PARIS – The long-awaited poaching trial of a registered Maine guide gets under way today in Oxford County Superior Court. It is expected to last six days and include more than a dozen witnesses.

Lawrence Perry, 56, is accused of running a poaching ring with others, including two other Maine guides, from his Bog Road home in Fryeburg. He is charged with 31 separate counts, including hunting deer at night and during closed season, hunting bear with dogs, having a loaded firearm in a closed vehicle, driving deer, not registering deer, and not wearing orange clothes.

Perry was arrested along with 14 other men and women Dec. 15, 2003, after a search of Perry’s home. The raid followed a lengthy investigation by the Maine Game Warden’s Service in which Game Warden William Livezey went undercover to gather information.

Officers confiscated more than 300 pounds of deer and bear meat, firearms, deer antlers and bear parts during searches.

Livezey said in a court affidavit justifying the search that the warden’s service had received numerous complaints by residents about Perry’s hunting practices.

Livezey said he booked a bear hunt with Perry and personally witnessed many hunting violations at that time and over the course of the next several months.

Perry, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is being represented by trial lawyer William Maselli. Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor will lead the prosecution for the state.

Most of the other people summonsed or arrested in the case have pleaded guilty to charges negotiated through plea bargain arrangements.