Cody man fined for killing wolf without license

Posted 12/11/18

A Cody man has been ordered to pay $1,855 for killing a gray wolf in the state’s trophy zone without a license — and then attempting to pretend he’d taken the animal legally.

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Cody man fined for killing wolf without license

Posted

A Cody man has been ordered to pay $1,855 for killing a gray wolf in the state’s trophy zone without a license — and then attempting to pretend he’d taken the animal legally.

In addition to the financial penalties, a judge suspended 21-year-old Austin Kondash’s hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for three years.

Kondash pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor offense of illegally taking a wolf without a license at a Nov. 19 hearing in Park County’s Circuit Court.

In most of the state, wolves are classified as predators and can be killed at any time, with the only requirement being that the harvest is reported to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. However, the species is classified as a trophy animal in the northwest corner of the state, with a regulated hunting season.

That licensed trophy zone includes the Sunlight area, where Kondash killed the wolf on Oct. 26.

Kondash testified that he and a friend had been hunting deer early that morning.

“A wolf happened to pop out and I guess I just got too excited and lost my head and shot the wolf,” Kondash told Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters.

After killing the animal, Kondash drove to the Chief Joseph RV Park store in Crandall, bought a $21 resident wolf license, tagged the carcass with it and drove back to Cody.

However, South Cody Game Warden Grant Gerharter
became suspicious with the speed at which Kondash had been able to harvest a wolf.

“It just doesn’t happen that you purchase a wolf license in the morning and take a wolf two hours later,” Gerharter said in an interview. “You can, but it’s rare.”

Kondash initially claimed that he had purchased the license before shooting the animal, but the statements that he and a hunting companion gave to Gerharter raised questions that ultimately led the warden to cite Kondash.

“While certainly we appreciate the fact that he [Kondash] is taking responsibility here [in court] ... it’s my understanding that he also spent a considerable amount of time essentially fabricating a story about what happened to Warden Gerharter,” Deputy Park County Attorney Branden Vilos said in recommending the three-year suspension of Kondash’s hunting privileges.

Vilos also cited what he called “a considerable record” of prior offenses by Kondash, including archery hunting without a proper license, trespassing on private land to hunt, fish or antler hunt and shooting from a road.

Kondash did not object to the three-year suspension, which will also prohibit him from accumulating any license or preference points during that time.

“Just to make sure there’s no misunderstanding, when I say not to hunt, fish or trap for three years, that means anywhere,” Judge Waters advised Kondash, “in Wyoming or any other state, any other country.”

The judge directed Kondash to make monthly payments toward the financial penalties, which include $1,000 in restitution that will be paid to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, an $805 fine and $50 in court fees.

Gerharter said there are similar cases around the state, mostly involving big game hunters who unexpectedly run into a trophy animal. The moral of the story, he said, is to buy a license for the animals you might encounter and want to harvest.

“Really, those licenses aren’t that expensive,” Gerharter said. For example, for Wyoming residents, a black bear license is $47 and a mountain lion license is $32.

Cases like Kondash’s are “not any fun for us,” the warden added. “We like to see these quotas filled and folks … filling these quotas legally.”

As a human-caused death that occurred during wolf season, Kondash’s illegal harvest counted toward the seven-wolf quota in Hunt Area 1.

It’s been an eventful year for Kondash in connection with wildlife: In late May, he was charged and run down by a female grizzly bear in the Sheep Mountain area.

Kondash shot and killed the bear with his pistol as it closed in on him. Even with his familiarity with guns, “luck was the only thing that kept me alive,” Kondash later wrote on Facebook. He composed the public post in September, in apparent reaction to a judge’s decision to place the Yellowstone area’s grizzlies back on the endangered species list; Kondash questioned when “these dumb[expletives]” would “realize that we have a grizzly bear problem.”

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigated Kondash’s May killing of the grizzly. After reviewing the agency’s report, Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric formally concluded in October that it had been a case of self-defense.

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