US hunter fined after trophy photo proves he shot sheep in Canada
 

US hunter fined after trophy photo proves he shot sheep in Canada

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...eep-fine-photo

For those that can't get past the pay wall.


theguardian.com
US hunter fined after trophy photo proves he shot sheep in Canada
Leyland Cecco
3 minutes

When an Alaskan hunter ventured out into the rugged mountains and dropped his target with a single rifle shot, it seemed like the perfect crime.

The only witness lay dead on the rocky landscape.

But Donald Lee’s deception was uncovered after forensic work by a savvy online sleuth and conservation officers revealed that Lee killed a bighorn sheep in Canada – not the United States, as he had previously claimed.

A Yukon court slapped Lee with a C$8,500 (US$6,700) fine and barred him from hunting in Canada for five years after he pleaded guilty to an offence under federal wildlife protection laws.

“I am regretful for the decisions I made that day,” Lee said in court, CBC reported. “I can’t return the animal to the mountain.”

In 2017, Lee was hunting the Nation River area of Alaska, close to the Yukon border. He spotted a Fannin sheep grazing on the mountainside, less than 200 metres away.

What he didn’t realise, he later told the court, was that the animal was across the border in Canada – where he didn’t have a permit to hunt. It was only after he had bagged the sheep that the penny dropped, he alleged.

“I suppose I could have contacted someone to get in touch with the Canadian authorities somehow. Instead I made some poor decisions,” Lee wrote in a statement read to the court.

Those decisions included filling out paperwork to say the kill was in Alaska. He ate the meat from his kill and brought the carcass to a taxidermist, mounting the curly-horned ungulate on his wall.

But it was his choice to post trophy photos of the kill that was his undoing.

Images posted to a sheep hunting forum included both date and geolocation. A sharp-eyed user then sent a tip to Yukon conservation officers, who then travelled by helicopter to the remote area where Lee was believed to have shot the sheep.

The Yukon team painstakingly recreated the scene, using landmarks including distinct rocks and scraggly trees to prove Lee had committed a crime.

Lee now has one year to pay the fine and was previously ordered to turn over the stuffed head.

“I will also say that the sentence imposed today is one which should send a strong message to the public about the price,” said Noel Sinclair, the crown attorney, told reporters after Lee was sentenced. “Unethical hunters will pay when they are careless or deliberately turning a blind eye to the regulatory requirements for hunting in the Yukon.”

Fines should have been higher

Yep...

If you're going to be unethical, you should at least be smart, but that would be an oxymoron. :D

Grizz

Those Yukon officers are a savy bunch.

I have heard story after story of guys getting busted after posting pictures of their kills online. Track the background, and busted in areas they were not authorized to kill that animal in.

When I was up in the Yukon, had a friend busted for shooting a bear on the wrong side of the road, by pictures posted.

All 4 in the party fined and banned from hunting 5 years. OUCH!

They spent more on the Helicopter trip than they got back in fines. He should have been hit with 100,000 in fines, or jail, that is a deterrent.

I was thinking the same thing about the helicopter costs Dean.
Still glad that he was caught in the end though from his own undoing….

Helicopter fees were low. Wardens were given all the info they needed before they even left the base.

Was that the one with Pat?

What is the cost of a US res doing this hunt legal? He has to have a guide and all the expense to go with it. The fine should be 5 times or more the est cost of a legal hunt. Let's just say you found a deal and got the hunt for 25K. What deterrent is it to charge him 6K for a 25K hunt?

I don't think so, that was a different deal I think

Cat

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...091f4017e5.jpg
Ya those bears up there can be stubborn and they don’t shoo very easily in the direction you want lol


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What is a Fannin Bighorn? Lol.

This is kinda funny really. Guaranteed these super sleuths weren’t interested in whether it was poached. They were interested in what drainage they could venture in to to find a ram.

Not in this case

Really?

Yes

illegal sheep
 

Good job by the Yukon Conservation officers. Yeah, a bigger fine & a lifetime hunting ban in Canada would have been more appropriate.

Attachment 178410

The photo on the left shows Donald Lee with the sheep. The photo on the right shows Yukon conservation officer Sean Cox in the same location, with arrows pointing out the natural landmarks proving that the animal was on the Canadian side of the border. Photograph: Yukon territorial court

So correct me if I’m wrong. The article indicates that the photos he posted online had gps coordinates imbedded in them. Correct?

That's common if taken with a smart phone.

The fine should have been as much as a non resident sheep hunt!!

Yeah, this is my thought as well

If I recall most digital photos have some type of meta data that includes gpa coordinates. Some programs out there where you can just select a picture and it will draw that data out and let you know where it was taken.

While from the article I wouldn’t say the hunt itself was unethical. The decision to try and get away with it after he discovered the sheep was on the wrong side of the line was the unethical/illegal part. The number of criminals caught because of their posts to social media would blow your mind!

I always take a screen shot of my pics before I post, trail cam pics etc.
Not 100% sure if any of that data transfers, but I doubt it.

TBark

There was a picture of a stone sheep posted this year on here with the background all whited out.

I do the same thing. Post screen shots of the originals. Not because I’m doing anything illegal but to keep nosey people from tracking anything.

Pat??

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...998cadcfcb.jpg
Yep, that’s because there are people that will use the skyline to figure out here you shot the ram.


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This is what I’m getting at. There was no “super sleuth” here. Someone took data from a photo for their own gain. Realized what happened. Turned it over to authorities. They tracked the coordinates and verified it by landmarks.

Yup likely a gut pile chaser stumbling onto a poacher