SUNDRE – An anonymous tip received through the Report a Poacher line led to convictions in one of three recently uncovered instances of illegally harvested bighorn ram in the Ya Ha Tinda wildlife corridor.
A wildlife corridor runs from the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch eastward all the way to the Mountain Aire Lodge on either side of the road for conservation purposes.
“The government’s deemed that area to be closed for all hunting,” said Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Levi Neufeld, adding that includes Indigenous and Métis harvesting rights.
The Sundre-based Fish and Wildlife officer said an investigation was launched after a complaint stated an individual was observed shooting a bighorn sheep in the Ya Ha Tinda wildlife corridor, adding the witness had the licence plate number of a pickup truck they saw the animal being loaded into.
The shooter was said to have been standing on the road when he fired the shot at the ram, which was about 100-200 yards up on the hillside.
Further aggravating what the court accepted as an unlawful hunt in a protected area was the fact the shooting took place Dec. 1, 2024 during closed season, Neufeld told the Albertan.
Finding the kill site
“We went out there and attempted to find the kill site,” he told the Albertan during an interview after the case was settled in court.
While efforts to locate the precise spot were not successful, officers had ample information to follow up on and began to conduct interviews and collecting statements, he said.
The registered owner of the vehicle involved revealed two other individuals were present and officers subsequently interviewed them as well, he said.
“From that, we learned that in fact a Rocky Mountain bighorn ram was shot in the Ya Ha Tinda corridor off the road and was loaded into the truck,” he said, adding the animal was then taken to another location to be processed.
“There was full confessions on that.”
Officers were on a later date able to recover the ram and charges were sworn against three people.
“One person had their charges withdrawn through minimal involvement,” he said.
Convictions and charges withdrawn
According to transcripts obtained by the Albertan, a second individual and the owner of the pickup truck, Mitchell Rindal, pled guilty on April 4 in Didsbury court for unlawful possession as well as assisting the recovery of the ram off the mountainside.
A guilty plea on two counts was entered on behalf of the shooter, Craig Rath, on June 6 in Didsbury court to hunting a ram during the closed season and hunting in a wildlife sanctuary. Rath, who did not have any priors, was subsequently fined a total of $8,000 and also received a two-year hunting licence suspension.
The following charges against Rath were withdrawn: possession of wildlife contrary to the Wildlife Act; discharging a firearm on a road allowance; discharging a firearm from or on a vehicle; wilfully misleading and giving false information to a Wildlife officer; hunting an antlered moose without a licence on another date around Nov. 30, 2024; hunting an antlered mule deer without a licence on or around Nov. 6, 2024; and being found in possession of wildlife contrary to the Wildlife Act on or about Dec. 11, 2024.
Providing additional context, Neufeld explained “there’s a massive sign when you go up to the Ya Ha Tinda that states the rules and regulations” for conservation purposes.
Neufeld said he was in the area three to five days prior to one of the sheep being shot.
Two other rams illegally harvested
The animals are habituated to a degree that they tend to come off the mountain towards vehicles, he said, adding bighorn sheep are known to frequent the area where the ram was killed.
“The ram was actually licking the salt off my vehicle,” he said.
“The general public knew about this ram; it was no secret that he was there. A lot of people actually went out there to go look at him. And a lot of individuals were hoping to protect this ram because he was a trophy ram.”
During the search for the kill site, Neufeld said the investigation uncovered another location in that area where officers were able to obtain DNA samples.
While they initially thought tests would confirm it was the same ram, the lab results revealed a second sheep had actually been poached.
But in that case, which was believed to have occurred between Dec. 3-8, there was no indication or evidence as to who might have been responsible other than ATV tracks leading up to the site, he said.
Just a couple of months later on Feb. 17, 2025, a third ram was shot and harvested within the same general area, he said.
While an individual had reported observing a red truck, the complainant was unable to get the licence plate and officers did not have detailed enough information to pursue an investigation, he said.
“So there was three illegal harvests in that exact same area.”
But only the solid lead that included a licence plate number enabled a guilty party to be held accountable, he said.
“The anonymous report there was what sent this case into us allowing us to investigate it.”
Neufeld said Fish and Wildlife officers take pride in the successful completion of their cases.
“We don’t send charges to court on a wash where there may be a chance of them getting let off,” he said.
Few poachers get reported, caught
Also a hunter, he said rams are a sought-out trophy in the hunting community that require patience and commitment. A prize animal can take up to nine years to mature, he said.
“If you’re a sheep hunter, from the year you start hunting, it takes about eight to 12 years – maybe five years if you’re lucky – to find a legal ram,” he said.
“Thousands of people go out on the landscape every single year for an opportunity to hunt one of these animals; they spend countless amounts of money to go out there to do 10-day pack trips on horses and hike out there,” he said.
“It’s a coveted and it’s a hard hunt to do to get a legal ram ethically and lawfully,” he said.
“So to go off on the side of the road and harvest one – in the eyes of the hunting community – is taboo in that sense.”
Due to the nature of limited resources and such vast expanses of land with only 100 officers in the field across Alberta, a majority of cases simply go unreported and few poachers tend to get caught, he said.
“And if a landowner doesn’t see the offence happen, it didn’t happen,” he said.
Over the last six years in the Ya Ha Tinda wildlife corridor alone, the district Fish and Wildlife office has logged 26 occurrences of animals being shot; not just rams but for example also elk, white tail and mule deer, he said.
“Out of those we’ve had three convictions.”
Risk versus reward
So officers advocate for higher fines to act as more of a deterrent.
“It’s risk versus reward,” he said, adding people may be more willing to take a chance if the penalties are not high enough.
“If the risk is too high, people won’t take that opportunity to do it.”
Licence suspensions, which the Wildlife Act allows, can also be effective deterrents; perhaps even more so than fines.
“I’ve had individuals pay upwards of $5,000 to $10,000 just to be able to continue hunting,” he said.
“They’ve asked for a higher penalty to allow for that.”
Other provinces, depending on their legislation, will honour any suspensions issued in Alberta, he said.
“In Alberta, how it’s written, if you’re suspended in any other province or state from hunting, you cannot hunt in Alberta,” he added.
The efforts of Fish and Wildlife in enforcing regulations depends almost entirely on the public’s confidence in the agency, he said.
Officers rely on tips
“For us to be successful in our job, is through public relations and individuals calling in the RAP line trusting in us that we’ll do a proper job.”
There are only two officers in the Sundre area and four conservation officers between Sundre and Cochrane who deal with public lands complaints, he said.
“We can’t be everywhere at once,” he said.
“Landowners, individuals that enjoy and respect the outdoors, when they see violations and they report it to us, it gives us the opportunity to have a successful outcome.”
Even what might on the surface appear to be inconsequential could prove to be a crucial missing part of a puzzle that completes a bigger picture, he said.
“Any information that people get – it may be the most minor piece of information of, ‘Hey, I saw a blood smear on the road’ – it allows us to focus our efforts in that area and may lead to a bigger investigation if we know of other stuff going on,” he said.
“Without the public’s support in these matters, we would have no successful outcomes, and this is a prime example of where someone took the opportunity to report anonymously, that led us to this investigation,” he said, referring to Rath’s conviction.
The hunting season for sheep starts on Aug. 25, although different wildlife management units could have different start times and hunters are expected to know when they can lawfully begin.
Anyone who observes infractions such as shooting within protected wildlife corridors that are always in effect regardless of whether hunting season is open is encouraged to call the Report a Poacher line at 1-800-642-3800.
