This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Piute County man pleaded guilty last month to poaching and killing a bald eagle and a buck deer in southern Utah.
The two charges — wanton destruction of protected wildlife and attempted wanton destruction of protected wildlife — were filed as third-degree felonies, but each was amended to a class A misdemeanor during the poacher's initial court appearance. He pleaded guilty in Sixth District Court to the lessened charges on July 18 and was ordered to pay $1,400 as restitution.
The poacher shot the bald eagle in January 2013 and hid the dead bird in a cottonwood tree, according to court documents. A homeowner discovered the bird on her property and reported it to police.
Killing a bald eagle is illegal under a federal act protecting its status as the national bird of the United States.
Investigators with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources were unable to contact the poacher, documents state, who was out of the country between March 2013 and March 2015 for a two-year mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Officers talked to his friends, though, who said the poacher had showed them an eagle feather at his home after the poaching.
A few weeks after finding the eagle, a U.S. Forest Service employee discovered the carcass of a buck with its antlers cut off in Piute County. Medical examiners found that the deer had been shot in the spine in January 2013, like the eagle, and was killed by a rifle, court documents state.
Paul Washburn, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said the deer was killed after the legal hunting season ended and that its hunter did not use a deer tag.
A person told investigators that he'd seen the antlers in a friend's chicken coop. Investigators linked the tip to the poacher involved in killing the bald eagle.
The friend again told officers that the poacher killed the deer and told him to hide the antlers while the poacher was on his mission. The friend, who said he was with the poacher when he shot the deer, said the two moved the carcass, covered it with branches, cut off the antlers and left the body, according to court documents.
The poacher, now 22, was apprehended after returning from his LDS mission. A statute of limitations requires charges with poaching to be filed within two years of an incident, but because the poacher was out of the country during that period, the statute was waived. He was arrested and booked in June.
When investigators initially interviewed the poacher, he told officers that his friend had killed the eagle. The friend, who was not charged, told police that the poacher was to blame and had "stomped [the eagle] down with his boot" into the tree, according to documents. The poacher also denied killing the deer, but the court ruled there was enough evidence linking him to the two killed animals for charges to proceed.
Washburn said investigators with the DNR "take these kinds of wildlife crimes seriously."
"[It's] a pretty egregious crime," he added. "It's always unfortunate when someone's greedy."
Twitter: @CourtneyLTanner