Poaching hurts everyone in the hunting community
Another hunting “influencer” fell from the lofty perch he placed himself upon. The downfall – poaching charges. Ryan Lampers, who went by the social media moniker, StHealthyHunter, faces several charges from December 2024 hunts in Idaho, involving a “trophy” mule deer, a mountain lion, and a wolf.
He appeared on several hunting shows, podcasts, and in multiple articles for several outdoor media outlets in the past, yet I’m unfamiliar with Mr. Lampers. National outdoor industry companies partnered with him. Those companies spent the last couple of weeks withdrawing that support and erasing the material involving him from their websites, social media, and marketing campaigns.
Idaho charged him with both misdemeanors and felonies. The charges carry penalties of heavy fines, hunting bans, and prison time.
The charges for the mule deer involved a large buck scoring 175 4/8 inches that he shot out of season and didn’t possess a harvest tag. The penalties for poaching trophy deer in Idaho allow for up to six months in prison, a $2,000 fine, and a possible lifetime ban of hunting. A ban in Idaho triggers the same ban in all 50 states, since 2022 all states participate in the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact. Idaho law enforcement states he killed a mountain lion five days later, in the same zone he killed the mule deer in, and didn’t possess a tag for that zone. He garnered a charge of falsifying records by registering that mountain lion in a different management zone. Two days after killing the mountain lion, they feel he killed a wolf in Idaho’s Big Game Management Zone (BGMA) 21. He registered that in BGMA 28 just like the lion. The catch stems from a non-profit organization called Foundation for Wildlife Management that pays hunters for wolves they harvest in Idaho. In BGMA 21 that amounts to $750, but in BGMA 28, they pay the hunter $2,000 for a wolf harvested. Idaho law classifies a theft exceeding a $1,000 Grand Theft, with up to a 14-year prison sentence and $5,000 fine.
Courts often don’t treat wildlife related crimes with the same zeal they do other crimes. But we, the hunting community, suffer huge losses by behavior like this. Anti-hunting organizations blur the lines between ethical hunters and poachers continuously to further their agendas.
Beyond that comes the financial, conservation, and social losses of poaching. And harvesting a deer in a state that you don’t possess a valid harvest tag in and out of season meets the definition of poaching by any standards. Personally, I find it hard to believe he went from an ethical above the line hunter to a bold and cunning serial poacher in December 2024.
People probably compared themselves to him for hunting success, skill, and knowledge. They most likely looked to him. Now everything he said or did comes under scrutiny. Especially if found guilty.
One less trophy mule deer, mountain lion, and wolf walk the public lands of Idaho for many hunters this fall. Several of Wisconsin houndsmen traveled to Idaho last year to hunt mountain lion. What losses did they sustain from the single act of that cat not walking around when they got there? An unfilled tag? The cost of that tag? The cost of the trip?
The Boone and Crockett Club just released the result of a five year study they did on poaching. The study showed that only 4% of wildlife crimes get detected, much less brought to charges. It showed significant losses to hunters and nonhunters alike from poaching.
Their study estimates a $1.4 billion loss from the illegal killing of wildlife in the United States annually. They pointed out that dollar amount exceeds the combined 2023 gross revenue for all 50 states from hunting license sales and exceeds the congression allocation for the 2023 Wildlife Restoration Act. They also pointed out that poaching deters involvement in hunting and causes hunters to stop hunting, resulting in decreased fees collected for the Pittman-Robertson Fund. I’ll point out that amount of dollars exceeds the proposed budget of the USFWS in 2026.
Their loss calculation doesn’t include the losses of Wisconsin hunters traveling to Idaho to hunt lion or a hunter who owns 80 acres and a cabin and their neighbor shot the trophy buck out his patio door in the pitch dark with a light. Something to consider.
Continued good luck to all, especially the youth waterfowl hunters this weekend. But please remember, Safe Hunting is No Accident!
THROUGH A
