COEUR d’ALENE — Three members of a St. Maries family are on trial this week for allegedly poaching mountain lions and bobcats across North Idaho.

Eddy Dills, Angela Dills and Daniel Dills face charges of conspiracy to commit unlawful killing of wildlife, conspiracy to sell unlawfully killed wildlife and conspiracy to conceal evidence, all felonies. Eddy and Angela Dills are married; Daniel Dills is their adult son. 

In 2019, Eddy Dills lost his hunting privileges for life after pleading guilty to hunting a cougar with a dog in Cowlitz County, Wash., where the practice is illegal. The charge resulted from a sprawling investigation of an alleged poaching ring in the Pacific Northwest. 

Daniel Dills lost his hunting license for three years after he pleaded guilty in 2024 to knowingly selling, purchasing or exchanging unlawfully killed wildlife, a felony, in Latah County. 

“Rather than get rid of the dogs and get rid of the equipment, they kept hunting,” prosecuting attorney Art Verharen told jurors Monday. “They did so using Angela as a cover.” 

The father and son allegedly used hunting dogs to tree a mountain lion south of Wallace and to hunt another mountain lion near Leiberg Creek. They also allegedly used dogs to hunt near bobcat traps and near the Coeur d’Alene River. 

Eddy and Daniel Dills allegedly dumped a mountain lion down an embankment after shooting it in the hopes of concealing an illegal kill. 

Prosecutors said Daniel Dills had a history of selling carcasses and hides to Moscow Hide and Fur in Moscow. After his hunting license was revoked, he stopped selling such items and his mother began selling them. 

Though Angela Dills had a hunting license and the appropriate tags, prosecutors argue that she did not kill any animals herself. Rather, the state alleges that she completed mortality and harvest reports for animals her husband and son had killed, then sold the hides and carcasses. 

Deborah Belley, defense counsel for Angela Dills, said her client killed the animals herself and sold the parts legally. 

“This is a family of hound hunters,” she said. “She has hunted her whole life.” 

Craig Zanetti, who represents Daniel Dills, said his client’s hunting license revocation did not preclude him from accompanying others on hunts or helping others recover lawfully killed animals. 

“He did not sell anything,” Zanetti said. “He did not conspire with family. He did not unlawfully take anything.” 

Chris Bragg, a conservation officer with Idaho Fish and Game, told jurors that he was in plainclothes when he went to observe who was hunting around Little North Fork Coeur d’Alene River on Jan. 18, 2025. 

While driving north on Forest Service Road 209, he said he encountered a man who identified himself as Daniel Dills. 

“(Daniel Dills) said his dad, Eddy, was further up the road looking for tracks,” Bragg said. “He also said that year, so far, they’d killed about eight bobcats and two mountain lions and his mom had killed a 180-pound tom mountain lion.” 

Daniel Dills “clearly said” he had been hunting himself and invited Bragg to hunt with him, Bragg said. 

In early February of last year, another hunting party allegedly encountered the Dills family around the same area. 

Coeur d’Alene resident Thomas Hedequist is a hound hunter with more than 30 years of experience. He told jurors he was hunting with his adult son and friends Feb. 1 when he came upon a white Tacoma parked in the road. 

The driver, who identified himself as Eddy Dills, approached Hedequist’s vehicle and spoke with him. 

“I asked him what was going on,” Hedequist said. “His response was that they had treed a mountain lion.” 

Hedequist said Dills’ story changed. At first, Dills allegedly said his party had not killed the lion. Then he said the animal was dead. 

“I didn’t know what the truth was,” he said. 

Hedequist said he radioed his son and told him to get back to where he had cell service so he could contact authorities to investigate. 

His son, Hunter Hedequist, also took the stand Monday. He said he encountered two Tacomas, one white and one black, on a Forest Service road. Prosecutors said Daniel Dills was behind the wheel of the black truck and drove past without stopping. But the white truck stopped and Eddy Dills got out. 

Hunter Hedequist recorded a heated exchange between him and Eddy Dills, which prosecutors played in court. 

“I heard that you guys killed a lion up here and left it,” Hunter Hedequist said. “That’s what I heard this morning.” 

“No, we didn’t leave it,” Eddy Dills replied. 

After the interaction ended, Hunter Hedequist and his friend, Christian Bigger, testified that they saw vehicle tracks they believed were made by the Dills’ vehicles turning onto another road. They also noticed something else. 

“There was blood and tracks going down the embankment with more blood,” Hunter Hedequist said. 

Bigger told jurors that he saw blood on the tailgate of the black Tacoma, dripping onto the snow, but no sign of the mountain lion Eddy Dills said the party had killed. 

Prosecutors allege that the Dills guessed that the hunters they had met would contact authorities, so they attempted to hide the illegal kill. 

“They drove that mountain lion to another place, dragged it down a hill, dumped it over an embankment,” Verharen said. 

Hunter Hedequist and Bigger said they followed the vehicle tracks and blood over muddy ground. The trail led to a dead mountain lion in a ditch. The animal had been shot through the eye. 

Bigger said his hunting party contacted Fish and Game as soon as they had cell service in the hopes of getting justice. 

“We were confident in what happened that day — that they had poached a mountain lion,” he said. 

The trial continues today.

    Angela Dills, center, listens to testimony in court Monday.