A woman caught on video earlier this year harassing a baby wombat in Australia faces multiple charges claiming that she lied about her residency to get hunting tags in Wyoming.
Samantha Strable, who sometimes goes by Sam Jones online, falsely stated that she was a Wyoming resident to obtain Wyoming resident hunting licenses, according to charges filed by Sublette County Deputy Attorney Damon A. DeBernardi.
Booked Into Jail
Strable was booked into the Sublette County Jail on Nov. 21 and released on her own recognizance that same day, according to an order filed in Pinedale Circuit Court.
She faces eight misdemeanor charges. Those include six counts of false swearing and one count each of taking wildlife without a license, and nonresident hunting without a guide in a wilderness area, according to court records.
Court records indicate that she was born in 2000 and listed as living in Great Falls, Montana.
Residency Requirements
She had previously claimed residency in Pinedale, but had been absent from Wyoming long enough to lose her status as a resident hunter, according to an affidavit written by Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Jacob Miller and filed with court documents.
According to Wyoming statutes, a person must live in Wyoming for a full calendar year before applying for hunting licenses as a resident.
Resident hunter status is nullified if a person is out of state for more than 180 days in a calendar year and/or abandons their domicile in Wyoming.
Non-residents also may not hunt in wilderness areas in Wyoming without a guide.
Anonymous Tip
According to the affidavit, Miller received an anonymous tip Aug. 11 stating, “Samantha Strable continues to buy resident tags even though she hasn’t resided in Wyoming over two years, and brags about it on social media to over 90K followers.”
A search of the Game and Fish license database shows that Strable started buying resident license in 2022 while using an address on Driftwood Street in Pinedale, currently occupied by another man.
Miller called the man and asked if Strable had lived with him.
He replied that she did in 2022 and most of 2023, but moved out of the house for Australia toward the end of 2023.
Instagram posts also indicated Strable was in Australia at that time.
“It was later discovered that Strable worked for the company called Kleinfelder and was employed as a Professional/Fauna Spotter Catcher/Ecologist and stationed out of their Newcastle, Australia, office,” wrote Miller.
Social media posts from April 30, 2024, to June 28, 2025, placed her in Montana, North Dakota, and also indicated she planned to go to Alaska, Miller wrote.
Her employment dates were from Dec. 16, 2023, to March 19, 2024, Miller related from employment records provided by Kleinfelde’s human resources department.
Still Applying For Resident Tags
Miller states that Strable applied for multiple Wyoming resident hunting tags in 2024 and 2025. According to his affidavit:
• On April 3, 2024, she submitted an online application for a resident elk tag in Sublette County. She drew that tag and killed an elk in October.
• On May 1, 2024, she applied for a resident antelope tag in Crook County, drew the tag, and killed a buck antelope that fall.
• Sept. 27, 2024, she bought a Wyoming resident 12-month fishing license, good through Sept. 27 2025.
• She bought Wyoming resident hunting licenses, listing the Pinedale address as her physical address.
• On Jan. 11, she purchased a resident mountain lion tag, and killed a mountain lion that winter in Sheridan County.
• On May 5, she bought a resident black bear license.
• On Aug. 11, she bought a resident general elk tag, listing a Montana mailing address.
Phone Records
Miller requested a warrant for cellular phone tower records from T-Mobile from Strable’s phone, and Judge Kate McKay granted the warrant.
Miller wrote that he met Strable on Oct. 15 at the Newfork trailhead in Sublette County when she was headed out on an elk hunt, and she said she planned to be in the vicinity of Rainbow Lake.
At about noon on Oct. 15, T-Mobile returned the data requested in the warrant. The data showed her various locations, including Pinedale; Montana; North Dakota; LAX airport in Los Angeles; Georgia; Pennsylvania; Detroit; and Australia.
Conversation At The Trailhead
Miller wrote that he met Strable again at the Newfork trailhead at about 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 19, and asked her where she lives.
“Wyoming. Well Montana, originally,” she answered, according to the affidavit.
Miller asked if she lives in Pinedale currently. She said she’d been back and forth, and to Alaska “for the last couple of months.”
Miller told her he had reports of people questioning her residency.
She replied that it was “tricky” because, “I haven’t been gone long enough to be an Alaskan resident. So, I’m still a resident here.”
Miller countered, “You can technically not be a resident anywhere.”
He then asked her to clarify how many days she’d been in Wyoming.
“More than 180,” she answered, according to the affidavit.
Miller replied that his investigation indicated that she’d been in Wyoming for seven days in 2025 and 29 days in 2024.
She replied that wasn’t the case, and said Wyoming was where she kept all her property.
Miller wrote that he then confronted her about working in Montana and Australia, and living in Alaska.
“I figured I had to be a resident of somewhere,” she said. “And most days a year I’m anywhere is Wyoming.”
She said she has a company in Wyoming and frequently travels back and forth for work.
She confirmed her driver’s license is out of Alaska, but stated that she hadn’t been there more than six months.
Miller told her that her false claims of Wyoming residency made killing those animals on those hunting tags illegal, according to the affidavit.
Wombat Woes
Strable set off a firestorm of criticism in March after a video surfaced that reportedly showed her grabbing a baby wombat from in front of its mother in Australia and running back toward her vehicle with it.
She was roundly condemned by Aussies reacting to the video. Even the country’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, publicly blasted her, according to reports from Australian media.
Strable later fired back at her critics in a statement, claiming that wombats are treated as pests in Australia.
“The Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of wombats. Thousands each year are shot, poisoned to suffer, and trapped legally,” she wrote in the statement.
“Landowners rip up wombat burrows with heavy machinery, poison them with fumigation, and shoot them whenever they can. Quietly, of course, so as not to face the wrath that has come upon me,” Strable added.
Potential Penalties
The charges Strable faces carry the following potential penalties:
• For false swearing, up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine for each count.
• For taking game without a license or during a closed season, up to a year in jail and fines of $5,000 to $10,000.
• For non-resident hunting in a wilderness area without a guide, up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
