(0:00) Heading into our guest interview segment for the day today in our monthly report (0:03) from director Angie Bruce with the Wyoming game and fish department, director Bruce. (0:07) Good morning. (0:09) How are you today? (0:10) Uh, good morning, Duke.

(0:12) I am doing fantastic. (0:13) Try not to get blown around too much in Casper this morning, but otherwise good. (0:18) Oh, windy Casper.

(0:19) Yes, yes, yes. (0:20) Well, appreciate your time as always director, uh, quite a few things to talk (0:24) about first of a few investigations recently wrapping up, uh, one in Southwest (0:28) Wyoming, uh, involving an individual and a whole bunch of people, uh, connected (0:31) to Farson, but, uh, just announced yesterday, uh, Rodney Gillstrip from (0:35) Idaho falls, uh, 22, I think different, uh, citations given to him from 2018 (0:42) to 2021, uh, pretending to be a Wyoming resident and, and was not, uh, maybe, (0:48) maybe give us some background on this case that wrapped up just a few days ago. (0:52) Oh my gosh.

(0:53) Yeah. (0:53) Quite the incredible case. (0:55) Um, it took a lot of years to, you know, just to, um, put the (1:00) bow on the top of this line, but, um, very impressive.

(1:03) I mean, this is what our folks do is they, you know, they, they (1:08) catch the bad guys, so to speak. (1:10) Um, but this one was, took a lot of involvement. (1:13) It, you know, Wisconsin, Utah, Minnesota, other States were involved (1:17) for different County prosecutors in Wyoming and County law enforcement.

(1:23) Um, and really too is the lay public who provided tips and evidence that (1:28) led us there to begin with, um, very critical part that we don’t want to (1:32) overlook, um, but yes, took a lot of work. (1:35) It, you know, it, our game wardens, um, our investigators, they do a (1:40) fantastic job of giving a case to the prosecutors that can win collecting (1:46) the evidence, showing the information and being able to carry this (1:50) one across the finish line. (1:51) So pretty remarkable, um, that this one got wrapped up here recently.

(1:56) So you have these, these two instances, uh, the one involving the person of (1:59) Farson that was using, uh, family members were, were coming in, as you (2:03) mentioned, from multiple States. (2:04) Uh, and then you had, uh, an individual at Idaho Falls pretending to be a (2:07) state resident that was hunting in, in Lincoln and Teton and sublet counties (2:11) and, and, and both those wrapping up. (2:13) And from, from what we’ve heard from, from some of our readers and listeners (2:17) here, director two, two, maybe common things.

(2:20) And one is, is first off, how does this happen and how do, how (2:22) do people get away with it? (2:24) So following these two cases are the game and fish putting in any extra layers of (2:29) security, if you will, to try and prevent this from happening in the future. (2:33) Good question. (2:34) You know, we learned from everything.

(2:36) We learned the tricks of the trades. (2:38) Um, and every single one of these cases leads us to better knowledge (2:42) about what people out there are doing. (2:44) Um, I, it sometimes makes me wonder if these folks have a network within (2:48) themselves on how to get by with it, so to speak.

(2:52) Um, absolutely. (2:53) We, we learned from this. (2:55) We, we know what to look at closer to double check.

(2:58) Um, we know these things are happening. (3:00) A lot of times it’s just collecting that evidence, um, and making sure that (3:05) we have a tight case to move forward. (3:07) So, um, I don’t want to speak for my personnel, but I can most likely say (3:11) that they did learn a lot, um, from this case and how to look (3:14) at things going forward as well.

(3:16) Director, another, another question that comes up and of course, uh, you (3:19) guys do the investigation in your game waters, do the investigation and (3:23) hand it over to the court system. (3:24) And, and of course, uh, you know, charge it or, uh, maybe sometimes (3:28) from there it’s out of your hands, but, uh, a lot of people thinking, (3:31) man, 21 days in jail, uh, and it seems like the punishment isn’t (3:35) quite enough for, for some people. (3:38) Did any comment on that? (3:39) And, and, uh, do you think there needs to be changes on, on how severe the (3:43) punishment is for these types of crimes? (3:46) Good question.

(3:47) Um, that always catches me a little off guard, you know, yes, we, we (3:51) would, um, often like to see more depends specifically on the case, but (3:55) as managers of the resource, you know, we, we implement state law and we don’t (4:01) create it. (4:02) Um, so I have over the last year ish, been talking to legislators and they’ve (4:07) been asking about increasing fines for poaching and so forth. (4:11) So that conversation is out there and I would not be surprised if this case, (4:17) um, sort of elevated that conversation even more.

(4:20) Director Angie Bruce with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. (4:23) Uh, director want to talk about Southern Lincoln County. (4:25) Kemmerer Reservoir has been lowered to make some repairs.

(4:28) And I know the, the Game and Fish is, is monitoring this situation, (4:31) working with the, uh, with, with multiple agencies on this. (4:34) Maybe, uh, tell us what the Game and Fish is doing and what your role is here in (4:38) Southern Lincoln County with the reservoir. (4:41) Absolutely.

(4:41) We’re working really closely with them. (4:43) Cause of course, you know, managing the fisheries in that reservoir, but also (4:47) above and below that reservoir, um, in the river, the Hamsfork river is really (4:52) where, um, we’re focusing our efforts on, you know, uh, brown rainbow trout, (4:58) mountain whitefish, um, some of the species, um, that we’re looking at. (5:02) But as that reservoir gets worked on, so they’re doing a maintenance project (5:06) that is essential and evaluating the condition of it.

(5:09) Um, about a fourth of a mile downstream of that reservoir has dried up because (5:16) they’re bypassing the water around it during this maintenance period. (5:20) I’m not sure exactly how long it’ll take. (5:23) It’ll depend on what they discover and the repairs needed, but we’re planning (5:28) on roughly a year, maybe or more.

(5:30) And so we’re looking at that fisheries and letting people know that they can (5:34) still fish about a quarter mile downstream in the river, but that first (5:39) immediate quarter mile is going to be dried up and you mentioned, uh, above (5:44) the reservoir, of course, Lake Viva, not shouldn’t, uh, any impacts above (5:49) not as least not near as severe. (5:51) Correct. (5:52) That is correct.

(5:53) Yes. (5:53) And, um, you might know more than me Duke about access to that (5:57) reservoir as it’s so low. (5:59) If there is the ability for anglers to still get to the access, obviously (6:03) there’s still fish in there.

(6:05) Um, but that is going to be much more limited than it would typically. (6:09) Director, uh, Angie Bruce this morning while I’m a game and fish (6:11) department on the weekday wake up, uh, director, there was also, uh, some (6:15) news that was put out by the game and fish regarding a looting incident in (6:18) the Dubois area on some game and fish property. (6:20) Can you update us on where this situation stands? (6:23) Yeah, this is actually extremely disappointing to see.

(6:26) So this area at Spence Morality, our wildlife management area there near Dubois (6:32) has an incredible historical resource. (6:36) And it’s really one of the first areas that we have evidence that, um, that (6:41) folks were doing large collective hunts with bison. (6:46) And so there’s these historical features of bison jumps there.

(6:49) I’ve been there. (6:50) It’s incredible to see. (6:52) Um, and so therefore there’s a lot of artifacts and we’ve had some looting (6:56) there and some damage to the site.

(6:58) And we’ve had a gracious, um, an anonymous donor who’s, um, putting out (7:03) a reward for any tips, um, that would lead to a conviction, $10,000. (7:09) Um, we encourage people, if you know anything, if you hear conversations (7:13) about folks and maybe some of, um, the activity up there, please call our tip (7:18) line or talk to a regional office, talk to a red shirt or go on our (7:23) website and leave a message. (7:24) You can, you can do that anonymously too, if you, if you don’t want (7:28) the award and want to keep quiet.

(7:29) So we would just really appreciate, again, such an incredible area. (7:35) If you’re up there looking at this, you can, you can actually kind of (7:39) imagine how this took place historically. (7:42) And, um, we just hate to see this, this happen and it’s really devastating.

(7:48) Director, as always, thank you for your time and your comments and insights. (7:51) Anything we missed that you’d like to mention today while we have you. (7:54) Well, I would say, um, continue everyone to enjoy this fantastic fall.

(7:59) Um, it seems to be kind of holding on, getting the cooler nights. (8:03) Um, the big game are starting to move more because of that. (8:07) Um, and I just wish everybody a safe, um, and enjoyable hunting season.

(8:12) Excellent. (8:12) Good luck with that Casper wind director. (8:15) Ah, thank you.

(8:16) You bet. (8:17) That’s director Angie Bruce this morning. (8:19) It’s the weekday wake up on the SBI radio network.