Poachers sentenced for ‘booze fuelled, adrenaline seeking killing spree.’
by Adrienne Tait
The Edson Weekly Anchor
Reprint by permission of the publisher
More than two years of investigation by Fish and Wildlife officers and work by Crown Prosecutors office culminated with Judge CD Gardner handing down what the crown called the most severe sentencing penalties ever issued under the Wildlife Act.
Six area residents were charged with a variety of offenses under the Wildlife Act for acts committed between September 2013 and November 2013.
In what Crown prosecutor John Schmidt referred to as a “booze-fuelled, adrenaline-seeking killing spree” the court listened as the crown read the agreed statement of facts which outlined seventeen separate incidents of poaching.
The statement which all six of the accused signed and acknowledged as factual events, outlined 17 separate instances of Wildlife Act violations which occurred over the course of a few months.
In total, Judge C D Gardner issued the following sentence: $135,000 in fines, forfeiture of 3 trucks, 4 firearms and various ammunition, 4 lifetime hunting bans, 90 days in jail for one accused, and a 9 month house arrest order for another accused.
Schmidt said as far as he is aware the total sentencing “is the most severe penalty that has ever been issued under the Wildlife Act.”
“What happened in and around Edson in the fall of 2013 was truly grotesque,” said Schmidt of the indiscriminate killing of wildlife in his opening statement.
Court members heard how the accused consumed alcohol in the vehicles, used a spotlight to search for wildlife, often shooting the animals from their vehicles-sometimes checking and other times not to see if the animal was killed or injured.
The investigation by Fish and Wildlife officers extended to 36 animals including 26 deer, five moose, four elk, and one black bear which were found shot and left to waste in the Edson area.
The investigation covered 21 different locations with consistencies of wildlife shot and left, shots fired after sunset, and a lack of cartridges indicating the shots had been fired from within a
vehicle.
While the accused often sought deer, moose, or elk, in two separate instances a coyote was shot from the road and left. However, coyotes are not considered “big game” under the Wildlife Act.
Schmidt recounted one particularly eventful evening where the group consumed half a keg of beer and some rye in their vehicle while night hunting. When an elk was shot and ran into the woods the group was unsure if it was killed. “The group eventually became tired of shooting at wildlife, so they attempted to kill deer by hitting them with the truck,” the statement reads and notes that at least one deer was killed in such a manner. The truck the group was using rolled while chasing deer and in an attempt to destroy evidence Campbell lit the truck on fire.
Another evening Campbell shot and killed a beef cow mistaking it for an elk.
In several of the instances the shot animals were left behind or just the backstraps taken.
One evening in October 2013 Taylor and Derek Brown along with three other unnamed individuals entered a field with elk. One elk was shot and injured. According to the statement,
“The elk was injured, but not killed, so T Brown and D Brown approached the elk and proceeded to kick and pick up its head. D Brown then put a kill shot into the elk. They then removed only the backstraps of the elk, put them in the truck and drove away, leaving the rest of the animal behind.”
Colton Campbell was sentenced to 90 days jail, fined $45,000 and issued a lifetime hunting ban.
Derek Brown was ordered to complete 9 months of house arrest, issued $45,000 fine and a lifetime hunting ban. Taylor Brown was issued $25,000 fine and a lifetime hunting ban. Devan Dozorec was issued $10,000 fine and a 10 year hunting ban. Michaela Scott was issued a
$10,000 fine and a lifetime hunting ban. One youth was also convicted and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service and issued a five year hunting ban.
“To my knowledge, this case was the largest that has ever been prosecuted, both in terms of the number of wildlife killed and in terms of the severity of the punishment issued by the court,” said Schmidt, “We were happy to see, after two years of very hard work, that a just outcome was delivered by the court.”
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