Hunting Outfitter Gets 3 1/2 Years

DENVER (CN) - A 72-year-old big game outfitter was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in prison for six felony elk and deer takings, federal prosecutors said.

Dennis Rodebaugh, of Meeker, Colo., also was fined $44,890: $7,500 to the Lacey Act reward fund and $37,390 in restitution to Colorado for the illegally taken deer and elk, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

A federal jury convicted him in September of aiding and abetting six violations of the Lacey Act "by providing outfitting and guiding services from salt-baited tree-stands between 2005 and 2007," prosecutors said in a statement. He charged $1,200 to $1,600 for the hunts through his business, D&S Guide and Outfitter, prosecutors said.

"Each spring and summer, Mr. Rodebaugh placed hundreds of pounds of salt as bait near the tree-stands from which his clients would hunt deer and elk with archery equipment," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "The placement and use of salt to aid in the taking of big game is unlawful in Colorado. The interstate sale of big game outfitting and guiding services for the unlawful taking of big game with the aid of bait constitutes a violation of the Lacey Act."

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