Associated Press - May 21, 2009 3:45 PM ET

SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) - A Story hunter who authorities say killed a trophy mule deer without a license and then claimed it was shot by someone else has been fined nearly $8,000 and suspended from hunting in the state for eight years.

Sheridan County Circuit Court Judge John Sampson also sentenced 32-year-old Rocky Donaldson to a year of unsupervised probation and a possible 60-day jail sentence if he fails to complete probation.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department says Donaldson didn't have a license when he killed the 10-by-8-point mule deer east of Sheridan in the fall of 2007.

Donaldson then persuaded a woman to buy a license so he could claim that she killed it when he took the animal's head to a taxidermist.

Information from: The Sheridan Press, http://www.thesheridanpress.com/

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