A two-year undercover sting involving 70 state and federal law officials resulted in the arrest of five hunting guides for multiple violations of federal hunting laws. A sixth guide was charged but not arrested. The sting, named "Operation Brooks Range" for the location of most of the violations, is a joint effort of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alaska Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection, said Connie Barclay, spokeswoman for U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

Charges ranged from violations of the federal Airborne Hunting Act and the National Wildlife Refuge Act to the Lacey Act, which prohibits the export, transportation or sale of animals taken illegally, Barclay said. Each guide faces both felony and misdemeanor charges.

Agents seized eight airplanes valued at about $340,000, motorized vehicles and wildlife trophies, she said.  She could not estimate the cost of the operation. Agents expect more arrests.

The sting involved agents posing as clients, Barclay said. Agents involved in the sting were from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Arrested were Donald Troutman of North Pole, arrested in Sedona, Ariz., for 16 violations; Jordy McAuley of Alberta, Canada, arrested in Anchorage for 10 violations; Lloyd Harvey of British Columbia, Canada, arrested in Seattle for six violations; Thomas Sullivan of Idaho, arrested in Idaho Falls for five violations; John Walker of Kotzebue, arrested in Kotzebue for four violations; and Simon Mawson of Kotzebue, arrested in Anchorage for three violations. Charged but not arrested was Nelson Walker, John Walker's father, for three violations.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife believes the group is responsible for the illegal killing of four grizzly bears, one wolf, five moose and five caribou.

"We knew that some of those arrested were going to come to Anchorage this weekend for the Alaska Professional Hunters Association meeting," Barclay said. "That's how we arrested some of the folks."

Barclay would not disclose the reasons the guides were targeted, but said that information would be made available later in affidavits.

Tim Eicher, special agent for U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Fairbanks, said stings are not unusual.  "Undercover operations have been routinely done over the years," Eicher said. "It's the one tool you have to get to these violators."

Hunting guide Mark Miller, who has led Alaska hunting trips for 18 years, said a multitude of pressures in the field can lead to illegal actions to please a client in a field that has become increasingly burdened by rules, regulations and taxes.

"I feel like giving up the business," Miller said. "First, the federal government took away a third of the good hunting land under (President) Carter, then you get flak from residents thinking you're trying to keep them out of guide areas, the state keeps coming up with all sorts of permits. It's all making it a real pain in the neck for us."

Miller said the arrests can only hurt the image of hunting guides.  "This is going to hurt our image overall, absolutely," he said. "Obviously, if they were breaking the law they should have been arrested."

Update 12/12/92:  Another hunting guide was arrested this week as part of Operation Brooks Range, a two-year sting operation targeting alleged violators of federal hunting laws. Randy W. Taylor, 31, was arrested in Iowa on Wednesday and charged with six hunting violations, said Connie Barclay, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Among the other guides arrested previously was Simon Mawson, a former state coordinator for the Exxon Valdez spill cleanup. He was released on his own recognizance to await trial.

Update 8/4/93:  A Brooks Range guide was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and fined $10,000 for illegally hunting game in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge last year. Donald Troutman, former owner of the Two Rivers Lodge near Fairbanks, pleaded guilty this spring to hunting grizzly bears by air and transporting and selling illegally taken animals, including moose, bear and caribou.

Troutman's Supercub airplane was also forfeited and will go to the state, said Tim Eicher, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent.

He, his partner and four of his assistant guides were accused by federal wildlife authorities of herding and spotting grizzlies and wolves with airplanes, among other offenses.

The assistants have each been sentenced, and Troutman's partner, Dan Holleman, a professor of arctic biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, signed a plea agreement last week.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News