The 2005 appellate court ruling came in the case of Rick Reber. Mike Humiston, who represents Reber, is fighting the appeal to the state Supreme Court. Reber is a Uintah band member of the Ute Tribe who helped his son take a deer without a state hunting license, claiming that his treaty rights as a Uintah Indian allowed him the privilege.

State conservation officers disagreed, and felony charges were filed in 2002 in 8th District Court in Vernal. Reber was later convicted by a jury. Humiston said he expects the state Supreme Court to answer whether or not it will hear the appeal in July or August.

Humiston agrees that wildlife violations that occur within reservation lands should be prosecuted in federal court and has always maintained that Reber should be prosecuted in federal court on poach- ing-related charges filed against him three years ago, rather than in state court. Reber's 1/18th Indian blood quantum is not the issue, Humiston insists, and neither is which entity has jurisdiction over the lands in question.

"We don't care if you prosecute, prosecute in the right court," Humiston said. "If they want to prosecute a Uintah then that's fine. But we won't argue jurisdiction. We will argue treaty rights."

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