A writer for two national outdoor magazines with a residence in Utah has pleaded no contest and been fined for falsely obtaining and hunting with an Alaska resident hunting license.
Walter L. Prothero, 44, a contributor to Outdoor Life and Field and Stream magazines, was charged last week with 12 hunting violations, all related to false claims of residency.Court documents have a Utah post office box listing - in Eden, Weber County - for Prothero, who also has a similar listing in an Alaska town.
Prothero pleaded no contest to charges he falsely obtained and used resident hunting licenses between 1983 and 1990.
He is a contributing editor to Field and Stream, and has written articles for seven of the past nine issues of the magazine, including one on big game hunting in Alaska.
Prothero pleaded no contest to four counts of falsely obtaining a resident's hunting license - in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990. He also pleaded no contest to four counts of taking big game without a valid license, two counts of taking Dall sheep without a registered guide, and two counts of unlawful possession and transportation of big game. All are misdemeanor violations.
Fairbanks District Court Magistrate John Hessin on Aug. 28 fined Prothero $4,000 and suspended his hunting and fishing privileges for five years. Hessin also placed Prothero on probation for five years, during which time he cannot accompany any Alaska hunter into the field.
He was ordered to hand over to state wildlife officials all big game horns, antlers, bear hides or other trophies illegally taken by him in the state since 1983.
Prothero reported to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that he took a Dall sheep and a bull moose in 1989, and again in 1990. The kills occurred near the Colleen and Sheenjek rivers outside of Fort Yukon.
According to court records, Prothero told the Alaska state troopers he had lived part-time in Alaska since he first came to the state in 1982. State law, however, requires people to live in Alaska for at least 12 consecutive months to become a resident.
Prothero told the court he believed he was a resident, and that he owns a cabin in Circle in east-central Alaska.
"I don't believe I did anything wrong," he said, according to court transcripts. "I didn't do it knowingly - I attempted to be a legal resident."
Several Circle residents who requested anonymity, however, said Prothero and his companion, Cheri Flory, 37, never lived there during the winter.
"They come in when it's warm, and then they go," said one resident, who has lived in Circle since 1973. "He never spent a winter up here as far as I know," said another.
Flory also pleaded no contest to one count of falsely obtaining an Alaska resident hunting license. Her prosecution was deferred on the condition that all big game trophies she has taken in Alaska be surrendered to the state.
Court records list post office boxes for Prothero in Eden and Circle. Flory is also a resident of Eden, according to court records.
Attempts to contact Prothero were unsuccessful.
Circle residents said he recently left town, saying he was headed for Utah.