Case Against Idaho Man Exposes Black Market for Big Game Tags

Karl W. Studer, 43, spent over $150,000 purchasing Landowner Appreciation Tags (LAPs) in 2023, according to an affidavit and criminal complaint obtained by MeatEater. Studer owns a ranch called 3 String Cattle of Idaho in the southern portion of the state and is the President of Electric Power for Quanta Services.

LAP tags are only available to Idaho landowners via a lottery, and it is illegal to sell or market them. However, according to Idaho hunters who spoke with MeatEater, the market for landowner tags has been active for many years.

Lee Birch has been hunting big game in Idaho since the mid-1990s, and he’s been aware of landowner tags being bought and sold for the last 15 years, often by using a “trespass fee” as cover.

“This is the first time I know that there’s proof it has been going on,” he said. “I know there are many lifelong hunters like myself who’ve done it the right way, and we want to pass on this heritage to our kids, and hopefully their kids. But this makes all hunters look bad.”

Ryan Callaghan, MeatEater’s Director of Conservation, called this case a “corruption of good intent.”

“Idaho's Land Owner Appreciation Program was created to incentivize good stewardship of natural resources. Resources we all get to benefit from,” he explained. “But when alleged corruption takes place like this case in Idaho, the public trust is violated. We can't support a system that increasingly looks like it was designed for individuals to skip the line and predate solely on ‘monster bulls.’”

“Monster bulls” appear to have been Studer’s primary motivation. He’s been charged with four counts of “solicitation to sell or market landowner appreciation program tags,” but the 67-page affidavit outlines multiple other crimes, including killing two trophy bull elk with his son’s and friend’s tags; killing an overlimit of elk; harassing wildlife from helicopters; using those helicopters to hunt illegally; and even at one point wounding an antelope and keeping it alive in the back of his truck.

Studer and his attorney initially responded to a MeatEater request for comment, but subsequent attempts to contact them went unanswered, and they never supplied a statement.

A spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game also declined to comment but said questions should be directed to Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs. Loebs cautioned that there will be many twists and turns as the case progresses through the court (including a potential plea deal), but he assured Idaho hunters that his office will be treating this case as seriously as any other.

"There are so many variables between now and then that predicting or guaranteeing anything between now and then isn't possible," he told MeatEater. "We're going to handle this like any other case. We have 1,000 felony cases a year, and we do each one of them with the same level of attention as the one next to it. We take it seriously. If we didn't, we wouldn't have filed it."

Trouble in the Air

Studer first appeared on the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s radar in 2020 when someone submitted a complaint that a red helicopter with white accents was chasing elk north of Gooding, Idaho. Then, in 2023, the department received additional complaints about the same helicopter, and Officer Meghan Roos obtained search warrants for electronic data for Studer and two of his associates.

That data contained text messages indicating that Studer and others were buying and selling LAPs, which justified additional warrants. In total, IDFG obtained 15 search warrants for geolocation information, cell phone data, iCloud storage, and onX data, along with the searches of six residences and a business.

That information revealed that Studer had been asking to buy LAP tags from other parties and, according to the affidavit, planning to re-sell those tags at a later date.

A note found on Studer’s iCloud account appears to show a list of tags he purchased last year.

LAP tags are offered to landowners with more than 640 acres via a drawing (owners of between 320 and 640 acres are eligible to purchase leftover tags). Only one LAP tag per landowner can be issued for deer, elk, pronghorn, and black bear, but that tag is good not only for that property but for the entire Big Game Management Unit (BGMU). A survey of Studer’s ranch on OnX indicates his property exceeds 3,000 acres in BGMU 52 and backs up to BLM land.

Tags can be given to other parties prior to the season beginning, but Idaho Fish and Game rules state that it is illegal to “sell or market” LAP vouchers or tags. The rules do not explicitly prohibit purchasing these tags, but text messages reveal that Studer actively requested to purchase tags, which is why he’s being charged with four counts of “solicitation” to market the tags.

For example, the affidavit points to a text exchange between Studer and Ryan Smith, one of Studer’s associates, that indicates the pair were in cahoots to sell and market a muzzleloader elk tag for $15,000.

Smith was named as a suspect in the affidavit but has not yet been charged with any crime.

During the text exchange, Smith said they “want to keep the landower to ourselves,” to which Studer responded, “Agreed let's leave it very quiet.” Smith replied, “It's good resource and don't want anyone else to find out. Thanks.”

These messages indicate a “conspiracy to sell LAP tags and intent to conceal the crime,” Roos writes in her report.

As the note in Studer’s phone indicates, a muzzleloader elk tag for BGMU 54 wasn’t the only LAP tag the rancher tried to buy. He also bought several sets of LAPs from another suspect named in the affidavit, Rodney Gonsales. These include a rifle deer tag for BGMU 52 that Gonsales offered for $10,000, an elk tag for $10,000, and another deer tag for $15,000.

Gonsales has been charged with two counts of violating Fish and Game Rules and has pleaded not guilty.

Other messages indicate Studer’s desire to “flip” some of these tags for money–not just for trespass rights.

“The idea of flipping tags is further indication that Studer was not discussing access rights or trespass rights to land but was rather discussing the sale of tags,” the affidavit reads. In fact, Roos writes elsewhere, “at no time during any tag purchase discussions were they discussing trespass fees. The discussion centered around tags and not trespass rights or fees.”

“Once people realize you don’t have to pay $30,000 for a guided hunt in Utah to get a trophy mule deer–you can buy a landowner tag in Idaho and kill one up there,” Birch added. “It’s that mentality. A lot of people, especially if they’ve just moved here, aren’t aware that that’s a tag that should never be sold.”

Wrong Tags, Wrong Elk

It’s worth noting that Studer legally obtained 10 big game tags in 2023, including a Deer Super Hunt Tag (which he won by purchasing $32,469 worth of entries into that lottery) a Moose Super Hunt Tag (which he won by purchasing $27,042 worth of entries), and elk and deer LAP tags.

This, apparently, wasn’t enough hunting opportunity. The affidavit also describes three massive bulls Studer killed in 2023, two of which he tagged with someone else’s tag and the last of which was one bull more than he was allowed to kill.

The affidavit offers evidence that Studer killed a trophy class bull on September 26th in BGMU 54, but he did not immediately tag the animal. Instead, he waited until the next day and tagged it with a tag from another of his associates, Brandon Wilcox. Wilcox has been charged with two counts of molesting game with a motorized vehicle and one count of transfer or using another's license, tag, or permit. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

“Studer’s failure to comply with the guiding and tagging regulations, likely so that he could continue to hunt and look for larger bull elk, makes the elk that was killed on September 26th, 2023, unlawfully taken and then possessed,” reads the affidavit.

Studer did ultimately report that he’d killed that bull (which he estimated as scoring close to 400 inches), but he claimed he shot it on October 14, 2023. Roos notes in her affidavit, however, that she found a photo of that bull in Studer’s iCloud with an origin date of September 26th. She also found an exact copy of that photograph with the origin date removed but with a “date modified” of October 14, 2023.

“I believe Studer and/or Wilcox doctored the photo to make it appear the photo had been taken on October 14th instead of September 26th,” she writes.

The day after killing the first bull, Studer killed another bull on September 27th, 2023, in BGMU 54. This time, according to the affidavit, he used his son’s tag on the elk, but his son didn’t purchase the tag until the next day.

“Studer did not immediately tag the elk as required by law and when he did it wasn't until the next day when he used [his son’s] tag to cover the elk,” the affidavit reads. “Studer’s failure to tag the elk as required by law and then continued conduct covering the elk with another's tag means that Studer did not complete the process of taking the elk lawfully and therefore took the elk unlawfully.”

About a month after Studer shot his second elk, he went hunting with his son, who shot an elk but couldn’t recover it. Studer’s son went home while Studer continued tracking the animal. At 8:25 pm on October 30, 2023, another of Studer’s sons texted his dad to ask whether he’d found the wounded elk.

Studer said he couldn’t find the original elk, but he “shot monster at 1005 yards. I'm terrible place to get him out. But got him.” His son asks whether he means a monster elk or deer, and Studer responds, “Monster Elk.” His son texted back, “1000+ yards too. What like to call American sniper.”

“Although Studer did not properly tag those elk, he had already shot two elk. Thus, this third elk exceeded his bag limit in violation of Idaho Code. Studer admits that he possessed said elk… thus putting him in possession of an unlawfully taken animal in violation of Idaho Code,” the affidavit reads.

Pronghorn Ride

Along with four counts of soliciting LAP tags, one count of taking an overlimit of bull elk (a felony) and two counts of unlawful taking of trophy bull elk (both felonies), Studer is also being charged with an attempted unlawful taking of a trophy elk (a felony), six counts of conspiracy to molest wildlife with a motorized vehicle, three counts of communicating with an aircraft to locate game animals, one count of intentionally interfering with a lawful hunt, one count of providing consideration for lawful guiding, and, strangest of all, unlawful possession of a trophy pronghorn antelope (a felony).

Roos found a video in Studer’s iCloud showing a live pronghorn antelope in the back of his truck. The pronghorn can be seen gasping in the bed.

“I had to run to Sun Valley to get lighting for my house on way home thought would stop real fast and look for antelope where Jeff got his,” Studer said in a text message. “Big guy showed up. 760 yards and wiped him out. But he passed out and woke up in the back of the Tacoma.”

Idaho law prohibits possessing live animals without a permit, which Studer allegedly violated by loading the live pronghorn into his truck and then taking the time to shoot two videos of the animal. A mount of the speed goat was eventually discovered in the shop of a local taxidermist.

“It made me sick. It’s disgusting,” Birch said of this account. “I don’t know why someone would ever think that was OK, even if it was 100% legal to do something like that–ethically, I don’t know how you could.”

“An Unfair Advantage”

Birch told MeatEater that he’s not opposed to landowner tags per se, and many states give landowners special tags in exchange for public access or conservation work. Private land comprises a larger percentage of most states, so it’s important to work with landowners to protect wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities.

Birch would even support a program that allows landowners to sell their tags. However, he thinks those tags should only be used on the landowner’s property. Selling landowner tags for an entire unit not only commercializes wildlife–it takes away opportunities for public land hunters who follow the law.

“It creates an unfair advantage to the wealthy, so when we finally draw a trophy unit we’ll never draw again, we’re competing against some rich guy who can hunt not only on public but on private also,” Birch explained.

Callaghan also cautioned against vilifying all landowners, but reiterated that landowner appreciation tags should ultimately serve the public.

“Landowners who are trying to make a living in agriculture have it tough, and most hunters would agree that in order to maintain the North American model of wildlife management–where free-roaming game belongs to the people, not the landowner–landowners who make a living off of the land, who provide habitat for game species and livestock alike through the stewardship and management of land, should be considered for certain types of compensation through the state,” he said.

However, “if the LAP isn't a population control program, if it isn't a program to mitigate damage to crops, or pastureland, if it isn't an accessible-access program, if it is, in fact, a backdoor that enables the wealthy who are ‘in-the-know,’ then it shouldn't be an IDFG or State of Idaho program,” Callaghan concluded.

Whether anything changes in the Gem State will ultimately be determined by Idaho residents. The Idaho Fish and Game Commission is responsible for setting hunting policies, and the state legislature has recently been more engaged in setting wildlife regulations. Both entities can be contacted by members of the public.

Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs also encouraged anyone with information related to this case to contact his office.

If convicted of all 17 misdemeanors and all three felonies, Studer faces a potential fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars and over 20 years in prison. He could also have his hunting privileges revoked for life.

Images via affidavit obtained by MeatEater.