A 70-year-old-man was fined $20,000 this week after he illegally baited and shot a trophy deer on his property outside the hunting season in 2018, the El Dorado district attorney’s office said Thursday. William Valden of Elverta pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges Tuesday for violating California Fish and Wildlife’s trophy animal rules, said prosecuting attorney Erin Tognetti. Moskat kept an eye on the property with surveillance cameras throughout the following deer season and learned Valden had purchased a deer tag. Online records showed Valden declared he shot an animal a few days before the end of deer season and Moskat knew there was still bait on the property, LaFave said. It’s unclear if Valden has previously shot trophy animals despite the close of hunting season, but LaFave said that “for a lot of those people that commit poaching crimes, it’s kind of a way of life for them.”

Source: Los Angeles Times February 07, 2020 00:33 UTC