Article content

As they scanned the darkness with the headlights from their truck, Mi’kmaq hunters Aaron Paul and Charles Francis, members of the Eskasoni First Nation, thought they saw the eyes of a moose staring back at them.

They fired a shot.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or N.S. appeal court upholds conviction of two Mi'kmaq hunters who fired at decoy moose Back to video

But it turned out what they were shooting at on the night of Sept. 5, 2006, was a decoy — a mechanical moose set up by Nova Scotia authorities to catch illegal poachers.

In a case that has dragged on for more than a decade, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld the conviction of the men for unsafe hunting. The men had tried to argue they were exercising their aboriginal right to hunt for food.

Their lawyer, Douglas Brown, did not return messages seeking comment on the decision.

That night, Paul and Francis drove to a gravel pit in the Cape Breton Highlands and set up a fire. They then used their truck’s headlights to sweep the area for any sign of moose. At one point, Paul thought he had “seen the eyes” of a moose in the distance.