Prolific poacher sentenced in Minnesota to probation, must make restitution for killing wolf

A Minnesota man has been sentenced for his actions as a prolific poacher of fur-bearing wildlife.

Brady Tyler Harth, 30, who lives east of Hinckley, was spared jail time and put on two years of probation Thursday in Pine County District Court after pleading guilty to a gross misdemeanor count of illegally transporting big game and a misdemeanor count of failing to tag big game.

Dismissed were three counts: killing a federally protected gray wolf, a second count of illegally transporting big game, both misdemeanors; and a second failure to tag offense.

Harth was also ordered to pay a total of $1,400 in restitution to the state’s Game and Fish Fund for three kills in 2021 and 2022: a wolf, a bear and a deer.

County Attorney Reese Frederickson said Friday that while Harth’s guilty pleas did not cover the killing of the wolf and the bear, “there is somewhat of an indirect acknowledgment here because he is paying restitution for all counts.”

Frederickson added that the prosecutor and a state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officer believed that the counts Harth admitted to “were the strongest ... from an evidentiary standpoint, and the counts that would require forfeiture of the ATV and weapons used in this case.” He said felony charges were not available to his office for this prosecution.

A court filing made by the DNR before Harth was charged in September 2024, accused him of many more acts of poaching in recent years and noted that he bragged about his conquests in messages and photos on social media.

The convictions are likely to have a detrimental impact on Harth’s ability to hunt and fish in Minnesota, but “it always depends upon the specific details of the case,” said DNR spokesman Joe Albert.

Albert explained that “people may face penalties up to and including equipment confiscation and loss of fishing and hunting privileges in Minnesota and other states for certain periods of time.”

According to the criminal complaint and supporting court documents:

A DNR conservation officer was tipped in January 2024 to Harth possibly having other people register furs at designated stations.

That tip led the officer to Harth’s Facebook and Snapchat pages, where she discovered that he “has posted publicly throughout recent years about [when] Harth did not have a license for the hunting and trapping activity that he engaged in,” read a search-warrant affidavit that cleared the way for a court-approved search of his home in April 2024 and seizure of his cellphone.

“He has taken/possessed bear, deer, fish and furbearing animals without licenses,” the filing continued. “Harth has failed to register big game animals and has transported them illegally.”

Another affidavit listed a veritable zoo of illegal kills that Harth documented in images and words on social media dating back more than three years. They included a bobcat, coyotes, a beaver and a bear.

On Snapchat, Harth posted photos with a gray wolf and a gun “as well as photos of a wolf in a potential snare from a different date,” the filing read.

That DNR search of Harth’s home turned up whitetail deer mounts and guns.

Also, the affidavit continued, “a dead gray wolf was seized near a suspected trapping/kill site described by Harth.”

Gray wolves in the contiguous 48 states and Mexico — with the exception of the Northern Rocky Mountain population — are protected from hunting under the federal Endangered Species Act and listed as threatened in Minnesota and endangered in the remaining states.

Gray wolves roam in the forests of northern and central Minnesota, with their population estimated by the DNR at just shy of 3,000 during the winter of 2022-23.

This story contains material from the Associated Press.