BOISE, Idaho — Three Idaho hunting guides have been indicted by a grand jury in Pocatello on charges of violating federal and state laws in the deaths of around a dozen mountain lions.
Chad Kulow and Andrea Major, of Kuna, and Lavoy Eborn, of Paris, falsified Idaho Department of Fish and Game records after illegally leading hunts in Idaho and Wyoming, according to the indictment.
All three worked for an Idaho outfitter licensed to work in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest on the Idaho-Wyoming state line before they began booking and accepting payment for their own services illegally, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho said in a news release.
Idaho law requires licensed guides to work under a licensed outfitter.
Officials said that in late 2021 and early 2022, the three “conspired together” to violate the Lacey Act, a federal law prohibiting any possession, sale or acquisition of wildlife killed in violation of state hunting laws.
According to the indictment, Kulow and Major started booking clients under the name Lethal Guides and Outfitters, and Eborn began operating as E-N Hunting Services. Neither business had a state outfitting license or U.S. Forest Service permit.
The indictment said Kulow and Eborn led mountain lion hunts for 14 clients in December 2021 and January 2022. Those hunts resulted in the killing of “at least” a dozen mountain lions, the court document said. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said one of the cats killed in Wyoming made the record books of the Boone and Crockett Club, a nonprofit that keeps hunting records. It’s unclear whether the mountain lion is still a record holder.
Kulow, Major, Eborn and an “unindicted co-conspirator” guided groups of hunters paying as much as $6,500 per hunter.
In one instance, the indictment said, Kulow transported a client’s mountain lion from Wyoming, where it was killed, to a vacation rental in Bear Lake, Utah, before returning with the animal to Wyoming to present it to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The document said Kulow told the hunter, who was not identified publicly, to tell the game warden the hunt was not guided.
The defendants also falsified documents submitted to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, according to the indictment. Any mountain lion killed in Idaho must be presented to Fish and Game within 10 days of harvest to have a tooth extracted and its hide tagged by an employee. A hunt report is also required.
The indictment said Kulow, Major and Eborn reported to Fish and Game that multiple hunts were contracted through the licensed, permitted outfitter they worked for. That outfitter had not booked, approved or participated in the hunts, the court document said.
One client signed a contract, initialed by Eborn, that appeared to be through the licensed outfitter without the outfitter’s knowledge, the indictment said.
Multiple clients’ mountain lions were shipped to taxidermists outside of Idaho, and several of those animals were never presented to Fish and Game for a mandatory check, according to court documents.
The indictment said Kulow tried to pay the licensed outfitter $12,500 after the outfitter found out the three guides had been leading illegal hunts under the outfitter’s name.
Kulow and Major were arrested on Sept. 24, and Eborn was arrested the following day. Kulow faces 11 counts of felony Lacey Act violations, and one count of felony conspiracy to commit a Lacey Act violation. Major was charged with one count of conspiracy and six counts of Lacey Act violations, and Eborn was charged with one count of conspiracy and seven counts of Lacey Act violations.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said all three pleaded not guilty. A trial is scheduled for Nov. 18.
If convicted, the guides face up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for each violation.
