The Outdoor Channel has "indefinitely suspended" co-host Bill Busbice, Jr. and "Wildgame Nation" following Busbice's guilty plea to a pair of game violations as the result of an incident witnessed and reported by other hunters last October on Busbice's Spring Creek Ranch in Wyoming.

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2341894.jpeg> Bill Busbice, Jr., one of the hosts of "Wildgame Nation" has been "indefinitely suspended" - along with his show, from Outdoor Channel. Photo from Outdoor Channel online.

A statement from Outdoor Channel President and CEO Jim Liberatore didn't mince words: "We have strict policies and procedures in place that require all our talent and producers to abide by all hunting regulations....As a result of the recent charges in Wyoming involving Bill Busbice, Jr. we have suspended the show and Busbice indefinitely from Outdoor Channel."

While Liberatore's action was swift, his statement wasn't exactly accurate. Busbice wasn't charged in Wyoming, he was convicted after entering a guilty plea.

On May 23, 2017, Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Fank Zebre accepted Busbice's guilty plea to the charges of intentionally allowing an antlerless elk to go to waste and taking an elk without the proper license.

Busbice could have been sentenced to jail, but Zebre instead offered a sentence of 180 days of jail - suspended, "providing he lead a law abiding life during the one and a half years of unsupervised probation".

Additionally, Busbice was fined the maximum for both offenses and their restitution charges ($23,000) and had all game and fish license privileges revoked for a period of two years.

Since Wyoming is a participant in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, Busbice's license privileges are concurrently revoked in 44 additional states, including Louisiana, Busbice's home.

The seriousness of the offense may have been compounded by the fact Busbice's actions weren't just illegal, they were recorded.

Unedited video seized from the Busbice by investigators show Busbice shooting several times at a large bull in a herd of elk - and missing but striking a calf. When Busbice finally hits the object of the hunt (a large bull subsequently seized by officials) audio reportedly has Busbice saying "We have to eliminate that part where I shot a cow," and "Yeah, we gotta get rid of that cow."

According to court records, Busbice had the ranch manager field strip the bull, then hide the calf in a ditch and dispose of the bull elk's guts, attempting to hide evidence of the poaching.

During questioning about the act, officials say Busbice's explanation for failing to report the incident was concern about having recently been cited for previous wildlife violations.

Earlier in 2016, Busbice was apparently cited for purchasing a resident elk license and more than the authorized number of deer licenses and paid $1,430 in fines for those violations.

This offense, however, carries a considerably higher overall cost.

Shortly before our news deadline last evening we received word that Outdoor Edge, one of Busbice's sponsors had "severed all sponsorships with Bill Busbice and the show 'Wildgame Nation' in light of Busbice's recent conviction and sentencing for game violations."

"Since our founding, nearly three decades ago," Outdoor Edge owner David Bloch said in his statement, "Outdoor Edge has been a strong advocate of ethical and legal hunting and fishing.We do not condone or support any deviation from these founding beliefs, and for this reason, we have decided to end all sponsorships related to Bill Busbice."

The cancellation of the sponsorship was immediate, but the Outdoor Edge announcement (which you can read in today's news section) cautioned that "future airings of the show may still show Outdoor Edge as a sponsor."

This is one of those stories that won't end anytime soon, because the blowback to sponsors has most likely only just begun.

As always, we'll keep you posted.

-- Jim Shepherd