Illegal Elk Poachers Caught In The Act By Park Rangers | Wardens | Wonder

 in the great state of Montana game wardens fight a daily battle they fight to enforce State game laws and protect

our natural resources today on warden's officers encounter a crowd after busting poachers in search

of giant elk Handler sheds region 6 wardens crack down on Anglers

who cheat during the state's highly regulated paddlefish season

bargained for as he discovers campers have been on catching a buzz [Applause]

all right

you know what you did wrong before a few hours

you want to go to jailbreak [Music]

winter is on its way out in Montana it's May in both the Missouri and Yellowstone

Rivers have just opened for a limited paddlefish season

hi I'm uh Warden Dirk Paulson out of Chinook this award and Ron Howell out of Haver today we're up here on the upper

Missouri River checking paddle fishermen we have a fish Board of about 500 paddlefish right now

we're at about 300 and today we're going to patrol the river for some compliance we're looking for guys that are catching

their own paddlefish No Tag transfers we want to make sure that if they harvest

the fish they have it out of the water before nine o'clock this evening

oh they're pulling it doesn't take the wardens long to find an

angler hooked up with a giant fish

had it all Briggs is right there a little paddlefish eat zooplankton so Anglers don't use traditional bait

instead they try and snag Bottom Feeders using giant treble hooks and plenty of

lead weight you can see the paddlefish in the water in front of him one snagged paddlefish will burn up reels they got a

rope right there to land your fish

the hero you're welcome everybody

nice fish tagged there Warden Howell checks this

angler for a license and attack to fish this special season

[Music] right I don't know

57 in addition to a Montana fishing license Anglers must also possess a

required paddlefish tag a little winded

this week he was asking for a back of about three

dimes well congratulations thank you with the monster fish properly tagged and the

angler with the right permits warden's low back up and head down river

300 miles to the southeast along the banks of the Yellowstone River wardens keep an eye on the action the version

damn there's a intake that runs in here and

it's an irrigation system the Rocks piled up to be able to divert that water

creates a barrier for these paddlefish and occasionally you'll see one actually

make it up over but for the most part they don't and so what you have is a

a breeding population you know headed upstream and they basically bump into

this obstacle and uh so they kind of get stacked in here

and fisherman line the banks hoping to fill their tag before the quota is met and

the season ends I don't think it'll make it till nine

o'clock no they've already announced they're going to close it at nine tomorrow tomorrow

morning the up the whole river 9pm but um I think we'll quote her out here

before then yeah

thanks sir a little bigger isn't it

you got the tag yesterday again oh you're gone already okay all right

Warden Steve marks checks licenses while Captain Mike Moore keeps a lookout for

any possible violations such as catching a fish and not tagging it

persons allowed to catch one paddlefish they have a little yellow numbered tag

basically when you catch your fish you're allowed to catch that one whether

it's small big or in between and you have to tag it immediately just much

like you know a big game tag [Music] but this guy's still fighting this fish

that same guy [Music]

sir can I check your license while I'm here today yeah please well I don't really have one

watch all episodes of ice Pilots

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the Missouri River West of Fort Peck Reservoir is known as the Missouri breaks

Montana's short paddlefish season just opened and Anglers lineup for a shot at these rare fish and state conservation

Crews keep a close eye on the population even during the fishing season these are

our Fisheries biologists out of region six they're netting for paddlefish to Mark to tag paddlefish and mark them

track uh track where they're going up and down in the river

yeah we're just hanging fish we've been doing this since the 1970s well we use

this tag data to figure out population estimates Harvest rates

movements and things like that in many North American Rivers paddlefish

populations continue on a steep decline researchers blame overfishing and the

damning of rivers but in Montana the population continues to be stable enough

to support the limited fishing season

[Music] foreign

[Music]

buddy Wolf Creek Montana

Warden goalie four hours into his Memorial Weekend Patrol shift when he

checks on a group of campers as he gets closer he spots a party come

over here I want to put some of you on TV

yes it is how are you guys not too bad enjoy it did you survive the night we did yeah

the Creek's really cold though and we watch TV

[Applause]

is that a guy

are you married looking for something

we are actually onwards

oh my God [Applause] [Music]

this crowd isn't fishing the warden discovers the only thing they're catching is a buzz

look at it

[Applause] and a permanent reminder

[Applause]

wait I'll show you something now

[Music] you guys are the only ones having fun this weekend

be careful promise I'll make sure nobody does yeah

see you later okay okay you will you will

[Music] like 10 minutes later see you later you guys have a good one

[Music] ought to be young again [Music]

you know when you gotta let people play this is what they want to do and they're safe they're not driving

they're all in little spot some of them are sober looking after each other so

I really can't ask for anything else right I told him we'd be back later so

if we're not they'll think they are

North Central Montana on the Missouri River warden's Derek Paulson and Ron Howell

Patrol Montana's upper Missouri River during the state's short paddlefish season after launch the wardens come

upon a suspicious looking boat how goes are today

oh I just said how goes it doing really well

oh here we're gonna come in we're doing license checks a little water safety today we'll come up next to you

all right all right well I'm gonna like to see

licenses any fish you got in the boat and uh

and then we'll do a little water safety check for life jackets what have you all right I can take yours first ma'am

thank you how many days you guys been here

Steve did you catch your fish already good for you you have your tag on you

your paddlefish tag hey just check peek at that real quick

okay well if you want it well today I'm assuming you're going to want to catch one or at least try to so make sure you

run back to camp and grab your tag have it with you okay yeah yeah absolutely my license is in my other truck too okay

it's in the other truck huh all right you know what you gotta have it on you when you're fishing okay so you know

before so before you can continue fishing I want you to go grab it okay you guys aren't that far away from Camp yeah we're not sure all right guys and

two cats that one walleye oh is that more in there two two wall and a solder

you gotta look in there around two soccer who's a soccer ball into

okay so Whose Line to come off of it came off came off one off mine one off hers one

off okay sounds good how many lines you guys got out yeah we don't we have 13. we have 13 set lines out six he's got

six okay she's got one okay you have you have six set lines out right now yeah

okay and you're paddle fishing right now I wasn't no you weren't

is you can't have more than six so if you have five set lines and you could be snagging or fishing for walleye or

whatever but you can't you can't have six cell lines to be fishing with a ball yeah no no no no no so did we just reel

these in guys all that came off set lines in yeah okay there we go well that makes sense all right guys um life

jackets three of them please go ahead we're gonna back off you can just hold everything up I can take a

look at it there's throwable I need three jackets taller Good Guys boats registered

all right I see them we're good we'll get out of here run back grab your license before you fish anymore thank

you all right two of the three Anglers left their fishing licenses back in Camp

they also seem a bit confused over the number of lines they can use Warden Paulson gives them a verbal warning for

forgetting their licenses [Music] it doesn't take long for wardens to

realize this cruise trip seems a bit fishy the team runs into the Anglers

again I caught one solder Karen caught one Sager on her line and

the rest I think came from Steve's Steve big one too oh that one did come off his

job okay as we got to looking a little closer they had three sauger in the bucket at

that time so based on that we split them up and asked who's caught what's what

sauger knowing that these guys have been here for about a week how many fish you guys got at Camp

um we just started catching today we got three saugers so we got three sauger in

here so okay so who had the other who has the two sauger today then well you

didn't catch me you said all right Vernal form came off my line two one is there two in possession and

well I'd say that one was off Steve line okay or two off camera so Karen went

upstairs so Steve has two sauger today then um I think so is that yeah okay so

that's going to put him over his possession of soccer where's Steve at this position well over his daily possession well and one was off mine you

know what I can't well yeah okay so hold on a second you just I don't know we got so we got let's let's go let's go talk

with Steve guys let's go talk with Steve where's your camp at all right

Missoula County Montana

in Region 2 it's the eve of Montana's shed hunting season and Warden Captain Jeff Darrow's team wraps up a year-long

poaching investigation on the Blackfoot Clearwater game range so what we're doing here is these are

antlers that we took away from people last year that uh came in before the 15th and cheated and

we caught him and I think we seized over 80 antlers

in 2011 during operation antler Blitz wardens received tips on four-man

trespassing on the Blackfoot Clearwater game range during the closed season poachers sneak in to hunt trophy elk

antler sheds sheds that can sell for as much as one thousand dollars a set

[Music] wardens set up a stain I put a transmitter in this maybe putting it out

here on the game range I'm about two miles into the game range and it's more of a deterrent I freely

let people know I put these transmitted antlers out hopefully nobody trespasses to pick it up but if they do then uh we

should be able to track it back to them back to their house or to their stash here on the game range

it's a game of cat and mouse as wardens try to stop poachers

one of the leads was that some of the suspects had sold some of the antlers to a local taxidermist of course it's legal

for that to happen to sell antlers there is a market for shed antlers wardens

eventually busted the four men and confiscated 80 illegally taken antlers this is my first year going up there and

uh and you know I was excited I found a couple elk sheds

[Music] the same sheds wardens will hide back

out on the game range before tomorrow's legal shed hunting season starts

[Music] foreign [Applause]

[Music]

the panel fish season heats up so does the action as wardens crack down on illegal fishing

[Music]

less treacherous here how does that sound yeah well you see all these signs

here along the edge you see this is the closed area all I'm gonna ask you to do is just walk back to your pickup and uh yeah find a different place fish

Safety First

[Music] awesome is that one yours what's your

name what's that Dylan congrats Dylan

today on wardens the paddlefish quota for the season is nearly full

I don't think it'll make it till nine o'clock no I think we'll quote her out here before then region seven wardens are keeping a

close watch along the Yellowstone River and in Region 4 Warden Brian goalie seems to be the life of the party

anything to me don't steal my gun is that a guy

wardens have their hands full with fishermen and limits in Region 2 Montana game wardens toss

back 80 elk sheds confiscated from poachers on the Blackfoot Clearwater game range antler sheds sell for big

money and word is out that the sheds are back in the wild we've got three other

trucks today we split the antlers up Ben and I here today are going to be

deposited in Visa [Music] locations for uh hopefully people to

find tomorrow kind of an Easter egg hunt I guess Montana Style

[Music]

thank you [Music]

we got our mission accomplished

antlers sheds sell for big money and word is out that the sheds are back in

the Wild on opening day shed Hunters lined the edge of the game range waiting for the new Star this will cause some

Twitter you guys ready

Hunter's race out to try and find the valuable sheds tracking down the right set can land a shed Hunter as much as a

thousand dollars holy crap

it's like Town cow

98. 99

[Applause] 100.25 135 141 vehicles

[Music] 141 Vehicles 227

I got screwed onto people I did good on the vehicles but there was more people than that

all right over in region 6 warden's Paulson and

Howell Patrol the Missouri River right away they spot a questionable boat

I want to check this boat Dirk how's it going

superhero get you checked out right you want to do it or me

how's it going good is everybody fishing yeah is there any

fish on board okay Michael whose boat it's yours how long have you had it I

just bought it from a buddy in North Dakota a month ago about a month ago or a month

ago or a month I just got the bill myself do you have it with you

oh it is okay all right enough jackets for everybody

four throwable device and a fire extinguisher

no fire extinguisher okay so you got the bill of sale you camped right up here yes sir okay we'll run up there and look

at that bill say okay just so you know well you probably know it's just like a vehicle you gotta have it registered if it's on the water

you just got so what you got there you got two life jackets and a throwable device which you also need okay that

other thing is one like mine and it's already spent that wouldn't blow up if it you know you don't have a

fire extinguisher so right now your two life jacket short no fire extinguisher okay not gonna be the end of the world

there's no date on it but there's the date on the envelope for it I don't know if that the April 24th yeah

that's when they sent it out to us so here's the deal you guys are within the 40-day limit okay there's a 40-day

limit before you have to register the boat but if you operate the boat within that 40-day limit you have to go to the

the county where you live and get a temporary permit to be running the boat within 40 days okay

we're not going to be too much of a stickler on that Mike but I am going to cite you for not having enough life

jackets people die on the rivers every year we just don't cut any kind of break on the safety part so I'm going to issue

one Citation for not enough life jackets okay this boat isn't properly registered and

the owner is short of life vest [Music]

appreciate it try to have a good safe time all right

guys get your boat registered and fire extinguisher thank you guys have a good

time Burgess County Montana [Music]

out on the Missouri River wardens Dirk Paulson and Ron Howell interrogate three angler stop for routine safety check

they're now back at the boat ramp with questions of who called what Fitch

so Karen two off two off season one off Karen so Steve has two sauger today then

um I think so is that yeah okay so that's going to put him over his possession of soccer where's Steve at

his possession I thought it was over his daily possession we'll only catch one person and one was off mine I you know

what I can't well yeah okay he's now hold on a second you just I don't know we got so we got let's go let's go talk

with Steve guys let's go talk with Steve where's your camp at all right after questioning the

fishermen about their catch no wardens realize the angler story well it just doesn't add up

the warden split up the crew to question each angler alone I'll have her identify her fish

[Music] then let's go through this fish by fish and tell me who got what and whose line

that came off of all right okay John you had one cat no yeah one yeah

Karen had that one okay that's Steve's okay hold on Steve

he had one cat yeah okay what did Karen have Karen had a sauger

small one of the small saugers yeah I thought that other one's a soccer team

okay you mean and I pulled this other one and I pulled this little Sawgrass

when I pulled one little tiger in or no I pulled the big one that's right because the blue one was online

the big cat came off of Steve yeah make a big second cat that came off of mine

came off of yours third cap uh Karen's came off Karen's each you got a cat yeah

okay all right the big eye this was these that's Steve's

okay all right the

second largest walleye um I've been years

[Music] and you cut the smallest okay

foreign [Music]

okay and then Steve and Karen both caught one of those

all right finally Warden Paulson gets an answer

Karen identify her fish okay what we got here is John is claiming one sauger one

cat two of the walleye Steve one Sager one cat one of the walleye Karen

is uh Karen's Clayman sauger and a cat I believe okay Karen just told us she just

caught two saws in a cat today baby

buy these two right here then there's a cat yeah he's got the cat okay so which ones are yours these this one

for two this one lunch and this one they caught off set lines yeah okay and their

your set lines are marked with your information Steve are these the ones that Karen caught

I I believe so I'm not supposed to do this this one here this wall I hear is

not yours correct I don't think they had a cat in two saugers okay okay

and this bigger bigger one here who caught this one this oh that might have

been on mine it said we I'm just trying to just pulled them in and throwed them

in the bucket and while these Anglers did well fishing seems they're counting

skills aren't quite as good okay Karen the issue is you get one sauger per day

that's that's okay so we've been up to Fridays though yeah so uh

one per day not two per day one per day you can have two in possession okay but

you can't catch two in one day okay okay so that's what we're trying to sort out oh I'm sorry turns out this angler has an illegal

limit of fish Anglers can only keep one Saga a day and have two in their

possession she's got three fish including two called today

the problem is right now is the sauger okay so uh we're gonna check those

fillets and we'll come visit with you again okay okay thanks for being honest Karen I appreciate it don't worry about

that [Music]

So based on what he said just now Karen caught one sauger the other day correct

it's correct Karen identified the two sauger in here as hers today the two small ones Steve

identified the two saugers in here has Cairns okay today so Karen has an over

limit for the day yep Karen also has an over limit period possession yep

because what they're doing Dirk is there just as you know they're just running set lines they're not keeping track of

them we might have they may be a little bit of party fishing pulling in each other's lines so the Karen's got over

living a soccer well dressed we're going to address that and we're going to have a discussion with these guys about

maintaining and attending your own lines and not your partners do you want to do a possession or you want to do it daily

or you can do both I think we should do the over limit today I think so okay right over it warning on The Possession

okay I think that's Martin Fair sounds good all right all right

wardens decide to cut the woman a break and find her only for keeping two fish today

the offense carries a penalty of 135 dollars a writer a warning for possession of three fish

you don't have to contact the courts and they won't contact you unless you choose so all right thank you very much Karen

thank you for your honesty [Music]

Wolf Creek Montana [Music]

in Region 4 Montana game warden Brian goley checks on a hunter who's just harvested a giant color phase BlackBerry

they're actually trophying a bear taking a bear and when you harvest a berry you have to go through this biological

information and [Music]

I know it was pretty scary yeah here's what you got to do though you

just you got your hunting license with you yeah or just your conservation license yeah if you can give me that

that'd be great [Music]

did you see any other bears with it or just that one um well there was one other bear in the

area so yeah actually the one I was after was a different bear than the one

I got whoa yeah

in Montana the hunters kill an average of 1500 Bears each year

any tags colors tattoos okay I'll look it over

that it's not something we do we've done lately but sometimes we'll tattoo them if they're a

bear that we've had in a trouble there well we've had them in the rehab center or something like that

this one I'd say he's got to be 10. his teeth just look wore down more

do you know the township range in section do you know what offhand there's the

same thing as we're talking about yeah so it'd be right in here okay

[Music] and now

Bears can be dangerous especially to unsuspecting hunters in 2011 a Grizzly

attacked and killed a bear hunter after being shot twice

[Music] that's a nice bear holy cow [Music]

I wonder what that big guy weighed that's a big bear a good one

goalie takes a tooth sample for the state's research lab

just uh just if I feel like you're the man there no if we just roll them this way there

that's a tooth but I need this one right there it might be better if his tongue's out of the way

to try this side eating green sees green tea

that's like a canine another on other Bears yeah he's got the biggest head of

that's a big big bears but I think he's probably the biggest bear I'm gonna have

to agree he's a big bear coming just hate to break it it's always a

blast had mountain lions screaming at me at one point Bears her bear roaring in the fog

couldn't see it so I had pretty fun it was a pretty fun trip finally paid off on this guy we'd seen

him before and tried to get you know friend's daughter into it didn't quite work out but I wasn't gonna pass him up

twice not too big for that but definitely a nice bear

got it look at the feet on that thing that's a

big old bear yeah look at that

even after the kill this Hunter knows tracking Bears can be a dangerous game

if it's an inch wider than my hand then it's a six foot Bear yeah he's probably an inch and a half or the other wider

than my hand yeah look at that so I guess he's six and a half I think is what he'll probably square or better

A lot of guys would kill us shoot a bear like that I have no idea what was going on because

we couldn't see anything up above the fog but either we were guessing you know maybe

the mountain lion killed the deer and the bear was stealing the deer from the mountain lion right mad about it they

had some kind of tuffle going on so they're going on and they're kind of roaring and Mountain Lion screaming at them and then you hear this bear just

keep roaring and roaring and and then it quit for a while for maybe 20 minutes it stopped roaring and we

tried to get up higher but of course the fog we couldn't see anything so we're sitting there hoping the fog's gonna lift so we can see what's going on and

so a buddy of mine were joking around I said why'd you go at it so he roared and

another bear over here answers and then the other bear Roars back again I have no idea what was going on I'd love to

have seen it yeah I'd like to have heard that I've heard the Lions though when they scream like that oh

there's no denying what it is when you hear that I know it says not a good time

in Montana hunting bears I don't think he could beat it going to Canada or Alaska

this kill checks out then Warden goalie is back on the road tomorrow's Memorial day huh

I know see you later

[Music] out on the Missouri River Montana game

wardens Dirk Paulson then Ron Howell patrolled during the state's paddlefish season

how goes it it's not too good well check the license

all the fishermen you got them on you guys the wardens discover a group of Anglers fishing illegal Waters hey got

your paddlefish tag sir okay did you buy one okay

okay I see you're paddle fishing though yeah

but you don't have a tag to do so all right we get all everyone else's

license is checked well guys the reason that we the reason we come down here in the first place is not a big deal we've

got to have you walk back up the bank up Beyond those signs this CMR has this area closed off to to entry it's broken

yeah it's it's all the time so you guys got to stay up Beyond those signs guys so if you guys will move on and uh and

Michael I gotta visit with you about the fishing without the license Warden Paulson separates this thing but from

the rest of the crew he suspects he's not fishing legally

well you know you gotta have the tag paddle fish all right so that's fishing without a valid license

okay it's not the end of the world but you you know you're supposed to have

a license to paddlefish though right no I didn't really know that okay while this angler has a valid fishing license

he does not have a legal paddlefish tag fishing without the proper tag carries a

fine of 135 dollars Warden Paulson writes a ticket even so This Crew keeps

a sense of humor got all Deer tags

[Laughter]

I told you you should have stayed home okay follow us around everywhere we go

split five ways

you have some real good friends

this isn't going to affect your privileges or your ability to draw our buy licenses just a little reminder okay

first here's your license back okay Mike almost playing the ticket to you you're paddle fishing without

personal license to do so happened here on the Missouri River my badge number my name is Dirk Paulson and it shows here I

didn't receive any bond from you today okay all right sounds good guys

150 miles south near Glendive Montana at intake fishing site

season will end at 9 00 pm tonight the banks are lined with fishermen desperately trying to feel their

paddlefish tag wardens have witnessed one fisherman leave his trash along the banks of the

Yellowstone I'd like to wait till you get all your

your fish in and everything I was down here on the bank earlier I saw you drinking that Red Bull you

remember leaving that Red Bull down there on the bank is that your cooler

doing mine is going and uh taking a look at it making sure it's still over there it just looked like you left it down

there if it's left down there after that you're ready to take it but where's your cooler I'd like to see it where your tours at hunting and fishing privileges

can be revoked for littering this is your cooler and stuff right here yeah

yeah you got that red bolt down the bank hold up

you know basically in my experience with people leaving their stuff out here you know and you take all your stuff with

you and you leave that garbage I mean you're leaving it there it's with a bunch of other people in their spot now and obviously it's there's kind of a

problem with litter down here right so and and I'm guessing you would have you would have forgot it if you took all your other stuff with you and you didn't

take your garbage so here's the deal on these types of deals if you're if you're fishing while you're if you're out

fishing or hunting and you litter your license can be can be taken away for one year okay yeah so it is so it's kind of

a big deal as far as that concerned it's pretty important to us you know in this in this circumstance I'm inclined not to do that

Warden cranes issues the citation for littering

you're real good about it so so I cut you a couple breaks not taking your fishing license for a year on the deal

also I wrote it as a Parks violation because it occurred here at intake fish and access site now if it's a general

living ticket which I could have wrote you either or that have been 135 bucks so I appreciate you being a being a good

sport about it he wasn't going to take that can with him that it just there's so much glitter

on the snake people need to realize