Wednesday, November 26, 2008 --- 9:25 a.m.

This report from the Portage Daily Register:

Two area men charged in one of the largest "thrill-kill" poaching cases in the country this year each must pay more than $7,700 in fines, will serve a month in jail, and will be unable to hunt or fish for at least six years.

Josh Kerl, 21, of Portage, and Adam Stalsberg, 22, of Neshkoro, were each sentenced Friday in Columbia County Circuit Court to a total of four years of probation and $2,696 in fines after they pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of illegal deer shining and hunting deer during a closed season, both as party to a crime.

Additionally, Kerl must pay $5,341.80 in citation fines; Stalsberg's citation fines add up to $5,093. Both are in addition to the $2,696 fine for the misdemeanor charges.

Kerl and Stalsberg pleaded no contest to about 20 citations each relating to illegal hunting - violations that include hunting within 50 feet of a road's center, transporting a loaded firearm in a vehicle, damaging natural resources and possessing a protected bird or animal. Twenty additional citations were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Kerl and Stalsberg must each serve 30 days in jail and must pay their citation fines as a condition of their probation, and have their Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources hunting and fishing privileges revoked for a total of six years.

Read the full Portage Daily Register article.