Road hunters busted
Fish and Game sting nets five offenders
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
A Department of Fish and Game sting operation Saturday about a mile east
of Triumph netted five out-of-county hunters.
Three were cited for shooting from a public road, one was cited for
hunting from inside a vehicle and one was cited for hunting an elk without a permit.
Imagine their surprise when the men discovered they had shot at a
full-scale replica of a cow elk, placed there, along with a calf decoy, by Fish and Game
officers.
Since charges have not been filed in court, Fish and Game officials would
not release the men’s names, but said they were from Rupert, Buhl, Twin Falls and
Boise.
If the men are convicted, fines will run in the neighborhood of $97 each.
"Over the years we’ve had a lot of complaints from homeowners in
the area about people shooting from the roadway," Fish and Game conservation officer
Lee Frost said. "I think it’s very common."
Conforming to the law would not have been difficult for the men cited. All
a hunter has to do to obey the law is step off the road.
Using decoys is a common practice state-wide, Frost said, though they
weren’t used this year as much as in previous years.
"You would hope that people come by and say that’s not a
sportsmanlike shot," Frost said. "The people we got were the ones who hit the
skids and started blasting."
