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Gun Nutz website exposes illegal hunter

One Alberta hunter is facing a $1,500 fine and a seven-year hunting ban in the territory for illegally bagging a grizzly.

One Alberta hunter is facing a $1,500 fine and a seven-year hunting ban in the territory for illegally bagging a grizzly.

Yukon conservation officers were tipped off to the crime when his photo showed up on a website called Canadian Gun Nutz.

Richard Dave Graves, a.k.a. “bulletsmith,” came to the Yukon last May to hunt with Yukoner David Odo, according to documents filed in Yukon court.

Graves shot a grizzly in an area deemed off-limits to non-resident hunters not guided by an outfitter.

And, after killing the bear, Graves and Odo placed Odo’s tags on the animal to transport it from the Haines Junction area to Whitehorse.

They were trying “to make it look like as though Odo had shot the bear in case they were stopped by authorities.”

The next day, the pair reported the kill to the Whitehorse field office.

But they reported Graves had shot the bear the previous day between the Hot Springs Road and the Dawson Trail — a legal hunting area for non-residents.

Graves signed the kill report and paid a $500 trophy fee.

But if Graves had bagged the bear legally — through an outfitter — it would have cost him more than US$12,950 for the hunt.

Graves also must surrender his gun and scope — estimated to be worth $2,000 — to the Yukon government.