Kentucky men fined for televised poaching of elk in Wyoming

DOUGLAS, Wyo. (AP) – Two Kentucky men on a cable television hunting show have been fined nearly $31,000 and have lost their hunting privileges for 15 years for poaching two bull elk in southeastern Wyoming in 2014.

The case came to light when someone watching “Hunting in the Sticks” reported the men appeared to have killed elk in the wrong hunting district.

Game and Fish investigator Mike Ehlebracht says he believes 37-year-old Ricky J. Mills and 25-year-old Jimmy G. Duncan were driven to get “kill shot footage” and it led them to make bad decisions.

Investigators say the men from Bedford, Kentucky, eventually confessed. Wildlife officials say Duncan also poached an antelope in 2013.
The men pleaded guilty Monday. Duncan was ordered to pay $17,500 in fines and restitution while Mills was ordered to pay $13,460.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.