In a plea agreement in Yakutat District Court on Thursday, Rube L. Evens, Rube M. Evens, and Derek Dalton pled "no contest" to Taking Big Game from a Boat and Unlawful Possession of Illegally-Taken Game stemming from charges filed after an investigation completed late last month.

58-year-old Rube L Evens of Yakutat was charged with two counts of taking big game from a boat and three counts of Unlawful Possession of Illegally-taken Game on April 29th. 29-year-old Rube M. Evens was also charged with one count of Unlawful Possession of Illegally Taken Game.

It was found in an investigation done by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Park Services and the Utah Division of Wildlife, that several black bears had been illegally shot and killed by hunters shooting from boats during the period between 2008 and 2011. It is illegal to shoot big game from a boat in Game Management Unit Five, which Yakutat is a part of.

In a plea agreement, Rube L. Evens pleaded “no contest” in return for having three of the five charges against him dropped. Evens was fined $3,000 with $2,500 suspended and he was placed on probation for two years. His hunting privileges were revoked for a full year and he had to forfeit the boat, valued at $15,000, to the state.

The younger Evens was fined $3,000 with $1,500 suspended and placed on probation for two years with a one-year suspension of hunting privileges.

Derek Dalton was fined $500.

In connection with the case, Alfred Schack of Ohio had already pled guilty to one count of shooting a Black bear from a boat during the investigation.