A second preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 30 for an anti-wolf activist accused of poaching a trophy bull elk in Blaine County in 2009.
Tony J. Mayer, a 59-year-old Twin Falls man and the founder of the anti-wolf website SaveElk.com, was arraigned Monday before Blaine County Magistrate Court Judge R. Ted Israel on a felony charge of "flagrant unlawful killing and/or possession of a trophy bull elk."
Israel dismissed an earlier count of the same charge at an Oct. 20 preliminary hearing after the Idaho Department of Fish and Game failed to prove that the elk Mayer is accused of having killed in October 2009 in the Alturas Lake area was of trophy status.
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The Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office refiled the charge on Oct. 25 after new measurements of the elk's antlers were taken.
The second preliminary hearing is scheduled before Camas County Magistrate Court Judge Jason Walker, who assists with the heavier caseload in Blaine County.
Mayer is also charged with misdemeanor crimes of hunting without an elk tag, hunting without an archery permit and unlawful possession of protected wildlife.
He has pleaded not guilty to all four charges.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com