Help sought in poaching cases

A pair of poached elk discovered on Little Mountain has resulted in the Wyoming Game and Fish Department seeking help to identify the culprits.

The elk were poached in Hunt Area 31 on Little Mountain sometime between Oct. 4-6.

“The first elk discovered was a cow that was shot and left on the east side of Little Mountain, south of Rock Springs,” Game Warden Gary Boyd said in a media release. “The cow elk had a GPS collar on it and was collared as part of the D.E.E.R. Project going on in the area.”

Boyd thinks the hunter shooting the elk may have noticed the radio collar and got scared, believing they did something wrong. Shooting a collared animal is not illegal, leaving any game animal to waste is a wildlife violation.

Should hunters harvest a collared animal, the WGFD requests the hunter remove the collar intact and give it to the WGFD.

“The second elk poached was a six-point bull elk shot and left on the west side of Little Mountain,” Boyd said. “The bull was field dressed, but the head and antlers were left attached. It appears the hunter tried to drag the bull out of the area, but gave up, and left the whole animal to waste.”

Hunters are responsible to properly field dress and care for the animal they shot. Hunters should be prepared to remove the edible portions, regardless of where the animal is killed.

Lucy Diggings-Wold said the WGFD’s Green River office generally deals with 10 poaching cases each year, saying she’s aware of five currently under investigation.

She said while sentences for wildlife violations vary with each judge, if hunters are honest with game officials, the penalties can be less severe than if hunters attempt to cover their tracks. While fines can be assessed, if a violation is serious enough, it can result in a loss of hunting privileges from anywhere between one and 10 years.