A Dickinson-based outfitter faces criminal charges and the loss of his outfitter's license in connection with the killing of North Dakota's third mountain lion this season.

Billy Freitag has been charged with aiding in the concealment of game unlawfully taken or possessed, giving false information or report to law enforcement officers and hindering law enforcement, all misdemeanors.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, which licenses the state's guides and outfitters, also has recommended Freitag's guiding and outfitting license be suspended. Freitag is contesting the suspension, and a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, said Dean Haas, an assistant attorney general who represents NDGFD.

The charges stem from a Sept. 17 incident in which a nonresident bowhunter, Jack Fields II, of West Terre Haute, Ind., allegedly shot a mountain lion while deer hunting in Dunn County. Fields was in a party hunting with Freitag. The nonresident hunters in the party allegedly had been told byFreitag that nonresidents could kill a mountain lion during the state's season, which was open. North Dakota's mountain lion hunting season is open only to state residents.

Fields faces up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted on the charge of taking a protected furbearing animal during a closed season, said Dunn County State's Attorney Ross Sundeen. Sundeen said relying on the advice of a guide is no defense but it could be considered at the time of sentencing if Fields is convicted.

When Freitag and Fields took the cat to Dickinson to report it, Freitag allegedly checked the proclamation first and realized nonresidents were barred from hunting mountain lions in North Dakota. They took the cat back to the Figure 4 Ranch in Dunn County.

"But the word was out and he knew he could not sweep it under the rug," said Sundeen.

That's when Freitag is alleged to have told Bill Schaller, the NDGFD game warden who investigated, that he killed the cougar. The cat was a 60-pound female, estimated to be 1½ years old.

"He thought something was amiss," Sundeen said of Schaller, "because a guide is usually not sitting in a tree (hunting)," Sundeen said.

Follow-up interviews with other game wardens resulted in Fields allegedly confessing, while Freitag allegedly was claiming he killed the lion, Sundeen said.

The false information and hindering charges are class A misdemeanors, which carry a maximum penalty of a $2,000 fine and a year imprisonment. The aiding in the concealment charge is a class B misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and 30 days imprisonment.

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or richard.hinton@bismarcktribune.com.)