GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- Four Minnesota men and a Stanford man paid $8,540 in fines, restitution and court costs for killing 17 antelope illegally over three years.
Each man also forfeited his privileges to hunt and trap in Montana for two years.
"This is an important case because this was premeditated, organized and an abuse of our natural resources," Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks investigator Tom Flowers said Monday.
From 2005 to 2007, the group would receive antelope licenses good in one district, then hunt illegally in another, Flowers said.
An investigation led to the Stanford area where Game Warden Bob Hammer and Judith Basin County prosecutors were able to secure guilty pleas from all five.
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Michael L. Bossen, 38, of Stanford; Adrian Marsden Jr., 62, Bayport, Minn.; and Thomas M. Sanders, 51, of St. Paul, Minn., pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district and unlawful possession of an antelope.
Edward J. Dobbs, 44, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district by accountability and unlawful possession of an antelope by accountability.
-- John E. Lockner, 44, Woodbury, Minn., pleaded guilty to taking an antelope in the wrong district, two counts of unlawful possession of an antelope, two counts of taking an antelope in the wrong district by accountability and unlawful possession of an antelope by accountability.
The accountability charges are from Dobbs and Lockner taking responsibility for their teenage sons' actions.
"The nonresidents would typically apply for and receive the majority of their antelope permits in FWP's Region 5 (south-central Montana) where their chance of a successful drawing was high," Flowers said. "Then they hunted in Region 4 (north-central Montana) with the benefit and knowledge of a local resident."
The illegal activity was discovered when the Minnesota men were stopped at the Canada-North Dakota border while returning from a waterfowl hunting trip. A search of the vehicle revealed a camera with pictures of harvested antelope that didn't appear to be properly tagged. When questioned the men said the antelope were killed in Montana.
