It's likely that one Wyoming hunter thought he got away with illegally killing a deer. But fast forward nearly three decades, and he got busted for the crime.
A former Wyoming man moved to Alabama, dodging a bench warrant issued 24 years ago. He was wanted in the 26-year-old slaying of a deer. Fast forward, and 53-year-old Kenny Craig ended up behind bars for the decades old warrant. In 1998, a game warden cited Craig for killing a deer without a license. He had shot and killed a five-by-five mule deer buck in Wyoming Deer Hunt Area
It's not that he didn't have a tag. He had a general deer tag but the area was a draw tag-only area. Draw tags must be won through a lottery system for specific areas. I know bureaucracy at its finest. You would think that after all this time that the hunter would have got away with the crime.
Hunter Fined For Illegally Killing Deer
But Craig ended up entering a no-contest plea and paying $410 in fines and $1,000 in restitution for the deer. He's also suspended from hunting or fishing for three years.
Retired Game and Fish game warden Duanne Kerr told Cowboy State Daily that issues like this do happen.
"That's always been a problem," he said. "I can't say it was a super-regular occurrence, but it happens a lot."
He continued, "It depends on the judge and the court, and whether there would be enough interest to issue a warrant.... Sometimes, you can just go find the guy at his house. Other times, he just might have moved."
In fact, the game warden said that he once tracked down a man who skipped out on a fishing violation. "I finally asked for help from a neighboring warden," Kerr said. "That warden went to serve the warrant where the guy was thought to be living, and found out that his trailer house had been moved the day before."
However, the retired warden noted that things can be difficult when hunters feel to another state to escape deer poaching charges or the like.
"Usually, you can't extradite people on a game and fish violation," Kerr said. "Sometimes, if you got lucky, they'd come back to Wyoming to do something else, and you'd find them then."
