Thunder Bay Resident Fined Over $7,000 for Illegal Hunting

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the case stems from an incident in October 2023 near Pakashkan Lake, north of Upsala.

Court heard that a conservation officer, during enforcement operations, discovered that a man who had shot a moose just before the end of legal hunting hours was unable to locate the animal.

The hunter, licensed to hunt cow moose, learned the next morning that he had shot a bull moose.

Instead of reporting the mistake to a conservation officer, he approached another hunter and had him invalidate his own bull moose tag on the dead animal to cover up the illegal harvest.

He then falsely informed the investigating officer that he had been unable to locate the moose he had shot.

Further investigation revealed that neither he nor the other hunter had been party hunting in accordance with regulations.

John Poleschuk of Thunder Bay was fined $7,250 after pleading guilty to hunting bull moose without a licence, knowingly making a false statement to a conservation officer, and being party to the offence of unlawfully invalidating a tag for an animal killed by another person.

Joshua Stevenson of Napanee, Ont., pleaded guilty to unlawfully invalidating a tag and possessing illegally killed wildlife. He was fined $2,500.