An Oconto County guide was fined $3,000 and banned from hunting on federal land for illegally placing bear bait in the Nicolet-Chequamegon National Forest.
Timothy J. Collar, 64, of Shiocton, received a one-year ban from entering a national forest and hunting with a firearm, including this year’s bear hunting season that runs through Oct. 25.
According to the plea agreement, Collar faced a maximum of six months in jail, a $5,000 fine and five years’ probation after a state conservation warden received tips in July 2023 that two 55-gallon barrels were dumped near a U.S. Forest Service road in northern Oconto County.
Warden Jamin Leuzzo located the tipped over barrels about 20 feet from the road, animals had apparently worn paths to them. The barrels contained a primarily red substance that Leuzzo believed was used for bear bait.
Days later, Leuzzo found two more barrels near another USFS road that contained a substance similar to the other barrels he found. Animal trails also lead to the barrels.
Leuzzo placed a trail camera near the first barrel site he found and returning to the site days after, he saw that the original barrels and been removed and replaced with two others which contained a red substance.
During August 2023, trail cam images depicted a truck licensed to Collar returning to the first bait site with more barrels and buckets. Leuzzo recognized Collar as the driver of the truck as the warden had had prior contacts with him.
A trail cam placed at the second bait site also recorded Collar driving to it and carrying a hollowed-out bear bait stump and a bucket of bear bait.
On Aug. 29, 2023, Leuzzo saw Collar’s truck near the second bait site and talked to him about illegal bear baiting. Collar became vulgar and said someone else must have placed the bait. About two weeks later, Leuzzo seized two trail cams he found near a third bait site that contained images of Collar resetting a bait stump with an illegal concrete cap.
Collar regularly guided hunts on federal property in northern Oconto County.
Leuzzo determined that Collar had violated Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulations that prohibit placing bait uncovered and accessible to deer, placing bait within 50 feet of a road, and placing bear bait in a plastic container.
Collar was charged in April. He pled guilty to an illegal baiting count and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Byron Conway on Aug. 15.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Duros recommended a $1,000 fine, a sentence of two years’ probation and a ban on hunting anywhere and from entering any national forest.
Instead, Conway imposed a higher fine but restricted Collar’s hunting ban and forest access just to federal land.