Pair faces hunting violations

SANDPOINT — One Bonner County man was arrested and another was ticketed for a medley of hunting-related offenses last weekend.

Dustin Arnie Hayes and Juan Jose Gonzales are charged with hunting without licenses and tags, shooting across a public road and shooting from a motor vehicle. Gonzales faces additional charges of driving with a suspended license and having an open container.

Both suspects deny firing the shots and are blaming each other, according to court documents.

A landowner in the Gold Creek area saw shots being fired from a Chevrolet Monte Carlo before dawn on Sunday morning and reported it to authorities. The suspect vehicle was pulled over near Upper Gold Creek and Gold Creek roads.

Gonzales, who has a suspended license because of a drunken driving conviction, reportedly told Bonner County Sheriff's deputy John Lunde Hayes was hunting for him because he is paralyzed, on Social Security and needed food. Gonzales said he could not afford a license or tags.

Gonzales told Lunde several shots from the bolt-action rifle were fired at a buck, but none of them hit their target.

Hayes denied firing any shots and said Gonzales was the shooter, the arrest report said.

Gonzales, 41, was cited, while Hayes, 18, was arrested on a warrant for failing a drug test linked to a vandalism conviction. Judge Barbara Buchanan set Hayes' bail at $1,200 and ordered him to serve 10 days on the vandalism charge.