Man Pleads Guilty To Poaching In Park

Rangers from the Wawona, Valley and Mather Districts were staking out an illegal tree stand inside the park’s boundary last October 4th when a hunter armed with a rifle climbed into the stand. The rangers watched the man – later identified as Phillip Bradley, 62, of Merced, California – for another hour, then took him into custody without incident. On Tuesday, February 3rd, Bradley pled guilty to one count of hunting within the park (16 USC 60) and one count of possession of a weapon (36 CFR 2.4(a)(1)(i)). Bradley was sentenced to 36 months of unsupervised probation, ordered to pay a $5,000 fine , and required to forfeit his rifle, deer stand, rifle case, rifle scope and hunting knife. Bradley received credit for three days of time served and agreed to stay out of the park for the duration of his probation.