Bill Busbice Poacher
07-22-2017, 02:09 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Up on the Milk River
Posts: 459
Bill Busbice Poacher
Apparently he pled guilty about a month ago to poaching on his ranch in Wyoming, shooting a calf cow instead on the bull he intended to.....then had his hired man dispose of calf, not even field dressing it. But he was fined $23,000 and lost hunting rights for 2 years. I am no fan of Wildgame nation, the business him and his little boys run. Just keep this in mind when you see these folks advertise their wears on tv and in magazines. He stole from the public, and in effect we paid for his left. I will not be buying any of their products and will do my research when It comes to company's they do business with.
07-23-2017, 05:26 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
That's not the half of it! Read the entire story right from the G&F and note that he also had been convicted of buying a resident tag when he's not a resident of Wyoming and buying more than the legal number of deer licenses. He's a #1 scumbag multimillionaire that should have lost his privileges for at least 10 years in all 45 of the Wildlife Violator Compact states and $23K is nothing to him!
GREEN RIVER - On May 23, 2017 Billy A. Busbice Jr. of Olla, Louisiana appeared before Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Frank Zebre and pled guilty to charges of intentionally allowing an antlerless elk to go to waste and an additional charge of taking an elk without the proper license. Busbice stars on Wildgame Nation, a reality hunting show on the Outdoor Channel, and also owns an outdoor products company.
The case started on October 16, 2016 when Kemmerer Game Warden Chris Baird received a report from a group of hunters that had observed a possible wildlife violation on the Spring Creek Ranch, which is owned by Busbice, on La Barge Creek. “The hunters told me that on the morning of October 15th they observed a man hunting on the ranch,” Baird said. “Apparently, there was a younger man with the hunter who had a video camera and appeared to be filming the hunt. They watched the hunter shoot one elk, presumably a cow, and then shoot a bull. The first elk fell within around 60 yards of where the bull went down. They observed the hunter and the cameraman walk up to look at the bull and then leave the area.”
Warden Baird also was told that another man came and field dressed the bull and hauled it away with a backhoe. “The hunters told me the first elk, which was later determined to be a bull calf, still lay in the meadow after the man had taken the bull away with the backhoe,” Baird said.
Baird knew Busbice had a Commissioner’s elk license and that there had been a very large bull elk frequenting the ranch. On October 17th Baird met with Busbice before he flew to Louisiana. Baird’s summary of this encounter is that after a short interview, Busbice admitted to having accidently killed a calf elk while trying to harvest the large bull. Busbice stated that after the sun had gone down he had instructed the ranch manager and the cameraman to drag the calf elk into an irrigation ditch to conceal it. No attempt to field dress or preserve meat from the calf was made. Interviews of the cameraman and the ranch manager revealed similar stories and the men admitted to having concealed the calf in the ditch and disposing of the bull’s gut pile in the creek. Busbice admitted that he did not call Warden Baird because he was concerned about having recently been cited for previous wildlife violations. At this time Warden Baird seized both elk from Busbice and an unedited video of his hunt.
“Mr. Busbice told me they had been filming the elk hunt to feature on his reality TV hunting show,” Baird said. The video and audio recording shows that Mr. Busbice shot several times at a large bull in a herd of elk and missed several times. The video then shows Mr. Busbice shooting and hitting a calf, and the calf goes down.
“On his fourth shot, Busbice hits the bull in the left shoulder,” Baird said. It then falls to the ground. At the end of the video you can hear Busbice say, “We have to eliminate that part when I shot a cow.” He also is recorded saying, “Yeah, but we got to get rid of that cow.”
Judge Zebre sentenced Mr. Busbice to 180 days of jail suspended, providing that he lead a law abiding life during one and a half years of unsupervised probation; he was sentenced to pay the maximum fines for both violations and the maximum in restitution for the illegal take of both elk for a total of $23,000.00; and had all of his game and fish license privileges revoked for two years to include all of 2017 and 2018. Because Wyoming is part of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, this loss of his license privileges applies in 45 states, including his home state of Louisiana.
“There are many take-home messages from this event,” Baird said. “We are extremely grateful to the sportsmen that reported these violations. The successful prosecution of this case likely would not have happened without them.”
The bull elk he was convicted of shooting illegally was a highly visible large bull elk. The bull roughly scored over 350 inches. Mr. Busbice was also cited earlier in 2016 of false oath for purchasing a resident general elk license as a nonresident and purchasing more than the authorized number of deer licenses and paid $1430.00 in fines for those violations.
GREEN RIVER - On May 23, 2017 Billy A. Busbice Jr. of Olla, Louisiana appeared before Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Frank Zebre and pled guilty to charges of intentionally allowing an antlerless elk to go to waste and an additional charge of taking an elk without the proper license. Busbice stars on Wildgame Nation, a reality hunting show on the Outdoor Channel, and also owns an outdoor products company.
The case started on October 16, 2016 when Kemmerer Game Warden Chris Baird received a report from a group of hunters that had observed a possible wildlife violation on the Spring Creek Ranch, which is owned by Busbice, on La Barge Creek. “The hunters told me that on the morning of October 15th they observed a man hunting on the ranch,” Baird said. “Apparently, there was a younger man with the hunter who had a video camera and appeared to be filming the hunt. They watched the hunter shoot one elk, presumably a cow, and then shoot a bull. The first elk fell within around 60 yards of where the bull went down. They observed the hunter and the cameraman walk up to look at the bull and then leave the area.”
Warden Baird also was told that another man came and field dressed the bull and hauled it away with a backhoe. “The hunters told me the first elk, which was later determined to be a bull calf, still lay in the meadow after the man had taken the bull away with the backhoe,” Baird said.
Baird knew Busbice had a Commissioner’s elk license and that there had been a very large bull elk frequenting the ranch. On October 17th Baird met with Busbice before he flew to Louisiana. Baird’s summary of this encounter is that after a short interview, Busbice admitted to having accidently killed a calf elk while trying to harvest the large bull. Busbice stated that after the sun had gone down he had instructed the ranch manager and the cameraman to drag the calf elk into an irrigation ditch to conceal it. No attempt to field dress or preserve meat from the calf was made. Interviews of the cameraman and the ranch manager revealed similar stories and the men admitted to having concealed the calf in the ditch and disposing of the bull’s gut pile in the creek. Busbice admitted that he did not call Warden Baird because he was concerned about having recently been cited for previous wildlife violations. At this time Warden Baird seized both elk from Busbice and an unedited video of his hunt.
“Mr. Busbice told me they had been filming the elk hunt to feature on his reality TV hunting show,” Baird said. The video and audio recording shows that Mr. Busbice shot several times at a large bull in a herd of elk and missed several times. The video then shows Mr. Busbice shooting and hitting a calf, and the calf goes down.
“On his fourth shot, Busbice hits the bull in the left shoulder,” Baird said. It then falls to the ground. At the end of the video you can hear Busbice say, “We have to eliminate that part when I shot a cow.” He also is recorded saying, “Yeah, but we got to get rid of that cow.”
Judge Zebre sentenced Mr. Busbice to 180 days of jail suspended, providing that he lead a law abiding life during one and a half years of unsupervised probation; he was sentenced to pay the maximum fines for both violations and the maximum in restitution for the illegal take of both elk for a total of $23,000.00; and had all of his game and fish license privileges revoked for two years to include all of 2017 and 2018. Because Wyoming is part of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, this loss of his license privileges applies in 45 states, including his home state of Louisiana.
“There are many take-home messages from this event,” Baird said. “We are extremely grateful to the sportsmen that reported these violations. The successful prosecution of this case likely would not have happened without them.”
The bull elk he was convicted of shooting illegally was a highly visible large bull elk. The bull roughly scored over 350 inches. Mr. Busbice was also cited earlier in 2016 of false oath for purchasing a resident general elk license as a nonresident and purchasing more than the authorized number of deer licenses and paid $1430.00 in fines for those violations.
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 07-23-2017 at 05:56 AM. Reason: add on
07-23-2017, 05:51 AM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
Until the courts start treating wildlife crimes as crimes and stop slapping these bums on the wrists with things like "unsupervised probation and suspending the jail time and handing out Micky mouse little fines this kind of person will just laugh and continue to go on his way. He still has five states and the rest of the world to hunt and violate in. Two years loss of license, what a freaking joke! He would have gotten a lot more time in my state.
07-23-2017, 08:51 AM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
The Outdoor Channel said it was immediately dropping the show from it's lineup and a number of companies he was associated with have kicked his sorry butt out the door! Even if he loses everything over this he's still got more money than anyone would ever need to lead a high rollers life. He has a 35,000 acre ranch that he high fenced for Lord knows how many million dollars and that other ranch in southwest Wyoming where he got nailed. Hopefully, it will make a bunch of these sleazeball guys on some of these other shows change their ways and realize we aren't going to put up with that garbage! Too bad the court was so lenient with the jerk!
