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Durango man fined for baiting bighorn sheep
Posted on June 14, 2010 by Bob Berwyn
Illegal salt licks cause big problems for big game
By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A La Plata County man was fined $156 and lost his hunting privileges
for a year after pleading guilty to to baiting wildlife near Vallecito Reservoir, east of Durango.
Dave Hall, 52, admitted to spreading more than 1,000 pounds of salt during the last two years in
at least four areas. He told Colorado Division of Wildlife officers that he placed salt blocks and
spread granular salt in numerous areas because he believed the bighorns needed extra nutrition.
Baiting big game wildlife in Colorado is illegal and can cause long-term problems for animal
herds. Animals find natural salt licks and don’t need artificial supplements, DOW officials said.
Hall was originally charged with two counts of wildlife baiting and two counts as an accomplice
in the illegal take of two bighorn rams. The plea was entered in Hinsdale County Court, the
county where the violation took place. The district attorney’s office for that area negotiated the
plea agreement.

The salt draws big game and concentrated an unusually high number of bighorns in a small area.
Concentrating animals causes numerous problems: Animals that are bunched up can easily pass
diseases and parasites to each other; they become easy prey for mountain lions and easy targets
for hunters.

There are only three hunting licenses issued for this area and two rams were killed at one of the
bait sites during the 2009 season. The hunters did not know the sites were being baited.

“Once animals get on salt they won’t leave, they get addicted to it. Bighorns naturally migrate in
and out of areas and this has significantly interrupted their patterns,” said District Wildlife
Manager Cary Carron, the Colorado Division of Wildlife officer who investigated the case. “The
other big problem is that the salt is now imbedded in the soil and will attract bighorns to those
areas for the next five years or more. There’s nothing that can be done to get all of it out of the
soil.”

The Pine River herd numbers about 100 animals.

The investigation started in August 2009 when Carron was participating in a standard bighorn
population count. While walking along a ridgeline he noticed signs that showed an unusually
high number of bighorn sheep were using the area. Eventually he came upon two 50-pound salt
blocks that had been placed there.

In the course of the investigation he talked with a U.S. Forest Service biologist and a hunter who
had noticed an unusually high number of sheep staying in the area.

Carron and other investigators started doing surveillance in the area when bighorn hunting
season started in late August 2009. Numerous interviews with informants led them to Hall.
During an interview with Hall in early September 2009, he first denied any knowledge of the salt
licks. Upon further questioning he admitted that he had placed the salt. Hall did not have a
hunting license for that area and said that he did not guide hunters or receive any money for his
actions. He accompanied one hunter who harvested a ram in 2009, but the hunter didn’t know
about the salt.

Baiting of big game is a problem throughout Colorado. If you hear about someone baiting or
notice salt licks in an area where there is no apparent livestock grazing, contact a local DOW
office, or call Operation Game Thief at 1-877-265-6648.

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