After several previous investigations, Wade Lemon of Wade Lemon Outfitters has finally been charged and sentenced to prison time after an investigation revealed he knowingly sold and led ‘canned’ mountain lion hunts on a few different occasions.
“A canned hunt means that a cougar is treed, cornered, held at bay or its ability to escape is otherwise restricted to allow a person who was not a member of the initial hunting party to arrive and take the cougar,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release.
Kacey Alan Yardley, who worked alongside Lemon as a guide and houndsman, was also sentenced in Federal Court for his role in one of the canned hunts. Yardley was handed down six months probation, during which he is banned from operating commercially on public lands.
According to the release, both men admitted to their involvement in two separate hunts that took place in 2020 and 2021 on BLM and US Forest Service land.
“Yardley admitted that during a canned hunt, a cougar was held at bay and its ability to escape was otherwise restricted to allow a hunter who was not a member of the initial hunting party to arrive and attempt to take the cougar,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office writes in the press release.
Given that the practice of ‘canned’ hunting is illegal in the state of Utah, the two cats that were taken on the hunts were deemed to have been killed in violation of state law and since Lemon sold the hunts, he was also in violation of the Lacey Act.
This wasn’t the first time Lemon has been in hot water with wildlife agencies either. According to reports, Lemon’s outfit has been investigated eight times for previous suspicion of wildlife crimes.
He was sentenced to two months of prison time and ordered to pay a $10,500 fine. He was also banned from holding a commercial outfitting license on public lands for one year.
