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“The aspect that’s becoming ever more prominent is the digital type evidence, which is things like web pages, the Facebook posts and even things like information that comes from individual cellphones,” said Neil Brad, a compliance officer with the province’s fish and wildlife enforcement branch. “Obviously, we rely heavily on calls from the public. They see so much, and there’s only so much resourcing from our end to actively monitor things like web pages.”

Mr. Brad said digital technology is increasingly helping officers to not only track poachers, but to help prove their guilt.

“It’s becoming more and more prominent in almost every kind of investigation we conduct. There’s some kind of digital evidence comes into play,” he said.

Increasingly, fish and wildlife investigators are relying on trophy shots taken with camera phones and posted to Facebook.

“It’s so ingrained in everything that we do, it’s just natural for everyone to use these tools,” Mr. Brad said.

Brophy and Haseloh became suspects in a wide-ranging poaching case after they were reported to authorities. Wildlife officers obtained a warrant to track their whereabouts via GPS as part of a sting they termed “Operation Mormo.”

Then, one night, they finally got too careless. On Dec. 11, 2011, at 1:30 a.m., Brophy was spotted shooting at a white tailed deer in his truck, on the outskirts of Edmonton.

He killed the creature just a few hundred yards from occupied buildings, threw the carcass in his Dodge and drove home — the Edmonton Police Service’s helicopter tracking him the whole way. When he arrived, Brophy was arrested in an alley, where he admitted to shooting the deer with a .22 calibre rifle, which is illegal for shooting game of that size.