Reports Lead to Charges in Poaching Cases

By Greg Johnson, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Reports from hunters and citizens over the past three weeks led conservation officers to file charges against seven north Idaho poachers in four separate cases. In late October, a concerned citizen reported that a large bull elk had been killed in the Crossport area, near Bonners Ferry, and that the suspect, Kyle C. Dirks, 20, of Bonners Ferry, had killed the elk without the proper tag. In a subsequent investigation, local Idaho Department of Fish and Game conservation officers, armed with a warrant, searched Dirks's residence near Crossport and seized meat and antlers from the elk. Dirks was charged with taking the elk without the proper tag and with wasting the meat. In a second case in mid-October, a hunter reported finding a mule deer doe that had been shot illegally near Copper Ridge. The hunter provided Fish and Game with a vehicle and suspect description. A few days later, another hunter found the remains of a small mule deer buck that had been shot during closed season in the same vicinity. The second individual also provided officers with a vehicle and suspect description. But neither hunter was able to get a license plate number from the suspect vehicle. A subsequent search of records for vehicles registered in Boundary County matching the descriptions, eventually led Fish and Game officers to the Eastport residence of Gordon L. Girardin, where they found the remains of four illegally killed deer. Girardin, 50, was charged with taking a white-tailed doe with a rifle during an archery only season, taking a mule deer doe during a closed season, possessing an unlawfully taken mule deer buck, failing to validate his deer tag and with exceeding the limit for deer. Two other men were charged with hunting violations in the case. Frank R. Girardin, 21, of Eastport, was charged with taking a mule deer buck during a closed season and with hunting deer without a license. Gordon L. Girardin Jr., 22, of Eastport, was charged with transferring his deer tag to a deer killed by Gordon Girardin Sr. In a third case, Randall R. Dowell, 21, and Michael E. Phillips, 20, both of Moyie Springs, were charged with hunting violations involving a spotlighting incident in the Curly Creek vicinity in early November. They were charged with unlawfully taking two deer and an elk. The successful investigation of this case was the result of a report of shots fired after dark near the Curly Creek fire hall. The individual provided officers with a vehicle description and license plate number. The information led Fish and Game officers to Phillips's and Dowell's residences in Moyie Springs where they found illegally taken deer and elk. Dowell was charged with failing to tag a deer, exceeding the limit for deer, hunting deer with the aid of artificial light, and with possession of an unlawfully taken bull elk. Phillips was charged with taking a bull elk during a closed season. In the fourth case, on November 3 an alert hunter reported a man gutting a bull elk in the 20 Mile Creek drainage during closed season. The hunter provided officers with vehicle and suspect descriptions. Later that evening, conservation officers found the illegally taken elk at the residence of Daniel K. Ostenberg, 56, of Naples. Ostenberg was charged with taking an elk during closed season. Reports from concerned citizens, anglers and hunters were vital in each of these cases and in stopping poachers. Anyone with information about a wildlife violation is encouraged to report it to local Fish and Game officers, local law enforcement or the Citizens Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999. Callers to the CAP hotline may remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward. Greg Johnson is a conservation officer in Bonners Ferry.