SANDPOINT - A Ponderay man pleaded guilty Friday to shooting at a simulated deer installed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Bonner County Magistrate Court Judge Debra Heise sentenced Wesley Jordan Birkhimer to 30 days in jail with 30 days suspended and ordered him to pay $600 in fines, court records show. Birkhimer was also placed on unsupervised probation.

Birkhimer, 25, was cited following a Fish and Game operation in the Grouse Creek drainage on Nov. 15. Conservation officers placed the deer in the field to catch hunters who were hunting after hours.

Lawful hunting hours ended at 4:37 p.m. on Nov. 15, court documents indicated. Birkhimer was spotted driving slowly down U.S. Forest Service Road No. 2652 and coming to a stop around 4:48 p.m.

The lights from Birkhimer's pickup illuminated the fake deer and he exited the vehicle, a conservation officer's report said. Birkhimer fired a shot from his rifle while standing on the public road and then drove away.

Birkhimer was stopped by conservation officers and cited.

In an unrelated case on Friday, a Spirit Lake man pleaded not guilty to four game violations.

Matthew Duane Trotter Sr. is charged with unlawfully harvesting a white-tailed doe, using another person's tag, failing to affix his own tag to a white-tailed buck and exceeding the harvest limit.

Trotter, 50, fell under scrutiny after Fish and Game received a tip from another sportsman, according to court documents. Trotter is accused of killing the doe on Nov. 1 and allowing it to be tagged with somebody else's tag.

Three days later, Trotter killed a 3-by-5 buck. Its carcass was found at another hunter's home on Nov. 8 and the antlers were found at Trotter's home, court documents indicate.