If you’re going to hunt and televise it nationally, it’s probably a good idea to not kill anything that’s not in season, no matter how awesome the footage would be if you just took the shot.
Two Kentucky men found out just how dumb that decision was after losing their hunting privileges for 15 years and being fined $31,000 for poaching two bull elk in Wyoming in 2014.
Ricky J. Mills, 37, and Jimmy G. Duncan, 25, confessed to the crime this past Monday after a long investigation.
Duncan also previously poached an antelope back in 2013.
“I believe the two defendants were driven to get kill shot footage for the television show and that resulted in their making bad decisions,” said Mike Ehlebracht, Game and Fish’s investigative supervisor.
It turned out to be one of their viewers that turned them in after noticing they killed an elk in the wrong district while filming footage for “Hunting in the Sticks.”
Duncan will pay $7,500 in fines, while Mills will pay $7,460. Both men will pay $6,000 in restitution for the bull elk, while Duncan will pay an additional $4,000 for the antelope.
Duncan and Mills basically released a video confession for their poaching crime by putting this on their show. It just took someone who was paying close enough attention to notice. It doesn’t get much dumber than that.
