ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A Las Vegas man has been found guilty in federal court of illegally guiding a bighorn sheep hunt in the Carson National Forest. Carlos Ortiz, 28, was sentenced to a year and a half of probation and faces $7,600 in fines.
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According to a press release, Ortiz led a party hunting bighorn sheep in the Santa Fe National Forest. Court records show that GPS coordinates included in the party’s itinerary were located in the Carson National Forest.
Officers with the U.S. Forest Service and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish found the party camping in the Carson National Forest. Officials say officers found two people who said they were helping Ortiz with a bighorn sheep that had been killed by somebody in the hunting party. Officers confirmed the sheep was killed in the Carson National Forest.
The release states Ortiz was not authorized to conduct any commercial activity in the Carson National Forest and also was not authorized to guide bighorn sheep hunts in the Santa Fe National Forest, to begin with. Ortiz was also not authorized to conduct guided overnight hunts in either forest.
