Missouri men charged with poaching

RAWLINS, Wyo. -- Two Missouri men have entered pleas to charges they illegally shot bighorn sheep in the Platte Valley Wilderness south of Riverside.

Gary Klemp, 51, of Doe Run, Mo., pleaded guilty Tuesday to shooting a bighorn sheep without a license and hunting as a nonresident without a professional guide. He pleaded innocent to a charge of allowing the sheep to go to waste.

Stephen Hennrich, 48, of Farmington, Mo., pleaded innocent to all three charges in Carbon County Circuit Court.

According to an affidavit, the men were arrested last week after witnesses reported the alleged poaching.

Klemp admitted to the shooting in court, while Hennrich denied the crime and only admitted to packing the meat out of the wilderness.

"This was my first time in this area, and I didn't know it was a wilderness," Hennrich said.

The most serious of the charges, taking a bighorn without a license, is punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and one year in jail.