Ben Madilynn
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 late April 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 include a bobcat, coyotes, a beaver and a bear that prompted him to write, “First bear with a bow had my heart pumping, that’s for sure.”
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, guns and an unspecified white powder packaged in a bindle.
Also, the affidavit continued, “a dead gray wolf was seized near a suspected trapping/kill site described by Harth.”
