December 20, 2014
From CDAPress.com
Man sentenced for shooting fake deer
SANDPOINT – A Ponderay man pleaded guilty Friday to shooting at a simulated deer installed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
Wesley Jordan Birkhimer, 25, was sentenced to 30 days in jail with 30 days suspended and ordered him to pay $600 in fines. He was also placed on unsupervised probation.
On Nov. 15 Birkhimer was spotted driving slowly down U.S. Forest Service Road No. 2652. The lights from Birkhimer’s pickup illuminated a decoy deer and he exited the vehicle. He then fired his rifle while standing on the public road and drove away.
In an unrelated case on Friday, a Spirit Lake man pleaded not guilty to four game violations.
Matthew Duane Trotter Sr., 50, is charged with unlawfully harvesting a white-tailed doe, using another person’s tag, failing to affix his own tag to a white-tailed buck and exceeding the harvest limit.
Three days later, Trotter killed a 3-by-5 buck. Its carcass was found at another hunter’s home on Nov. 8 and the antlers were found at Trotter’s home, court documents indicate.