Charges Filed in Barnes County Poaching Case
Three Area Men Charged With Combined 39 Misdemeanors
In May, Nick Simonson broke news that six Barnes County individuals could face criminal charges for their alleged participation in the illegal taking of big game and other violations.
“Combined, the complaints against the individuals are anticipated to allege 41 criminal charges in North Dakota’s Southeast Judicial District Court,” Simonson wrote in May.
Three of those individuals Simonson refers to in his article—Jakob Ashline, Payne Drake, both of Valley City, and Ryan Rudolph of Spiritwood— have now been charged with a combined 39 misdemeanor violations. These include hunting without a license, tampering with evidence, providing false information to law enforcement, concealment of big game unlawfully taken or possessed, and violating the protection of big game animals.
Ashline faces 23 Class A and B Misdemeanors,
Drake faces 9 and Rudolph is looking at 7. The individuals were charged and warrants were issued for their arrest. In North Dakota, the maximum penalty for a Class A Misdemeanor is 360 days in jail and/or a $3,000 fine, while the maximum penalty for a B Misdemeanor is 30 days in jail and/or a $1,500 fine.
Others Named in Connection to Violations
The Barnes County State’s Attorney’s Office’s documents filed in the Ashline, Drake and Rudolph cases include Affidavits in which Warden Greg Hastings ( North Dakota Game and Fish Department) provides statements about the investigation. Hastings said that he and other wardens in the area began receiving reports of whitetail deer poaching in Barnes County in October of last year. As the investigation, they determined three individuals they believed to be involved: Ashline, Rudolph and Drake.
“All three individuals were interviewed several times throughout the course of this investigation,” Hastings stated. “Through the course of these interviews, other individuals were also found to be involved, Calvin Bjornson, Mathew Nelson, and A.S. being a few of those individuals.”
Calvin Bjornson, along with Tyler Anderson and Taylor Hejtmanek, were mentioned in Simonson’s May 2020 article as three of the six individuals expected to face criminal charges in connection with the wildlife-related violations in Barnes County. Anderson and Hejtmanek, Simonson wrote, might face charges “including refusal to halt, hunting with artificial light and illegal use of a rifle or handgun in the taking of raccoon or beaver,” while Bjornson could face charges including “failure to properly tag big game and aiding in concealment of game unlawfully taken.”
In the criminal documents, Calvin Bjornson, Mathew Nelson, A.S. and Tyler Anderson are listed under State’s Witnesses in Ashline’s, Drake’s and Rudolph’s criminal documents, while Taylor Hejtmanek is listed under State’s Witnesses in Rudolph’s and Drake’s
Interviews & Evidence
Warden Hastings’ deposition in the documents reveals that during an interview in January 2020, Ashline admitted to shooting six deer without a big game license and the “required locking seal.” These deer were killed over a three month period—from October to December 2019.
“Several deer that were shot by Ashline had their antlers removed after being shot,” Hasting said. “All 6 deer were left to waste after being shot, either in whole, with Deer 6, or with their antlers removed, with Deer 1-5.”
Physical evidence that was recovered during the investigation includes two deer heads that Ashline admitted to having thrown into the river. Deer antlers, which Ashline told Warden Hastings he threw into open water near the Mill Dam, were also recovered. Though Ashline did not admit to shooting Deer 7, found near Paul Metcalf’s farm in October 2019, the antlers recovered at the Mill Dam area— where he’d admitted to dumping antlers—were confirmed to be from Deer 7 through DNA analysis.
According to Warden Hasting’s statements, Drake said he didn’t shoot any deer but admitted to being with
Ashline when all of the deer were shot and aiding Ashline in moving the deer and taking pictures.
Hasting’s sworn deposition also reveals that Drake reached out to Warden Dahlgren in May 2020 to provide information about “additional deer carcasses in a pit northern Barnes County.” Hastings stated that when “Warden Dahlgren asked Drake why he was reaching out now…Drake responded ‘looking back, what we did was [messed] up.’” Drake said that there should be four or five sets of antlers in the pit and the carcass of Deer 5.
Wardens Dahlgren and Hastings searched the pit, locating what Drake had described. Drake told the wardens that the items “were brought out there the night the search warrant on [Ashline’s] Ford Raptor was executed, which was December 19, 2019.”
In Simonson’s May 2020 article, he quotes Barnes County Wildlife Federation ( BCWF) President Perry Kapaun who is reacting to the news of these individuals’ actions:
“These are actions of slobs and poachers, not hunters; they take away opportunities from many people young and old to lawfully harvest an animal, and here they were needlessly slaughtered and went to waste,” he said. “It’s a bad deal, it goes against everything that outdoorsmen and women and BCWF stand for.”
According to the criminal documents from the Barnes County State’s Attorney’s Office, Ashline and Rudolph “may be released upon posting bail in the amount of $250 and signing a promise to appear.” An arrest warrant was not issued for Drake. He was issued a summons to appear before the District Court on October 5th.