The poached trophies | WGFD
Wyoming Game and Fish officials are on an absolute tear this fall with now having brought down the second case of massive residency fraud in a little over a week. On the heels of sending a Farson outfitter to jail, wardens were awarded with another jail sentence, set to kick off tomorrow, for an Idaho Falls man who pushed the limits just a little too far and found out.
In what was seemingly a good run for Idaho Falls resident Rodney Gilstrap, his six-year run as a fake Wyoming resident (strictly for hunting purposes) is officially coming to an end this Friday, November 7, as he is set to begin a 21-day work-release jail sentence. The penalty caps a multi-year Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigation that began with two anonymous tips and concluded with seven forfeited trophies, $27,905 in payments, and an 18-year hunting ban.
Between 2018 and 2021, Gilstrap claimed Wyoming residency while living and working in Idaho. The deception allowed him to purchase coveted over-the-counter resident licenses for deer, elk, black bear, archery, fishing, and pronghorn—tags that nonresidents either cannot obtain or must wait years of preference points to draw. He used those licenses to kill seven protected animals across Lincoln, Sublette, and Teton counties which included four trophy mule deer bucks with antlers scoring 180 to 220 inches, three bull elk, and one buck pronghorn.
“Public tips were the spark,” said WGFD Public Information Officer Amanda Fry. “Gilstrap stole once-in-a-lifetime harvests from lawful Wyoming hunters.”
The investigation, which was headed up by warden James Hobbs, kicked off back in 2019 after receiving an anonymous tip pointing to Gilstrap’s false residency scam. With enough evidence gathered, wardens orchestrated a joint raid on March 18, 2022, and were able to recover every mount from his Idaho Falls home.
Gilstrap soon faced 22 wildlife charges filed in three counties between May and July of 2023. On August 1, 2024, he took a plea deal, entering guilty pleas to six Lincoln County felonies including three counts of making false statements to obtain licenses between 2018 and 2021, and three counts of taking big game without a valid license. The remaining 16 charges were dismissed.
He later appealed the sentence, but Lincoln County District Judge Joseph Bluemel upheld it in June of this year, while Circuit Judge Gregory S. Corpening denied a final motion for reduction on September 24, 2025 and handed down his sentencing.
The final sentence requires Gilstrap to serve the aforementioned 21 days of a 540-day jail term on modified work-release, followed by three years of unsupervised probation. He must pay $10,000 in restitution to WGFD and $17,905 in fines, forfeit all seven trophies to the state, and will lose hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges for 18 years in Wyoming and every Wildlife Violator Compact state, including Idaho. He is also prohibited from shed antler hunting during probation.
Gilstrap’s case marks the second major residency-fraud bust in a week. Towards the end of October, an eight-year sting that convicted Farson outfitter Sean Thomas and nine others for a similar scheme involving fake addresses also ended up in jail time and fines.
“Solving this case would not have been possible without the help of concerned citizens reporting Gilstrap’s illegal activity,” reads the statement. “The collaborative work between WGFD and the Lincoln, Teton, and Sublette county attorney’s offices was essential to resolving these crimes.”
