Former Utah Wildlife Board Member Accused of Illegal Baiting

Wade Raymond Heaton, 51, along with six of his hunting guides at Color Country Outfitters have been accused of baiting mule deer during the 2022 and 2023 hunting seasons, according to legal filings obtained by MeatEater. Using bait to hunt big game has been illegal since the legislature passed a ban that went into effect in May 2021.

"Baiting — when food or nutrient substances are placed to manipulate the behavior of wildlife for the purpose of taking or attempting to take big game — is illegal. The investigation found evidence that several deer appear to have been taken using bait by hunters during the 2022 and 2023 hunting seasons," a Utah Department of Natural Resources spokesperson said in a statement.

In 2019, Gov. Gary Herbert appointed Heaton to serve on the Wildlife Board, which governs policy and regulation related to hunting, fishing, and trapping. But Heaton abruptly resigned in 2023. DWR director Justin Shirley thanked Heaton for his four years of service, and a representative from the DWR posted on a mule deer hunting forum that Heaton had resigned because “he was too busy.”

Now, Utah hunters have a better understanding of what he was busy doing.

“A reminder of our decision about feed,” reads a text message from Heaton to his guides quoted in court documents. “We are going to keep the hunters as removed from it as possible. No feeding with a hunter in the truck... Keeping the feed out of sight of the public. Those of you that are feeding, no stacking key licks in the back of the truck and no stopping at Todd’s.”

In a probable cause statement penned by Mark Ekins of the Division of Wildlife Resources, investigators lay out their evidence for charging Heaton with two felony counts of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, one felony count of pattern of unlawful activity, four misdemeanor counts of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, one misdemeanor count of taking protected wildlife, and three misdemeanor counts of conspiracy. Along with Heaton, six of his hunting guides are named as defendants: Jeremy Chamberlain, Joshua Jennings, Braxton Heaton, Jared Steele, Andrew Heaton, and Forrest Barnard.

The case began in August of 2023 when an investigator with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources received a tip that Color Country Outfitters (CCO) was using bait to attract deer. Investigators went out to CCO’s property and found corn spread across the ground but no cattle that could explain the presence of the feed.

They did, however, find a game camera pointed at the corn along with a hunting blind.

Further surveillance revealed Steele and Barnard pouring corn at other sites and cutting shooting lanes from the blind to the bait. For the next several days, investigators uncovered evidence that Steele was bringing clients to hunt the bait sites.

Hunting clients, none of whom have been named as defendants in the case, told DWR investigators that they were shown images of bucks and allowed to pick which one they wanted to hunt. When one of them asked about the corn on the ground, CCO guides told them that they were cattle stations that had been approved by the DWR.

Clients usually paid between $3,000 and $40,000 for the privilege of hunting on the legendary Paunsaugunt Plateau, with one hunter laying down a whopping $48,000 for the chance to kill a baited buck that went by the nickname “Wolfman.”

With that kind of money on the line, it’s easy to see how Heaton decided to continue baiting after the practice was banned in 2021. While it remains legal to put down corn during the offseason and for livestock feeding purposes, the DWR is clear that any feeding that changes a big game animal’s behavior is illegal.

When interviewed by law enforcement, Heaton claimed that “if things are put out by the livestock producer for livestock purposes, it was legal to hunt over it.” He said there had been cows on the property from July 1 until approximately August 15, and that they’d cleaned up all the corn before hunting season began.

Unfortunately for Heaton, investigators found no cows on the entire property during their in-person and remote surveillance. But they did find texts from Heaton demonstrating his intention to use cattle to justify their continued feeding efforts.

“Whatsapp messages between Defendant Wade Heaton and the hunting guides showed that they had relied on baiting prior to the ban and were concerned about the ban’s effect on their clients’ hunting success rate and the guides’ time spent finding deer,” court documents read.

In March 2021, Heaton joked that “we are changing the name of CCO to… ‘We got cows.’” In April of that year, Heaton posted a photo of mineral/corn feed tubs (which were later determined to be deer feeder tubs) with the title, “Check out our new cattle feed!”

The rest of the probable cause statement lists evidence for each accusation, much of which was gleaned from Steele’s cell phone.

Trail cam photos from one bait site, for example, show hundreds of images of mule deer eating corn and feed but no photographs of any cows. In other text messages from Steele’s phone, Heaton asks whether certain sites had been fed, and the accused hunting guides reply in the affirmative.

“Defendant Wade Heaton orchestrated and directed the baiting of deer and coordination of guided hunting trips involving the baited sites… The other defendants participated in guiding the hunt and baiting the sites,” court documents read.

Heaton is set to appear for his first hearing in Kane County’s Sixth Judicial District Court on October 10th. MeatEater reached out to Heaton but did not receive a response before publication.

Feature image via Wade Heaton’s Facebook.