Father And Son Used An Airplane To Break The Animal Away From The Herd

A plea arrangement has been reached in an Alaska case in which a man and his son were accused of using an airplane to herd a moose before shooting the animal.

The incident happened south of Fairbanks. The Anchorage News Tribune reports that Kevin M. Foster, 46, and his 22-year-old son Kevin Foster II pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful possession or transportation of game. They had originally been charged with same-day airborne hunting, which is prohibited by Alaska law. It is illegal in Alaska to take most big game on the same day a hunter flies.

The elder Foster will spend seven days in jail and pay $6,000 in fines and restitution for the moose. He must forfeit the meat, hide, and antlers, which reportedly had a spread of 50 inches. He also must surrender his rifle.

The son will also pay a fine of $2,000, but even more painful, he must surrender his airplane ... a Cessna 140. Both men lost hunting privileges, the father for 5 years, the son for one year.

The two were caught when Troopers obtained a search warrant for the GPS in the plane. Both had denied herding the moose after it had been spotted as the son flew his father to a hunting camp. But the GPS track showed him circling a small area at about 58 knots, which authorities said was consistent with witness reports and could not have been for any other purpose than herding a moose.

FMI: http://dps.alaska.gov/ast