Outfitter Fined $10,000 In Wildlife Case

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A Wyoming-based outfitter, who for a number of years also has held an outfitting license for hunting operations in southeastern Montana, recently was fined $10,000 and received other penalties from a Wyoming judge for a series of illegal hunting activities over several years. Late last October, Jerry Martin, of Buckhorn Mountain Outfitters in Sheridan, Wyoming, pleaded guilty in federal district court in Casper to four counts of violating the Lacy Act, a federal law which makes it unlawful to engage in, or aid in, the transportation of illegally taken wildlife from one state to another. A joint investigation of Martin’s activities was initiated in 1994 by state and federal law enforcement officers from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Over the course of their investigations, numerous violations were uncovered in both Montana and Wyoming, including Martin’s outfitting of clients who did not have the proper licenses, harvest of more than the legal limits of game animals by those clients and the transportation of illegally taken game animals across state lines. For his part in the illegal activities, Martin was fined $10,000 and sentenced to four years of probation, during which time Martin will not be able to hunt anywhere in the United States. Martin also was ordered to surrender his outfitting licenses in Wyoming as well as Montana, and he may not apply for any such licenses during the period of his probation. In addition to Martin’s penalties, five of Martin’s clients also were convicted in federal court of Lacy Act violations and paid $15,500 in fines and over $3,000 in restitution for the wildlife values lost to the people of the states of Montana and Wyoming. Several of Martin’s past clients still face charges that currently are being pursued in state courts in Montana and Wyoming.