Northland Hunter Faces Firearms Ban over Wolf Killings

Posted at: 03/08/2013 5:41 PM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - An avid hunter faces a lifetime ban on possessing firearms for his role in the killing of two wolves in northeastern Minnesota and an attempt to cover it up.

Vern Hoff must spend a month in a halfway house under the sentence handed down Thursday. But the St. Paul Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/13KiyHQ) reports the gun ban from the felony conviction will require an even bigger change in the 55-year-old Finland man's lifestyle.

The forest services company owner was convicted last November of a felony count of lying to a federal officer and a misdemeanor for violating the Endangered Species Act.  Prosecutors say one of his employees deliberately ran down two wolves in February 2010, and Hoff told him to bury the carcasses before a Forest Service employee arrived at the jobsite.

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

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