A hunting guide from Colorado has been charged with wasting game and filing a false record in Alaska.
Thomas Shankster, 60, faces eight counts of hunting violations while acting as a big game guide in Game Management Unit 19, which encompasses McGrath, Alaska State Troopers said.
According to troopers, an investigation into Shankster and his guide business, Alaska Trophy Hunts, began in the fall of 2014, when wildlife troopers in McGrath found evidence that Shankster had failed to fully harvest the edible meat from moose and caribou on at least five occasions.
Shankster also failed to report two known violations by assistant guides. On one occasion, a sub-legal sheep was taken and on another, antlers were taken before meat, troopers said. Shankster also falsified a hunt record and claimed meat had been harvested when it had not been, troopers said.
Investigators took samples of spoiled meat from caribou and moose carcasses. Sub-legal sheep horns were also confiscated during the investigation.
According to the Alaska Trophy Hunts website, Shankster is a bush pilot, trapper, tanner and master guide who's been working in Alaska since 1985.
Shankster is expected to be arraigned in Aniak in late January.