Palmer man gets hefty fine, jail time over Dall sheep killing

WASILLA — A Palmer man will pay more than $17,000, serve 10 days in jail and lose his hunting privileges for five years as part of a plea agreement related to the illegal killing of Dall sheep last year near the East Fork of the Kings River near Sutton.

As part of the agreement last week that wrapped up a 10-month investigation, James Randall Wyatt, 58, pleaded guilty to wanton waste, two counts of taking a sublegal sheep, illegal possession and attempted evidence tampering, according to a statement released Tuesday from Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.

Wyatt was sentenced to pay a composite fine of $17,200 with another $35,000 suspended. He will serve 10 days in jail with two and a half years suspended. The suspended jail time and remaining fine could be imposed if Wyatt commits any offense resulting in jail time or any fish and game offenses in the next five years, according to the statement.

He also forfeited the rifle used and is barred from applying for a hunting license for five years.

The case stemmed from an August 2015 report to Alaska Wildlife Troopers from a hunter who told troopers he and a partner had witnessed a man, later identified as Wyatt, shoot two sheep. They later encountered the man leaving the area — a drainage some 20 miles back on the East Fork of Kings River — without an animal. Troopers eventually found one of the sheep fully intact buried beneath a rock pile. The second sheep was found in the open. There were no signs that the sheep had been salvaged, and both sheep were sublegal, according to the statement.

The next month, employees from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game called wildlife troopers to report that a man was in the Palmer office attempting to get a sublegal sheep sealed.

“The sheep was brought in by Wyatt,” according to the statement. “At the time, Wyatt told responding wildlife troopers that it was the only sheep he had ever shot.”

Capt. Rex Leath, commander of the wildlife troopers’ Northern Detachment, said in the statement Wyatt had essentially taken legal hunting opportunities away from others.

“In the drainage where these sheep were poached there are typically only about one or two legal sized Dall sheep every hunting season, and that is in a good year,” Leath said. “There are not a lot of sheep up there. These illegal kills have essentially eliminated legal sheep out of the valley and nixed legal hunting for the next two to three years.”

Trooper John Cyr, who headed up the case, said the hunters that came forward to report Wyatt were vital to the prosecution.

“This was one of the most egregious cases I have worked on in almost 20 years and it might never have happened if it weren’t for ethical hunters coming forward to help,” Cyr said. “They not only reported the kills but provided valuable information which proved critical in identifying the person responsible. Poaching hurts animal populations as well as puts ethical hunters, who put in time and dedication to follow the hunting regulations, at a disadvantage.”