POWELL (WNE) – A Cody man has been ordered to pay $1,855 for killing a gray wolf in the state’s trophy zone without a license – and then attempting to pretend he’d taken the animal legally.
In addition to the financial penalties, a judge suspended 21-year-old Austin Kondash’s hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for three years.
Kondash pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor offense of illegally taking a wolf without a license at a Nov. 19 hearing in Park County’s Circuit Court.
In most of the state, wolves are classified as predators and can be killed at any time, with the only requirement being that the harvest is reported to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. However, the species is classified as a trophy animal in the northwest corner of the state, with a regulated hunting season.
That licensed trophy zone includes the Sunlight area, where Kondash killed the wolf on Oct. 26. Kondash testified that he and a friend had been hunting deer early that morning.
After killing the animal, Kondash drove to the Chief Joseph RV Park store in Crandall, bought a $21 resident wolf license, tagged the carcass with it and drove back to Cody.
However, South Cody Game Warden Grant Gerharter became suspicious with the speed at which Kondash had been able to harvest a wolf.
“It just doesn’t happen that you purchase a wolf license in the morning and take a wolf two hours later,” Gerharter said in an interview. “You can, but it’s rare.”
