & Crockett scale. These are once-in-a-lifetime caliber animals that most law-abiding hunters only dream of harvesting legitimately. For one man to steal four of them through poaching isn’t just illegal, it’s downright infuriating to everyone who puts in the work to do it right.

Justice Served

Wildlife prosecutors didn’t take it lightly either. By 2023, the poacher was hit with 22 wildlife charges spanning multiple counties. Rather than risk a trial, he eventually took a plea deal in 2024, admitting to falsifying residency and illegally killing multiple deer and elk. The judge’s sentence hammered the point home: he got jail time (21 days behind bars out of a longer suspended term), over $27,000 in combined fines and restitution, and an 18-year ban from hunting across nearly all states. 

In other words, he won’t be legally hunting until he’s an old man – and all those seized trophy racks will never adorn his wall. He even tried to appeal the punishment, but in June 2025 a Wyoming judge upheld every bit of it. Justice, at long last, was served.

Protecting Our Hunting Legacy

For those of us who love hunting, stories like this are personal. Each of those trophy mule deer stolen was a deer that a legitimate hunter might have fairly taken or at least enjoyed seeing on the winter range. Poaching isn’t just a crime against wildlife regulations – it’s a betrayal of our community’s trust and ethics. Poaching is stealing from the honest hunter who spends years waiting on a hard-to-draw tag, from the volunteers and biologists working to conserve these animals, and from future generations who deserve a chance at experiencing healthy wildlife populations. The fact of the matter is that a poacher isn’t a hunter at all.

This Wyoming case highlights something every ethical hunter knows in their gut: we must hold each other accountable. It was the courage of informants, fellow sportsmen or neighbors who didn’t stay silent, that brought the scheme to light. If those tips hadn’t been reported back in 2019, this guy might still be out there filling his truck with illegal antlers (it was a dang good year for big bucks in Western Wyoming after all).

Sure, it took years of investigations, warrants, and court proceedings to finally nail him, but without that first phone call, justice would never have had its chance. 

Patience Is Key

If you report a wildlife crime, you might not see flashing lights and handcuffs the next day. It could even drag on for seasons, testing your faith in the system. But as this case proves, eventually the hammer will fall. And when it does, it reinforces why doing the right thing matters.

It’s also a sobering reminder of how much goes on undetected. A recent study from Boone & Crockett suggests that only about 4% of poaching incidents ever come to the attention of authorities. Think about that – the vast majority of wildlife crimes remain in the shadows, unless someone who witnesses them speaks up. Each of us, as hunters, can be the difference. 

Whether it’s some dude boasting about an extra deer he shouldn’t have shot, or something fishy you see while glassing a far ridge, report it. Wyoming Game and Fish’s toll-free tip line (1-877-WGFD-TIP) exists for a reason. Your identity can remain anonymous, and your tip could save countless animals over the long run. Even if the legal process feels slow or frustrating, sticking to our guns (no-pun intended) is important. We owe it to the wildlife and to our own reputation to not turn a blind eye.

At the end of the day, hunting is a privilege built on respect: respect for the law, respect for the animals, and respect for each other. We celebrate when one of our own tags a once-in-a-lifetime mule deer buck after doing things the right way. And conversely, we all share the outrage when someone short-circuits that process through greed and deceit. The Lincoln County case may be closed, but the conversation it sparks is one we need to keep having.

How can we as a community do even better to uphold our standards and protect what we love? 

Feel free to share your thoughts – after all, staying honest and engaged is just as important as a well-placed shot.

Hunting is not just about taking an animal for the wall and freezer; it’s about honoring a heritage that’s been passed down from people doing right by the critters we chase. Let’s keep that heritage alive by speaking up for what’s right, no matter how long it takes for justice to arrive.

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