State game wardens on Saturday arrested three alleged poachers whom they said had illegally hunted deer, boar and elk in rural counties and sold the meat to individuals and a neighborhood market in Sacramento.
Dubbed “Operation High Hog,” the two-month investigation resulted in the arrests of Bryan Douglas Carrion, 46, of Colusa, Gerald Henry Martin, 36, of Pollock Pines and Jason Robert Martinez, 37, of Elk Grove.
“All three have had fish and game histories,” said. Lt. Patrick Foy, spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game. “They’ve been on our radar screen for a long time.”
Wardens executing search warrants at the suspects’ homes, buyers’ residences and the market seized about 50 pounds of wild game, Foy said.
The investigation began this summer when ranchers in the foothills of Colusa, Glenn and Butte counties reported suspected poachers on their lands.
Their vehicle descriptions allowed wardens to track the men, including by aircraft at night, Foy said.
The suspects illegally snared animals and used bright lights to immobilize them and make them easier to shoot in a practice known as “spot lighting,” he said.
“Hunting at night with no license, without permission from property owners, spotlighting and snares,” Foy said. “That’s poaching defined.”
All three were convicted felons who are prohibited from possessing firearms, Foy said. Martin was found possessing 38 guns, he said.
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