3 Sask. men charged after conservation officers use DNA to track poachers

Conservation officers resorted to some high-tech crime fighting measures to catch three poachers in the Kamsack area.

In November 2015, conservation officers got a call on the Turn In Poachers line about an elk shot out of season on private land abouteight kilometres outside of town. Officers were able to get DNA and ballistics evidence from the site

Several days later, officers also found a kill-site for white tailed deer in the area.

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Meanwhile, officers found the abandoned hind quarters of an elk that were left to waste at an empty condo in Duck Mountain Provincial Park. DNA samples matched the elk from the first site.

Three men have been fined in the incident.

One of the men, 36-year-old Raymond Sparvier was fined $3,500 for unlawfully hunting a bull elk on private land without permission and unlawfully possessing wildlife. The province noted that anyone exercising Treaty hunting rights has to get permission from the landowner when hunting on private land.

Two other men were also found guilty. 29-year-old Christopher Weisgerber was found guilty of unlawfully hunting white-tailed deer and unlawfully hunting a bull elk. He received a $5,600 fine.

Meanwhile, 26-year-old Clinton Durocher was found guilty of assisting, aiding or hunting with a First Nations person and being in possession of wildlife taken by a First Nations person. Durocher also received a one-year hunting suspension.

Anyone who has information about poaching is asked to call the Turn In Poachers line at 1-800-667-7561.