The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ top sturgeon biologist faces obstruction charges that allege he and his staff illegally funneled sturgeon eggs to local caviar processors during the annual sturgeon-spearing season on the Lake Winnebago system.
The DNR’s three-year internal investigation became public Feb. 10 when Ryan Koenigs, 36, was charged in Calumet County Circuit Court on one count of obstructing a conservation warden. The...

After years of investigations involving multiple agencies, Gregory Frikken, James Nunley, and Michael Smith have pleaded guilty to federal charges of trespassing and illegally harvesting whitetails in Fort Riley, Kansas.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the trio had been hunting the army base for years. An investigator’s affidavit detailed how they entered the base, going in before daylight and leaving after dark...

Adrian Wood of White City, Oregon, was sentenced last week for poaching elk in Crater Lake National Park. His penalties include $42,500 in restitution paid to the National Park Service,  a six-month detention at a residential reentry center, and five years of federal probation, which includes loss of hunting privileges. 
U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced the sentencing in a Department of Justice press release. “Our nation’s environmental...

This article comes from the Bent Fishing Podcast’s “Fish News” segment, where hosts Joe Cermele and Miles Nolte go head to head to find and report the most interesting and amusing fishy stories across sources from far and wide—from respected scientific journals to trashy tabloids.
Thanks to infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, Colombia has an invasive species of unusual proportions: hippopotamuses. Like any invasive species, these large, semi...

John Blick Jr. of Sharon, Kansas, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay $327,641 in restitution for poaching 60 whitetail and mule deer. The bust is the result of a multi-year investigation leading to a 139-count indictment. Additionally, the 28-year-old will lose hunting privileges for five years and pay $15,000 in fines.
Charges include numerous counts of criminal hunting, hunting with aid of a motor vehicle, criminal...

This is Part Two of a two-part series on the 1971 murder of Warden Neil LaFave. Part One covers how Brian Hussong decapitated LaFave and the historic investigation for his murder weapon. Part Two covers Hussong’s daring escape from prison and his 12 weeks spent hiding in the forest.
Wisconsin conservation warden Dale Morey slept with his loaded .38-caliber handgun beneath his pillow for three and a half months after the killer he helped...