WYOMING — Three men have been charged with more than 100 wildlife violations in one of the most significant poaching cases in Wyoming history, according to Wyoming Game and Fish officials.
The felony and misdemeanor charges resulted from a seven-year, multi-agency investigation spanning four states and involving thousands of hours of investigations and efforts by state and federal wildlife law enforcement officers, county and federal prosecutors and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department forensic laboratory personnel.
“Investigating and successfully prosecuting a case of this size and scope required years of effort by many individuals and agencies,” Rick King Game and Fish chief game warden said. “Dozens of people worked hard to make sure that even though some of these violations occurred a decade or more ago, they would not go unpunished.”
Russell Vick of Alabama, Robert Underwood of Oklahoma and David Underwood of South Dakota were convicted of numerous wildlife offenses and cumulatively fined $171,230 and $131,550 in restitution.
According to WGFD, the case began in October 2015 when a Gillette game warden received a request from a hunter for an interstate game tag to accompany a deer head as it was shipped to Vick for taxidermy work at an Alabama address. However, a database search showed Vick’s Wyoming address and that he purchased Wyoming resident hunting licenses for several years. With this conflicting information, the warden began to unravel the case that would eventually identify dozens of wildlife violations in four different counties in Wyoming.
Russell Vick
- Vick was charged with illegally killing two bighorn sheep rams and a bull elk without a license during closed seasons and trespassing on private property to hunt without permission in 2006
- Vick was additionally charged as an accessory in the illegal taking of two wild turkeys and a bull elk
- He pleaded guilty to illegally killing a bighorn sheep without contesting the accessory charges on Dec. 22, 2021, with sentencing on May 27, 2022. Vick was sentenced to 20 to 24 months in state prison for poaching a bighorn sheep ram near Cody in 2012
Robert Underwood
- Underwood was charged with illegally killing a bull elk and a wild turkey without a license during a closed season
- He was charged as an accessory to the illegal killing of two bighorn sheep rams, a wild turkey and a bull elk without a license and during a closed season. He was also charged with trespassing to hunt on private land without permission
- The offenses occurred in 2006
David Underwood
- David underwood was also charged with killing a wild turkey without a license during closed season
- Additionally, he was charged as an accessory for Vick’s killing of a bighorn sheep ram and a wild turkey without licenses during a closed season and for trespassing on private property to hunt without permission
- The offenses occurred in 2006
As required by state statute, the $171,230 in fines imposed by the judges in these wildlife poaching cases will be distributed to the public school fund in the counties where the violations occurred. As required by state statute, the $131,550 in restitution imposed by the judges in these cases will be deposited into a Wyoming Game and Fish Department account that is used to purchase access easements to public and private land.
