Man fined for shooting moose without licence
By Shurtz, Delon on June 4, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
lethbridge herald
A hunter caught with a moose, which he shot while hunting without a valid licence, has netted the man a hefty fine and a hunting prohibition.
Shane Burnett, 47, was charged last November after Fish and Wildlife officers received a complaint from a land owner in the Stavely area. The land owner called officers after Burnett failed to comply with her conditions regarding access to her land.
Wildlife officers found the Calgary man and the moose shortly afterward and asked to see his antlered moose hunting licence. He told officers he didn’t have a valid licence of his own, and instead showed them a hunting licence he had arranged to get from another hunter, who was not going to have time to hunt moose.
Representing Burnett Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court, duty counsel lawyer Richard Dalby entered guilty pleas to single counts of possessing wildlife without a proper licence and using someone else’s licence. Burnett was fined $2,500 and prohibited from possessing a hunting licence for one year.
Dalby told the judge Burnett has hunted for 33 years, but on this occasion made a bad choice.
“He made a decision, sir, to hunt illegally that day.”
Although the judge consented to returning Burnett’s rifle to him, the moose carcass was forfeited to Fish and Wildlife.
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13-12
hardly a deterrent, particularly when so much if this is missed because it can hardly be policed effectively. .