114 Criminal Charges Handed Down for Brazen Killings and Waste in Idaho

Two hunting trips in southern Idaho have led to a plethora of charges for a group of poachers caught red handed. According to reports, the investigation kicked off after state officials noticed a group of men loading five deer heads into an enclosed trailer in the South Hills, just north of the Nevada border.

While the sight of heads is something that could very well catch any of our attention, investigators looked beyond the heads and noticed that none of the coolers the group had with them were large enough to facilitate the amount of meat that would be taken from five animals.

Given that all hunters in the state of Idaho are required to salvage a certain percentage of the meat from any animal killed, officials made contact with the group to investigate further. What was later revealed was that, in addition to the lack of meat, no one in the party had the proper tags for Unit 54 - a controlled hunt unit in which they were hunting.

This is what ended up blowing the investigation wide open and once search warrants were executed, damning evidence from cell phones, social media accounts, and geo-data for photos and messages from previous illegal hunting expeditions set the incoming charges in motion.

With evidence in hand, 13 hunters were slapped with 114 charges, 53 of which were felony charges for wildlife crimes such as taking out of season, taking over limit, and wasting game for only taking trophy heads and leaving whole in-tact animals behind. 

Boise business owner Robert Zeko has taken the brunt of the charges and, as such, has 34 of the 114 charges with his name on them.

"Unit 54 is pretty unique unlike many other places in the state, access is very high," Fish and Game Senior Conservation Officer Jim Stirling said. "There's over 800 miles of road and trail so access to sportsman is very easy."

With only 300 deer tags available in the unit for this year, those tags are not only hard to come by, but are the envy of deer hunters from across the country. Given the strict management of these types of units, the quality of game harvested is typically higher than other less restrictive areas, which is exactly what caused these men to make a number of poor decisions.

At the end of the day, with this kind of intent and disregard for the law, conservation officers like Stirling save harsh charges for incidents just like this.

"We kind of reserve (felonies) for the people that are purposefully out there trying to do it wrong," Stirling said.

The investigation remains ongoing.