MONTANA (KFYR) - A multi-year investigation by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks led to the seizure of over 100 mounts, antlers and horns valued at more than $36,000.

13 suspects from Montana, Washington, North Dakota, Wyoming and Indiana were charged with more than 80 violations in McCone County.

All but two pleaded guilty. The hunters have a combined 44-year ban from hunting in the state.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the hunters went to land owned by Kelly Nelson and hunted on it illegally over the past decade.

In a plea agreement, Nelson was fined and lost his Montana hunting privileges for eight years.

What do you mean 'if''...it appears they were convicted...thats guilty in my book (and in the court of law..)

Wow!!

Yeah, ill bet they needed to protect themselves from them big meanie elk and other critters...it was self defense. Get a grip....dirtbad poachers got caught, got convicted. And since when do you get to make up your own hunting regs on private land....SMH

Some how a guy driving a $100,000.00 pickup and poaching anything is going to have a hard time convincing me it is to feed his family. I would poach a beef before I poached a deer, more meat better eating, easier to find and they will walk up to the PU. People in ND don't poach to feed their family. You can walk a block in town and see half a dozen Help Wanted signs. They are doing it for the thrill or money. If you have gas money to drive around half the night looking for a deer, you can but food.

Easy to say when you've never faced a jury with the possiblity of decades of prison and tens of thousands on fines plus tens of thousands of lawyers fees facing an all powerful prosecution with no limit on funding. All while knowing that there are no "pro bono" or civil rights groups willing to take on the case in the name of rights.

Wildlife crimes are almost always plea bargained out.

After finishing military service in the 70s I trapped for a living and did depredation work for the wardens here and worked with them on poaching cases. Various studies over the years here in NM have shown that only 10% of wildlife violations are observed and/or reported. In my work with wildlife LEOs I learned that is very difficult to get a wildlife poacher convicted. Only 5% of the reported/observed cases were ever successfully prosecuted including ones I personally observed and reported. By my country boy math that means that at least here in NM a poacher has a 99.5% chance of getting away with his/her crime. The poacher trapping in a closed area and killing a pet dog that cost us public land trapping here was charged with over 30 violation counts, taken to court twice and was never convicted on a single count. He wasn't some rich person either, but his lady lawyer was better than what the state and feds had. I can tell you from firsthand experience the cream of the crop lawyer wise don't work for the government. Poachers are criminals and always have an excuse like any criminal for their crimes. Defending them just ends up costing law abiding citizens their rights and privileges. Innocent people don't plead guilty.

Innocent people plea bargain every day.

Nah, just another weak excuse from ‘forage’ farmers. Lots of hunters and trappers looking for places to hunt. Farmers constantly whine about crop damage but when a hunter politely knocks on their door to hunt, a good majority come up with every reason in the world to say no.
You are right, intelligent people can think for themselves….this one’s a no-brainer.

Leftlane is it over reach when they can write 80 violations in one county. I didn't see any thing that said they were land owners. Maybe I need to read it again, maybe it is how you justify poaching.

I can see both sides here and have experienced both sides. I have no faith in the WI dnr and most of the wardens for multiple reasons. But at the same time I just spoke with a trapper who was fined and lost fur last year for a deal with multiple violations. The kicker he is doing the exact same thing again now. I have had multiple experiences with different law enforcement agencies in Canada and the US. Some good some and some pretty sketchy behaviors by law enforcement. My brother does taxidermy, completed a mount and shipped it overseas, the outfitter, hunter, and he missed one form, one! He was charged with a felony had to hire a high price attorney with background in dealing with these cases and eventually plea it down to a misdemeanor with a fine. Open fields doctrine is another issue of mine.

Left em kill a hundred before the bust.
Must be trophy herd reduction. Trouble makers,
throw em all in the bottom of the sea,
except maybe the calves.

Lefty, guess you don’t like anyone criticizing your opinion….the left acts like that also. Nothing entitled on my end, I’ve earned what I have, including my own hunting ground. I don’t rely on farmers but I sure have heard them whine about crop damage and in the same breath talk about sending young hunters packing when they knock on the door. I’m guessing Mark is correct, it’s just you justifying poaching.
However, let’s get back on topic and tell everybody what you know about this conviction that we must not know…you were quick to criticize it, now let’s here the facts to back it up…

Lefty is from Texas, where it is all private ground and the landowners are basically in control of the wildlife on their ground, same as their livestock. Unlike the rest of the country. I don't agree with that, or with farmers/ranchers getting money for crop damage/depredation UNLESS they have their ground open to the public to legally hunt/trap the damaging wildlife first. Other than that I am in complete agreement with him. I have seen way too many cases that are either trumped up, or so misreported as to be unrecognizable to what really happened. Whenever I see news articles or reports about poaching I take them with a very hefty grain of salt. Because you simply can't believe what is written.

And yes coytpr, Innocent people plead guilty every day, because it is much cheaper than trying to defend themselves and the consequences are generally much lighter than if they are found guilty, whether they are actually guilty or not. As a very good defense lawyer (who was a former prosecuting attorney) once told me, "it doesn't matter if you are guilty or not, all that matters is if the prosecutor thinks that they can convince a jury/judge that you might be guilty." It often is guilty until proven innocent, and it is often very difficult to prove yourself innocent. Because usually you had no idea you would have a need to prove what you were doing on a certain day years in the future.

Bearcat, I know the criminal justice system is far from perfect, but I’m a little old school. Unless someone has some real compelling information to be shared, Im gonna continue to believe that if someone is convicted by a judge or jury for violating, then they are a violator…period. I know some violations are worse than others, but they are violations. Sounds like a great bust to me and if I was a property owner in that neighborhood and that kind of crap was happening, I’d hope like heck they got busted…