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What Happened
What initially was reported as a helicopter pushing deer away from hunters, turned into a large-scale poaching operation. IDFG investigated the incident which led them to Karl Studer. Studer was originally charged with 8 felony and 17 misdemeanor charges. This was spread throughout Blaine, Camas, Minidoka and Twin Falls County. Eventually the charges were consolidated to an inditement by the Twin Falls County Grand Jury on seven felony wildlife related charges in early 2025.
The Evidence
Part of the State’s case against Studer were the flight logs from the helicopter along with cell phone GPS data. The cell phone data likely came from a search warrant performed on Studer’s phone. On 06-02-2025, Studer entered a guilty plea in front of Judge Hancock. Studer plead guilty to the unlawful killing of a bull moose as part of a plea agreement with the Twin Falls County Prosecutors. In exchange for his guilty plea, the remaining 6 felony charges were dropped.
The Sentence
On 06-23-2025, Studer was sentenced for his guilty plea. Both the prosecution and defense fought over whether Studer should have a lifetime hunting license suspension in Idaho. The defense argued that Studer was not a greedy man, pushing for only a 5-year license suspension. For me, it does not get greedier than what Studer did. In the end, the state got the lifetime hunting license suspension. Judge Hancock also imposed a fine of $50,000 (on top of court fees and restitution fees to the state for the poached animals), and 5 years of unsupervised probation. Studer also has a suspended prison sentence of 3 years Determinate and 2 years Indeterminate with credit for time he served in jail.
My Thoughts
That is a fancy way of saying, if Studer messes up in the next 5 years, he can end up getting sentence to prison time. Personally, I think this type of a sentence is too light for the crimes that Studer allegedly committed. This is often the case with plea deals. Unfortunately, prosecutors must weigh the cost of a trail with the possibility of a non-guilty outcome. This comes at a cost of a more appropriate sentence. Often with conspiracy cases, plea agreements are offered to the co-conspirators in return with testifying against the other co-conspirators. Studer was not alone when committing these alleged crimes and not much is known about the others involved. Makes me wonder if he is going to testify against the others. That is just speculation on my part as of now, however.
Why This Matters
At least with the lifetime hunting license suspension, Studer will not be able to get a license to hunt in 48 other states. This is due to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact. The only state that is not a member of this Compact is Hawaii. With this Compact, states inform each other about violator data to stop poaching. With a conviction and license suspension in one state, this will also make him ineligible for a license in each of the 48 other states.
What Do You Think?
Comment down below with your thoughts on this case. Do you think wildlife laws get prosecuted fairly or do you think the punishments aren’t enough?
