Posing proudly with an absolutely massive bull elk, Thad Bingham’s picture caught the attention of state officials in Colorado, leading them to investigate the killing of the animal.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has stated that wildlife officers immediately “recognized landmarks in the background of the snapshot confirming that the bull was killed in an area well into private property and closed to all hunting.”
It was later determined that Bingham and three other men had trespassed onto private land on the Roan Plateau were hunting is prohibited.
Brian Scheer, Barrett Rowles and Josh Fitzsimmons were the other three men involved in the illegal hunt, all of whom pleaded guilty to criminal trespass charges and received $86 fines. Bingham, the shooter, was ordered to pay $200 in court fines in addition to a mandatory $5,000 donation to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
It was later revealed that both Bingham and Scheer are federal employees with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Poachers come from all walks of life but everyone is subject to the same rules and regulations,” area wildlife manager JT Romatzke said in a statement. “Rather than setting a good example as employees of a federal wildlife management agency, these two individuals and their accomplices instead chose to violate the law in an egregious manner, and that is a real shame.”
The four men now face up to a five-year ban on their hunting privileges in the state of Colorado in addition to their fines.
H/T: Denver Post
