A New Brunswick man has been fined $12,000 after being found guilty of two charges of illegal outfitting in the Pierceland and Goodsoil area.
Michel Lanteigne was fined 10-thousand dollars for outfitting without an outfitter’s license and another 2-thousand dollars for unlawfully advertising his availability to act as an outfitter.
Saskatchewan Environment spokesman Gary Provencher says licensed outfitters in the area were the ones that tipped off the authorities:
“In this case, we received information from the local outfitters that this fellow was doing it illegally, so that helped us to investigate this case. But it is happening kind of all around Saskatchewan. It seems mostly in the forest fringe area where wildlife populations are high — white-tailed deer, in particular.”
Saskatchewan conservation officers worked with their colleagues in New Brunswick to collect evidence in their two-year investigation.
Provencher says it appears most of the rogue outfitter’s clients were not aware he wasn’t licensed:
“I believe so, just from the information I received, that they were quite cooperative in getting us evidence. And it sounded like most of them were not aware that the outfitter was doing it illegally.”
The investigation began in the fall of 2011.