On Sept. 24 the Wyoming Game and Fish Department wrapped up a multi-year investigation when Rodney Gilstrap of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was sentenced on multiple wildlife-related violations. The charges stemmed from false claims of being a Wyoming resident beginning in 2018 and illegally killing deer, elk, and pronghorn in western Wyoming.
Game Warden James Hobbs began the investigation in 2019 after receiving anonymous tips that Gilstrap, who was living and working in Idaho, was claiming to be a Wyoming resident for the purpose of obtaining resident hunting licenses. Shortly after receiving the information, Hobbs and investigators began researching his background and grew to suspect he had committed multiple wildlife-related crimes from 2018 to 2021.
Partnering with the Idaho Fish and Game department, search warrants were served at Gilstrap’s residence in Idaho Falls on March 18, 2022. There officers recovered four large mule deer heads/antlers, two bull elk heads/antlers and one buck pronghorn head/horns. The animals were killed in Wyoming using resident licenses that Gilstrap either illegally obtained or killed without any license.
He was charged with 22 wildlife crimes in 2023. Among them were multiple false statements to procure Wyoming resident general deer, elk, black bear, archery and fishing licenses, and the killing of a mule deer, two elk and pronghorn antelope without proper licenses.
Gilstrap accepted a plea deal in 2024 and pleaded guilty to three counts of making false statements to procure Wyoming resident deer and elk licenses, and three counts of killing deer and elk without the proper licenses. Other charges were dropped in the terms of the agreement.
He was sentenced to 540 days in jail. Five hundred and nineteen of them were suspended, reducing jail time to 21 days, with three years of unsupervised probation. The plea deal also required payment of $10,000 in restitution to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and $17,905 in fines, forfeiture of all seized heads/antlers and an 18-year suspension of his game and fish privileges in Wyoming and all member states of the Wildlife Violator Compact.
His lawyers filed an appeal on multiple grounds shortly after, but in June of this year Lincoln County (Wyoming) District Court Judge Joseph Bluemel affirmed the original judgement and sentence. A subsequent motion for sentence reduction/modification by Gilstrap’s attorney was denied on Sept. 24.
He reported to the Lincoln County Detention Center on Nov. 7 to begin serving the jail sentence on a modified, work-release schedule. The 21-day sentence will be completed in September 2026.
