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Teen-ager charged with numerous poaching violations.
Casper Tribune/AP
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - An 18-year-old Eastern Idaho man has been arrested and charged with felony poaching violations in what Fish and Game officials are calling one of the worst cases in many years.
The Nov. 15 arrest of Damian Coon, of Moore, followed a 28-day investigation, which found that eight individuals took part in separate poachings in the Big Lost River Valley.
Officials said Coon has been charged in 7th District Court in Butte County with illegally killing one elk, three buck mule deer, one doe mule deer and three antelope. Most of the acts were committed at night by spotlighting the animals, officials said.
Idaho Fish and Game Department Conservation officer Dave Silcock said the investigation started when a hunter reported finding an elk dead in a gravel pit on Oct. 20. Authorities said the animal was shot in the spine in a nearby hay field and stabbed to death in the chest with a knife, then dragged to the gravel field. The carcass, all but the head, was left to rot.
Coon was being held in the Butte County Jail on $5,000 bond. If found guilty, he could face a fine of up to $50,000 and five years in prison. He could also lose his hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in Idaho for life.
Besides Coon, officials said 15 other citations or warnings have been issued to seven other individuals, including six minors.
Silcock said he was frustrated that residents in the area had not contacted authorities earlier.
"People know about it, they see it, they hear it, but they don't say anything," Silcock said in a prepared statement. "I know for a fact that spotlights have been lighting up fields in the area for at least two months, yet we have not received one call from anyone in the valley reporting it."
Casper Tribune/AP
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - An 18-year-old Eastern Idaho man has been arrested and charged with felony poaching violations in what Fish and Game officials are calling one of the worst cases in many years.
The Nov. 15 arrest of Damian Coon, of Moore, followed a 28-day investigation, which found that eight individuals took part in separate poachings in the Big Lost River Valley.
Officials said Coon has been charged in 7th District Court in Butte County with illegally killing one elk, three buck mule deer, one doe mule deer and three antelope. Most of the acts were committed at night by spotlighting the animals, officials said.
Idaho Fish and Game Department Conservation officer Dave Silcock said the investigation started when a hunter reported finding an elk dead in a gravel pit on Oct. 20. Authorities said the animal was shot in the spine in a nearby hay field and stabbed to death in the chest with a knife, then dragged to the gravel field. The carcass, all but the head, was left to rot.
Coon was being held in the Butte County Jail on $5,000 bond. If found guilty, he could face a fine of up to $50,000 and five years in prison. He could also lose his hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in Idaho for life.
Besides Coon, officials said 15 other citations or warnings have been issued to seven other individuals, including six minors.
Silcock said he was frustrated that residents in the area had not contacted authorities earlier.
"People know about it, they see it, they hear it, but they don't say anything," Silcock said in a prepared statement. "I know for a fact that spotlights have been lighting up fields in the area for at least two months, yet we have not received one call from anyone in the valley reporting it."
