$28K Fine and 10-Year Ban: Moose Hunt Went Very Wrong

Every hunter has heard it before: Know your regs. Tag your animal. Do it right. Because when you don’t… it can get expensive. Real expensive.

According to reporting from CTV News, one U.S. hunter just learned that lesson the hard way after a moose hunt in Ontario went completely off the rails.

Larry Szura of Wisconsin was hit with a $28,750 fine and a 10-year hunting ban in Ontario after being found guilty of multiple violations tied to an illegal moose harvest near Pickle Lake.

And this wasn’t just a paperwork issue.

According to Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources, conservation officers found a cow moose carcass along a remote road and evidence suggested it had been shot while standing directly on the roadway.

That’s a problem.

Investigators say Szura fired a high-powered rifle down the traveled portion of the road, which is illegal on its own. But it didn’t stop there. He also didn’t have a valid cow tag.

Instead of walking away, authorities say he traveled more than 13 kilometers to find his hunting partner (who reportedly didn’t even know Szura had gone out hunting) and convinced them to use their tag to cover the animal.

That’s where things really went sideways. After that, Szura reportedly left the area and crossed back into the U.S. the next morning.

The case eventually caught up with him. In court, he was found guilty of:

The result? Nearly $29K in fines and a decade-long ban from hunting in Ontario.

Most hunters aren’t out there trying to bend the rules. But this is a reminder of how fast things can escalate when you do.

Tags matter. Shot placement matters. And where you pull the trigger from definitely matters. Because at the end of the day, one bad decision in the field can follow you for a long time.

In this case? Ten years.

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