OVANDO – Danny Lapka of Ovando pled guilty to three misdemeanors for shooting a bull elk with a rifle during archery season this fall. He was fined $2,205 and lost his hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for two years.
Federal Officer Tyler Robinson noticed a vehicle parked at a gate in the North Fork of the Blackfoot Road in Powell County. He ran the plates and the owner did not have a bear tag or archery stamp. Since the vehicle was parked in an archery only area, Robinson decided to hike in to do a routine camp inspection and called Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Game Warden Bill Koppen just in case there was a wildlife violation.
“One was for a general camp inspection since food storage has been a huge issue. The second was I had reasonable suspicion to believe that there was wrong doing because he didn’t have the archery stamp,” said Robinson.
After calling Koppen, they agreed to hike in. Koppen was on another elk case in the McCabe area so he phoned FWP Game Warden Ezra Schwalm out of Lincoln who went with Robinson the morning of Sept. 15, the opening day for rifle season in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The camp was located several miles away from the wilderness boundary.
Schwalm and Robinson found Lapka at his camp where he was hunting with a cousin from Alaska.
“It was pretty straightforward. There were just things that didn’t add up and we didn’t overlook it,” said Schwalm. “He had shot a bull and relatively quickly we got to the bottom of the fact that he had shot it with a rifle during what should have been archery-only season.”
It is unlawful to use a rifle or handgun in the hunting or dispatching of a big game animal during the archery season. Lapka confessed he had killed the animal with his rifle that morning and they had returned to camp to retrieve the mules to pack the animal out.
Schwalm charged Lapka with the possession of a 6X6 bull elk, hunting with a rifle during the closed season and a department commission rule regulation for hunting with no archery stamp. He pled guilty to all three charges.
Fines included $535 and $1,000 restitution for the bull, $535 for hunting with a rifle during a closed season and $135 for not having his archery stamp.
Schwalm required Lapka to haul the animal out, which was then confiscated as evidence. The elk meat was donated to an area food bank. The restitution money goes to the uncover unit of the enforcement division of FWP. The rack will likely be auctioned off by FWP.
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