A provincial court judge has ordered fines of $1,500 each for two Saskatchewan men who pleaded guilty to unlawful hunting and illegally using a spotlight to hunt at night.
Kevin Badger and Mathew Dubois, both residents of the Cote First Nation in the Kamsack area, entered the pleas to charges laid under provincial wildlife regulations.
The Ministry of Environment says in a release that conservation officers got a tip in October 2015 about hunters using spotlights to hunt at night in an area northwest of Kamsack.
A few days later, officers on a night patrol stopped a vehicle from which two people were shining a spotlight in a field and who said they were exercising their treaty right to hunt for food.
An investigation determined they were hunting on private land without permission from the landowner.
The province says anyone exercising treaty hunting rights must get permission from the landowner to go on private land or occupied Crown land, while a spotlight can only be used on First Nations property.
Saskatchewan's regulations regarding night hunting with lights have been in place since 1998 and were developed following consultations with First Nations and Métis groups across the province.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.