GREAT FALLS, MT – Samantha Strable, a Great Falls woman who got in trouble with the Australian government over a wombat earlier this year, was charged last month with eight misdemeanors related to hunting violations in Wyoming.

Strable is charged with six counts of false swearing, one count for taking an animal and another count of non-resident hunting without a guide. The charges were filed by Sublette County Deputy Attorney Damon A. DeBernardi.

The counts relate to obtaining a Wyoming resident hunting license without having residency there. The charges were filed on Nov. 18 and she was booked on Nov. 21, according to the Cowboy State Daily.

Strable did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

Court documents say Wyoming Fish and Game began their investigation following an anonymous tip on Aug. 11.

“Samatha 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,” said the court documents, quoting the tip.

The investigation found that in 2023 she moved out of the Pinedale, Wyoming address she used to obtain her tags. According to court records, she worked for a company called Kleinfelder as “Professional/Fauna Spotter/Catcher/Ecologist” and left that job in March 2024.

Wyoming state law stipulates a person loses their residency for game and fish licenses if they are out of the state for more than 180 days in a calendar year or “abandon their domicile in Wyoming,” court records state.

Additionally, the court documents also provide references to several Instagram posts documenting her time in 2024 and 2025 as a “wildlife biologist in Montana.” Court records state her car has Montana plates and is registered to a Cascade County address.

Court documents go on to say that posts “believed” to be Strable say she was seeking Alaskan residency this year. And, in fact, Strable is in possession of a valid Alaskan driver’s license, according to the affidavit.

She got hunting licenses using her old Wyoming address three times in 2024 and three times in 2025. She was hunting elk, antelope, mountain lions and black bears. She also received a year-long resident fishing license in 2024. She did take a mountain lion in 2025, which is one of the charges.

Based on those facts, Wyoming Fish and Game applied for and received a search warrant for her phone records and were able to determine where she was during those two years. She was in Wyoming 35 days in 2024 and 8 days in 2025.

On Oct. 15, the Game Warden, Jacob Miller, investigating Strable contacted her at a trailhead in Sublette County, Wyoming.

Miller said he asked her where she lived.

“Wyoming. Well Montana originally,” was her response, according to court records.

She was asked if she lived in Pinedale, Wyoming.

“Well I’ve been back and forth. I’ve been to Alaska for the last couple of months,” said Strable, according to court records.

She then allegedly lied about how many days she was in Wyoming during the last two years.

“I then told her that I knew she was not in the state that much. I told her I believed she was in the state for 7 days in 2025 and 29 days in 2024,” Miller wrote in the affidavit. “Strable’s response was, ‘That’s not the case. I was here for way more than that.’ She then asked, ‘OK, how do you plan on proving that?’”

The Wyoming charges are not the first time she’s come under fire this year. Strable picked up a baby wombat and ran with it down a road in Australia earlier this year. Strable then released the wombat on the side of the road.

This drew commendation online and even among Australian government officials, with one going so far as to say, “I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual.”

In an email earlier this year to the Daily Montanan, Strable defended herself and addressed the controversy.

“While the prime minister wishes harm on me for picking up a wombat, I implore you to take a good, hard, look at what is currently being done in Australia surrounding the real issues it faces, the lack of power for tens of thousands of Aussies, and the treatment of its native wildlife,” Strable wrote in a statement. “Then, decide for yourself, if I, a person who certainly makes mistakes, am really your villain.”

Strable, who was homeschooled in Great Falls and wrote pieces for the Tribune, is an avid hunter and was also at one time part of the Montana Game Wardens Charitable Trust Youth Hunter Program.

Strable’s instagram account “samstrays_somewhere” appears to have been deleted.

Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com.