$22K in penalties, 10-year ban for B.C. hunting guide after conservation officers’ investigation

A B.C. man has been ordered to pay more than $22,000 and banned from working as a hunting guide for 10 years after pleading guilty to multiple violations of the provincial Wildlife Act.

Richard Todd Bunnage pleaded guilty to three charges in Cranbrook provincial court earlier this week, the BC Conservation Officer Service said in a social media post Friday. 

Online court records indicate Bunnage pleaded guilty to one count of guiding outside the guide territory and two counts of providing a false statement in written form.

The charges stemmed from an investigation that took place from 2019 to 2021, the BCCOS said.

Conservation officers in the Fort Nelson area found that Bunnage had guided “several non-resident hunters” in areas outside the territory for which he was authorized to act as a guide.

He also “falsely recorded the management unit where clients had harvested two moose and two blackbears,” the BCCOS said.

The court ordered Bunnage to pay a $12,000 fine, plus a victim surcharge, according to the BCCOS. He must also pay $10,000 to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, and is banned from being a guide outfitter or assistant guide in B.C. for 10 years.

The BCCOS said this is not the first time Bunnage has been penalized after an investigation by its officers.

In May 2022, he pleaded guilty to his involvement in the illegal guiding operations of Tenaka River Guide Service, according to the BCCOS. That investigation resulted in a $9,200 fine.