Man sentenced for poaching elk

SANDPOINT — A Rathdrum man’s right to hunt in Idaho is being revoked for three years for poaching an elk in Blanchard earlier this year.

Cameron Lee Radan charged with taking big game in a closed season, in addition to hunting during unlawful hours, with unlawful equipment and without a license. He was further charged with taking big game with the aid of artificial light and unlawful possession of big game.

A landowner and a reporting party heard gunshots at about 12:40 a.m. and saw an unoccupied short-bed pickup truck, which was later seen headed south on Highway 41, according to an Idaho Department of Fish & Game conservation officer’s report. A dead cow elk was discovered in a field, prompting the reporting party to contact the Fish & Game’s Citizens Against Poaching hotline and the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office.

A sheriff’s deputy stopped the suspect vehicle because it did not have fenders which covered all its wheels, according to court documents. The vehicle held Radan and another man he recruited to pack the elk out of the field. A scoped rifle with an attached spotlight was also recovered.

Radan, 27, admitted poaching the elk in order to feed his family, the officer’s report said.

Radan pleaded guilty to two of the six misdemeanor offenses — hunting out of season and taking big game with artificial light — and was sentenced on May 29. He was given concurrent 60-day jail sentences with 60 days suspended. Judge Tera Harden suspended a pair of $500 fines, but ordered him to pay $175 in court costs and $1,050 in restitution, court records show.

Radan was also placed on unsupervised probation for two years and is forbidden from obtaining a hunting license until 2022.