Northern hunter fined $7K for illegal moose kill, lying to officer

THUNDER BAY — A city man has received a stiff penalty after pleading guilty to illegal hunting and lying to a conservation officer.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the case involves an October 2023 incident in the area of Pakashkan Lake, north of Upsala.

Court was told a conservation officer conducting enforcement operations at the time found that a man who'd shot a moose just before the end of legal hunting hours had been unable to locate the animal.

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

Rather than reporting the mistake to a CO, he sought out another hunter and had him invalidate his own bull moose tag on the dead animal to conceal the illegal harvest.

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

Further investigation revealed that he and the other hunter had not 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 CO, and being party to the offence of unlawfully invalidating a tag with respect to an animal killed by another person.

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