Poacher has my 5x5 elk

[jackelope]

this is shaping up to be a 5 pager...
the list of possible things to call this or the poacher or the hunter or the elk is endless.

[boneaddict]

Well I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for picking up a skull or set of antlers, whether the state considers it legal or not.  That will be up to them.  HOWEVER...... If someone knowingly picks up something that they know who it belongs too and tries to keep it...then that is just dirty pool PERIOD.   The thirty minutes should have been up.  I take it longtat beat the *censored* ot of the guy an now is in prison since we haven't hear from him

[Curly]

The guy might in fact be a poacher, but in this instance he did not poach.  I don't know what the official poaching definition is, but in my book poaching means to illegally kill an animal.  The guy didn't kill it, so he is not a poacher for taking the head.  What he did is illegal, though and he is an A-hole since he did not help out the hunter (who tracked him down).  The guy could have just appologized for taking the head and gave the head back; he had an opportunity to just say "sorry......I didn't think anyone was coming back for it, so I took it; here, let me help you get it into your truck."

I would have called the poaching hotline and got the game warden out there ASAP once I discovered the bull with the head missing.

[GoldTip]

Sounds like Longtat did everything he could do to find the animal after he made a couple of not perfectly placed shots, which happens.  This resulted in an animal he did not find for an extended period of time.  Unfortunately it sounds like someone beat him to it, now the question is whether or not the meat was good or bad when the guy took the head. 

If it was good and he wasted it, he should be tarred and feathered and quite possibly drawn and quartered as well.  If the meat had turned, then taking the head and horns, although illegal, probably seemed like the right thing to do, since it was already dead. But either way I would not refer to this guy as a poacher.

Now the question of lying to the guy(longtat) once you knew who's animal it was and you had his ARROW in posession.  Now that is full on BS and the guy is lucky that LongTat did not take the law into his own hands right at that moment.  I simply hope that there is a good end to this story, ie; I hope Longtat gets his horns back.

Now here's a question.  Does Longtat tag the horns once he gets them back?

[Machias]

He should tag the elk irregardless of whether he ever found the elk or not IMO.  You drive an arrow up to the nock through the gut and one down through the top there is no wondering if the animal might make it or not.  Whether you recover it or not, you should notch your tag, IMO.

I hope he gets his horns back!

[arrowflinger]

I would hope so, after all that.............Or the kid could turn him in as a poacher.

[boneaddict]

I say the tag should be notched.  Especially since there is no doubt the animal died.

[jackelope]

I would definitely agree that regardless the outcome...the hunt is over and the tag is cut...sucks...but thats the way it should be...there is a dead bull one way or the other.

[billythekidrock]

Yep, notch that puppy......

Been one long half hour?

[GoldTip]

I would agree with all posted above, once the animal is known to be dead, the tag should be cut.  In fact, it should have been cut when he found the headless animal.  Hope things are going OK for LongTat, this 30min has lasted about 5 1/2 hours.

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

Now this is just my take on it. 1 persons opinion and we all have them...
The kid/guy that cut the head off is far from a poacher. He did not kill a game animal, during season or out of season. Bull was dead already. Now is the guy an ass??? Yup sure as heck is.
He was irresponsible for doing what he did, and was completely wrong. But he is hardly a poacher, more like a thief.

Hope you get your head back, To me it sounds like the head is more important to you than turning the kid in for dragging a game animal to an area where it would not be found to rot without a head.

I would be far more pissed that the animal was wasted because of this kid than to get a head back. You can always get an opportunity to shoot another bull, but that one you arrowed this year is a wasted game animal...

[boneaddict]

While we are waiting for the outcome of this...here is something else that I have heard of happening, and it happened to my brother once until a neighbor/landowner stepped in, and it happened to me once.   I shot a two point(before the rules) in the open sage.  Before I could get to it (200 yards away) a guy foot raced to it.  I figured he was just gong to admire it.  I got to it and he had put his tag on it.  he said "better luck next time".  I didn't say a word.  I was so mad that if I would have said a word, I would have killed him.  If it would have been a bigger buck we would have had  a different sitution.

Any one have this happen to them.  I've heard of this a bunch in the clockum.  I'll tell my other stoy later...right now dinner is being served.

[billythekidrock]

I have heard two different outcomes to that same story.
1. the game warden makes both parties split the meat
2. the game warden says the one that tagged it is the owner.

Luckily it has never happened to me.

[Bridger]

I shot a spike elk in the clockum a few years ago.It was a muzzle loader hunt,tracked the bull about 300 hundred yards down hill,found and taged the elk.I was just about done with field dressing and a guy comes down and says this is his elk.I told him it had 2 holes in it and both were mine,he stayed around a while and then showed up in my camp.Now I am getting pissed,with this guy harrasing me.He counts two holes in the carcus ,says he was wrong,and drives awayThis could of gotten to be real bad as  i was not backing down from this guy.

[wrangler]

just read all 3 pages of this debocale and i keep hearing circus music playing the background.... actually i think some monkeys just rode by on tri-cycles! so the gamies are bringing you "your" horns? on what grounds? hear-say? i have my doubts about that..... unless the kid confessed and gave em up, even then i doubt they'd hand em over with smiles and handshakes. now im DEFINATLY not defending him lying about what happend, or even cutting off the head and leaving the meat (which im sure is illegal no matter how long its been dead or by how) and if it were me id most likely give you the horns back, unless you came up to me 'guns a blazin' then id prolly laugh. don't forget YOU chose to pick up a bow and sling an arrow that must have missed it's mark, it happens, but after 3 days notch your tag and move on, if someone else found it thats just plain ol bad luck, and once again, it happens all the time.... not to be an ass but i don't think you have much of a legal leg to stand on, as much it sucks. oh, and poacher is forsure not the right term... dirtbag? most likely. good luck!