In Lemon’s Millard County, the customer’s involvement was limited to being transported in an all-terrain vehicle to the spot where a cougar had been trapped in a tree and driving two bullets into the animal’s body.
Lemon, 61, has been guiding hunters in Utah since the late 1970s and has made his service one of Utah’s largest with overseas operations in Mexico and Africa. Lemon and his guides have helped more than 2,000 consumers “realize their dream of harvesting a Trophy. “Mountain Lion,” according to the Wade Lemon Hunting website.
“We are not lion hunters, we are lion hunters,” the site says. “Until you’ve observed a pack of dogs running on a track, never fully perceive a dog’s hobby watching a smart dog work. “
The Millard County case is one of many in Lemon’s operations, but the time to lead to burglar charges. The sting operation was carried out on January 24, 2021, after a dog discovered rows of cougars near Meadow Canyon in Millard County. That person, known as a “confidential witness,” worked with state investigators, according to the indictment.
The anonymous cooperating witness called Lemon to tell him he was following a cougar and asked if he had a client who wanted to take one, and Lemon replied that he could be there in a few hours with a hunter.
Lemon asked the witness to release some of his dogs, but to hold some for his client’s arrival. At 11:47 a. m. , the witness called Lemon to tell him that his dogs had caught a cougar that was “resting in a tree, According to the documents, the witness told the consultant that all of his dogs had been released in the cougar chase, so he no longer had to let go to gain advantage from the client. Lemon responded by asking what kind of vehicle he would want. to access the site and if dogs can only be heard from the road.
“He said it was okay if you couldn’t hear it from the road. It’s a fraud,” said Willoughby, the prosecutor. Lemon says, “We’re going to load other dogs into dog boxes just for the sake of the effect. “This is evidence of the fraud perpetrated against this hunter. They hide the fact that the dogs have already been released.
The scam involves tricking the visitor into believing that dogs were not released until they joined the lawsuit, he said.
“As they prepare the hunter, you release an organization of other dogs that will look at the hunter as if it were a toast when the dogs are released,” Willoughby continued. “The thing is, when the hunter gets to the place where you shoot the cougar, he’s in a tree and now there are a lot of dogs around the base of the tree. “
Unless the hunter counts the dogs, he probably wouldn’t suspect something is wrong.
The client, a sandy man, told investigators he had no idea the hunt had been organized and that the cougar had already been located before it arrived.
Report lost paper by emailing subscribe@sltrib. com or calling 801-237-2900
If you have questions or about electronic publishing, please call visitor service at 801-237-2900 or email subscribe@sltrib. com
© sltrib. com 1996-2022 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved.