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Year-long hunt bags poacher
Iowan admits taking animals illegally
Todd Malmsbury of the Colorado Division of Wildlife holds the skull of a mule deer killed by George Waters, a farmer from Iowa. Waters pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges in what authorities are calling one of the biggest poaching investigations in Colorado and Iowa history. Post / Hyoung Chang
By Kieran Nicholson, Denver Post Staff Writer
In the woods 20 miles outside the western Colorado town of Montrose, wildlife manager Brandon Diamond looked up and saw a startling sight.
There, 12 feet up a tree, was the head of a six-point bull elk covered in tape and pine boughs.
That discovery, made last fall, led to the unraveling of what Colorado and federal wildlife officials called one of the worst poaching cases they'd ever seen.
On Tuesday, George Allen Waters, 53, of West Branch, Iowa, admitted in court that he had poached that elk and as many as 45 other deer and elk in two states over a decade.
Investigators believe Waters did it for thrills and cash, not food.
"Waters was not into poaching for meat," said Glenn Smith, a Colorado Division of Wildlife agent who worked on the case. "He was into it for self-gratification, ego and for money."
Wildlife officials said Tuesday that Waters would take advantage of hunting in the off-season when elk were more plentiful and less wary. He'd shoot and kill the animal, then discard the carcass and hide the skull. He'd return later for the head, pretending he had discovered the rack of a naturally killed animal.
As part of a plea agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Waters acknowledged Tuesday that he had poached 45 trophy elk and deer in Colorado and Iowa over 10 years of illegal hunting.
Waters will be sentenced Dec. 2 and is to serve between five and 15 years in federal prison, while paying restitution of $30,000 to Colorado and Iowa, said Todd Malmsbury, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Based on formulas used by wildlife officials, the illegally killed animals had a value of $270,000.
The investigation that led to Waters' plea deal picked up momentum when Diamond made his discovery of a decapitated elk carcass and then the head stashed up a tree after searching a suspicious camp about 20 miles northwest of Montrose, said Roger Gephart, an investigator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In a photo he gave to investigators, George Allen Waters displays antlers of animals he poached in Colorado in the mid- to late-1990s.
After Waters' mother, who accompanied him on that September 2002 trip, saw wildlife officers in the area, she warned him by radio and they were able to take off before they could be questioned, Gephart said.
Investigators shipped the carcass and antlers that Diamond had found to a laboratory for testing, the DOW's Smith said. They also tested a pair of gloves that had been left behind at the campsite.
At the lab, DNA tests connected the carcass to the antlers. Evidence found on the gloves showed that they were used to handle the animal; Waters' fingerprints were on the gloves, Smith said. Meanwhile, law enforcement was closing in on Waters from other directions. In March, he sold trophy antlers to a federal undercover agent.
Smith said the investigators learned that Waters typically traveled to western Colorado near the Uncompahgre National Forest to hunt with a rifle during archery season and without a license.
Waters often hunted in isolated areas, sometimes during rifle season for turkey or bear when the gunfire would not be unusual or alarming, Smith said.
Waters referred to his method for decapitating the animals as "cracking," because of the motion he used, hugging his arm around the head after cutting the neck and twisting it off, Smith said.
Waters would then take the head back to his camp area, where he would use towels and plastic to cover the head and antlers. He'd duct- tape the material in place, Smith said. He'd then hide the head and antlers and come back to pick it up months later, investigators said.
"He'd come back the next summer and, lo and behold, he'd find a winter-killed elk (rack) and take it for practical purpose," Gephart said.
Waters faces additional fines of $500,000 for wildlife violations and another $250,000 for illegal possession of a machine gun. He did not use the machine gun to hunt, investigators said.
Many restaurants and bars throughout Iowa displayed antlers on loan to them from Waters, Smith said.
Poaching, both for trophy antlers and meat, is a problem in Colorado, spokesman Malmsbury said.
The DOW does not estimate a dollar value lost to poachers each year, but the courts value each elk at $1,000 and deer at $700, Malmsbury said. The number of animals poached each year can run into the thousands, he said.
Wayne East, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, said poachers steal from legal hunters, but they also give outdoorsmen a collective black eye.
"Poaching gives hunters a bad name," East said. "The one thing that comes to my mind when trophy animals like this are taken out illegally is, it's hurting the gene pool of the species."
Some law-abiding hunters wait as long as 15 years to be granted a license in a high-profile area that will allow them the chance to bag a trophy animal, East said.
The Colorado Wildlife Federation is the state's largest and oldest wildlife conservation organization, said Smith. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the group lobbies the legislature on wildlife issues. It also has wildlife advocacy and education programs, East said.
Colorado wildlife officials believe the arrest and prosecution of Waters will help deter illegal hunting in the state.
"If you want to come to Colorado and poach, beware, because we are looking for you," Gephart said.
Iowan admits taking animals illegally
Todd Malmsbury of the Colorado Division of Wildlife holds the skull of a mule deer killed by George Waters, a farmer from Iowa. Waters pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges in what authorities are calling one of the biggest poaching investigations in Colorado and Iowa history. Post / Hyoung Chang
By Kieran Nicholson, Denver Post Staff Writer
In the woods 20 miles outside the western Colorado town of Montrose, wildlife manager Brandon Diamond looked up and saw a startling sight.
There, 12 feet up a tree, was the head of a six-point bull elk covered in tape and pine boughs.
That discovery, made last fall, led to the unraveling of what Colorado and federal wildlife officials called one of the worst poaching cases they'd ever seen.
On Tuesday, George Allen Waters, 53, of West Branch, Iowa, admitted in court that he had poached that elk and as many as 45 other deer and elk in two states over a decade.
Investigators believe Waters did it for thrills and cash, not food.
"Waters was not into poaching for meat," said Glenn Smith, a Colorado Division of Wildlife agent who worked on the case. "He was into it for self-gratification, ego and for money."
Wildlife officials said Tuesday that Waters would take advantage of hunting in the off-season when elk were more plentiful and less wary. He'd shoot and kill the animal, then discard the carcass and hide the skull. He'd return later for the head, pretending he had discovered the rack of a naturally killed animal.
As part of a plea agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Waters acknowledged Tuesday that he had poached 45 trophy elk and deer in Colorado and Iowa over 10 years of illegal hunting.
Waters will be sentenced Dec. 2 and is to serve between five and 15 years in federal prison, while paying restitution of $30,000 to Colorado and Iowa, said Todd Malmsbury, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Based on formulas used by wildlife officials, the illegally killed animals had a value of $270,000.
The investigation that led to Waters' plea deal picked up momentum when Diamond made his discovery of a decapitated elk carcass and then the head stashed up a tree after searching a suspicious camp about 20 miles northwest of Montrose, said Roger Gephart, an investigator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In a photo he gave to investigators, George Allen Waters displays antlers of animals he poached in Colorado in the mid- to late-1990s.
After Waters' mother, who accompanied him on that September 2002 trip, saw wildlife officers in the area, she warned him by radio and they were able to take off before they could be questioned, Gephart said.
Investigators shipped the carcass and antlers that Diamond had found to a laboratory for testing, the DOW's Smith said. They also tested a pair of gloves that had been left behind at the campsite.
At the lab, DNA tests connected the carcass to the antlers. Evidence found on the gloves showed that they were used to handle the animal; Waters' fingerprints were on the gloves, Smith said. Meanwhile, law enforcement was closing in on Waters from other directions. In March, he sold trophy antlers to a federal undercover agent.
Smith said the investigators learned that Waters typically traveled to western Colorado near the Uncompahgre National Forest to hunt with a rifle during archery season and without a license.
Waters often hunted in isolated areas, sometimes during rifle season for turkey or bear when the gunfire would not be unusual or alarming, Smith said.
Waters referred to his method for decapitating the animals as "cracking," because of the motion he used, hugging his arm around the head after cutting the neck and twisting it off, Smith said.
Waters would then take the head back to his camp area, where he would use towels and plastic to cover the head and antlers. He'd duct- tape the material in place, Smith said. He'd then hide the head and antlers and come back to pick it up months later, investigators said.
"He'd come back the next summer and, lo and behold, he'd find a winter-killed elk (rack) and take it for practical purpose," Gephart said.
Waters faces additional fines of $500,000 for wildlife violations and another $250,000 for illegal possession of a machine gun. He did not use the machine gun to hunt, investigators said.
Many restaurants and bars throughout Iowa displayed antlers on loan to them from Waters, Smith said.
Poaching, both for trophy antlers and meat, is a problem in Colorado, spokesman Malmsbury said.
The DOW does not estimate a dollar value lost to poachers each year, but the courts value each elk at $1,000 and deer at $700, Malmsbury said. The number of animals poached each year can run into the thousands, he said.
Wayne East, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, said poachers steal from legal hunters, but they also give outdoorsmen a collective black eye.
"Poaching gives hunters a bad name," East said. "The one thing that comes to my mind when trophy animals like this are taken out illegally is, it's hurting the gene pool of the species."
Some law-abiding hunters wait as long as 15 years to be granted a license in a high-profile area that will allow them the chance to bag a trophy animal, East said.
The Colorado Wildlife Federation is the state's largest and oldest wildlife conservation organization, said Smith. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the group lobbies the legislature on wildlife issues. It also has wildlife advocacy and education programs, East said.
Colorado wildlife officials believe the arrest and prosecution of Waters will help deter illegal hunting in the state.
"If you want to come to Colorado and poach, beware, because we are looking for you," Gephart said.
