Judge should throw book at hunting guide: Crown

An Oliver hunting guide should pay up $30,000 in fines and lose his rifle and ATV after baiting and killing a bear, a Penticton judge heard Tuesday.

James Darin Wiens, 51, pleaded guilty to hunting with bait, feeding or attempting to feed dangerous wildlife and hunting from a motorized vehicle during.

Court heard that in May 2016, two officers posed as American hunters and contacted Wiens about a guided tour. Undercover officers photographed Wiens using fryer grease, bacon and dog food as bait to lure bears.

“He knew the rules and he abused them,” Crown counsel John Blackman said.

Wiens was photographed securing a dead bear to his ATV after he had instructed an undercover officer to shoot it.

Crown is asking that Wiens pay back the $6,300 he charged the undercover officers for the guided tour. Crown is also asking that Wiens pay an additional fine in the $25,000 to $30,000 range.

Defence counsel Kevin Church argued officers manipulated Wiens into baiting the bear by telling Wiens they were short on time for the trip and had to return to the States in order for one hunter to be with his dying grandmother.

Church argued the reasoning was more than a coincidence considering Wiens’ grandmother had died two months before the trip.

Judge Michelle Daneliuk reserved her decision to an as-yet undetermined date.