25 rotting elk carcasses, charges filed

[Bullkllr]

From the landowner press release:

In answer to the accusations that we don’t allow hunters, that is not correct.  We have allowed people we know, who can utilize the meat, to purchase depredation tags.   Often times they are working during the week and can only hunt on weekends or evenings.  This limits the time that the tags allow.  Another reason we have limited hunters coming on our property, if the hunters come from outside Wallowa County, they are not familiar with our fence lines.  We do not have permission from adjoining landowners to kill elk on their ground.  Yes, we are particular who hunts on our property as we feel responsible if shots are fired towards neighbor’s homes and an elk is killed off of our property.[/color]

I have no sympathy for them.  Don't charge fees and limit hunting and the elk problem would not be as severe.  If they allowed enough hunting they may even reduce the overall population.

If folks can't deal with wildlife on their property I suggest they sell and move to town where they won't be "burdened". 

Says the guy who wastes 25 elk and has 1/2 of them die on neighbors' property.

[pianoman9701]

Speculation, many hunters are slobs. If the allegations are in fact true, letting people hunt the property the years prior would have absolutely no effect on the end result.

Yeah, but most aren't slob enough to leave dozens of dead elk rotting all over the place. I call BS on his claims. He's trying to justify killing an entire herd of elk. He'll say anything.

[Allen23]

I thought some where it said 200 head of elk? That unit is huge and I don't think there would have been enough hunting pressure at their place to make a difference and how many people would have hunted it ?  Elk don't stay away from a place for 5 months just because a few were shot....... The whole thing is getting diluted I think. Comes down to a guy made a bad choice. There is always more than one choice.

[Don_D]

It's easy to judge the misdeeds of others. It seems to me for a family that has been ranching a decent chunk of land for 40 years that they could have called on their neighbors and the local community for help with depredation kills. I've never known rural people to not help those in need.

Too bad they chose to take things into their own hands. Hope they don't lose their ranch over it but boy that was a pretty huge mistake on their part.

[MadMooner]

Wow. That is an obscene amount of wanton waste.  I hope they throw the book at that guy. His wife's released statement is doing them no favors either.