U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled that members of the group - which calls itself the Timpanogos Tribe, Snake Band of Shoshone Indians of Utah Territory - had presented only a "mere scintilla" of evidence that they have rights over the natural resources on the Ute Tribe's Uintah and Ouray Reservation.

The Timpanogos insist they are descendants of an aboriginal band of Indians in Utah that existed before the Ute Tribe and before the reservation was established. That history of living on what later became reservation land in northeastern Utah gives them priority in hunting, fishing and gathering rights, they said in a lawsuit filed in 2000.

Campbell was unconvinced.

"The court will not make that leap, nor will it allow a jury to do so," the judge said in an order issued Tuesday that settled the case in favor of the state and the Ute Tribe without a trial.

The suit stemmed from a threat in 2000 by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to prosecute elk and deer hunters who failed to get a permit either through the state or the Ute Tribe. The Timpanogos Tribe, which is not recognized by the state or the federal government, was giving free licenses to its members to hunt, fish and gather on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.

Under an agreement with the state, the Ute Tribe issues hunting licenses at no charge to its own members. Although most of the approximately 900 Timpanogos live on the reservation, they are not enrolled in the Ute Tribe.

Within weeks of the prosecution threat, the Timpanogos filed their suit, identifying themselves as part of a separate tribe descended from a Shoshone band. They said their tribe, as a sovereign entity, has the right to issue its own hunting licenses.

The state and the Utes countered that the Timpanogos band was Ute and merged into the Uintah Ute band in 1865, ceasing to have an independent identity. They insisted the merger gave the Ute Tribe the exclusive right to issue licenses to members and said Utah has the authority to prosecute violators who hunt without a permit.

An attorney for the Timpanogos, Jeffrey Colemere, said Wednesday that he was reviewing the judge's order and no decision has been made on whether to appeal.

State license fees vary from year to year. In-state residents pay up to $26 for a fishing license and up to $1,105 for an Antelope Island bison, according to posted prices for 2005 on the DWR Web site.

Under a conservation permit program, in which bidders compete for tags allowing them to hunt for trophy animals, prices go into the tens of thousands.

pmanson@sltrib.com