Railroading Poachers

Wildlife enforcement

Criminal charges have been filed in Valley County, Idaho, against six Idaho residents and a California man accused of poaching animals from a moving train or along the tracks.

They allegedly took advantage of their jobs as employees of the Idaho Northern and Pacific Railroad to regularly poach wildlife, at times shooting their targets from a moving train on the relatively isolated lines running from Cascade to Council.

“Because these rail lines pass through secluded areas, the poachers felt secure that their illegal activities would go undetected,” Idaho Department of Fish and Game conservation officer George Fischer said. “Secure enough, in fact, that they occasionally invited friends and relatives to participate in the poaching free-for-all.”

Charged in the case were: Wayne Andrews, 20, Ryan Warren, 21, and Chris Brubacker, 30, of Cascade; John Hoffman, 45, and Diane Hoffman, 39, of Crouch; Richard Trudeau, 54, of Nampa and Marvin Gregory, 56, Oakdale, Calif.

Charges span a wide range, including possessing an unlawfully taken cougar, shooting big game and waterfowl from a motorized vehicle, making false statements to obtain a resident license, unlawfully trapping black bear, failing to produce game for inspection and shooting deer with a rifle in archery season.

Many of the alleged offenses in this case will go unprosecuted because Idaho has a two-year statute of limitations for big-game violations and a one-year limit on turkey-poaching crimes.