Found a poached elk

[rosscrazyelk]

When I was turkey hunting my friend and i found a elk skull and the antlers were cut off. Only 100 yards from the road. Do you think it is worth reporting it?

[Machias]

Yes

[alecvg]

 

[Michelle_Nelson]

 

[jackelope]

for the life of me i can never understand why people want to know if it is worth reporting. please don't take this the wrong way. this is the 3rd or 4th threead this spring on whether or not someone should report a potential wildlife crime.
report it. it is part of our duty as responsible stewards of the outdoors. it is easy and you can even do it online and/or anonymously...though you should do it over the phone as soon as you can if you don't have a cell or don't have service.

[rasbo]

always worth reporting,if its happening in the area the more reports the most likely they will respond..somebody might have hit it then someone came along and took the horns  lets us know

[agchawk]

for the life of me i can never understand why people want to know if it is worth reporting. please don't take this the wrong way. this is the 3rd or 4th threead this spring on whether or not someone should report a potential wildlife crime.
report it. it is part of our duty as responsible stewards of the outdoors. it is easy and you can even do it online and/or anonymously...though you should do it over the phone as soon as you can if you don't have a cell or don't have service.

   I was thinkin' the same thing. You know, if it's worth enough of your time to log onto the computer, create a new thread topic, type the thing up, and post it then it is most certainly worth reporting to the Game Department IMO.
   

[heavy hauler]

  i have found dozens of elk skulls at st helens with the skull plate cut or the antlers cut off like sheds.they starved to death. maybe that is the case there.or maybe someone legally killed a elk and cut the skull plate

[hoytem]

a guy  i used to work with found a four point bull skeleton and cut the antlers off, then brought them to work. he didn't know you're supposed to leave 'em if the skull is intact(does anyone know why?). simple enough mistake...I didn't report him.

[Tim]

I found one  day before late deer season opened last year,in an area where there is no open elk hunting.The remains looked like they had only beed there for a day.I called it in and gave them the exact location from my GPS and offered to make the trip again and lead them right to it.I got a great big ho-hum from fish and wildlife

[farmin4u_98948]

We are the eyes and ears for the game dept so if we see anything it needs to be reported. Do what is right even if you dont see any response or results.......

[funkster]

  i have found dozens of elk skulls at st helens with the skull plate cut or the antlers cut off like sheds.they starved to death. maybe that is the case there.or maybe someone legally killed a elk and cut the skull plate

 

[littlebuf]

just on a side not, i submitted a report about two weeks ago now. left my name number and haven't heard from the game department once  i will continue to report any illegal activity i may encounter in the woods because that's the right thing to do, but more and more im starting to believe that fish and game really doesn't care unless it makes the news. sad   

[Coasthunterjay]

i did the same thing with a spike i found up here just outside of PA, and the Fish and wildlife guy called me back and i thought he was actually going to do something with it.......
he listened to everything i had to say and then proceeded to tell me that it was probably a tribal kill.......

didnt look like any tribal kill to me and it wasnt on the reservation. It was on an open loggin road....right off the side of the road.....they just shot it, took the meat, and nothing else....no horns nothing.....JUST LEFT EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

But the thing was...all the GMU's up here i believe are 3 point or better........BAD JU-JU IF I SAY.


I REPORTED AND NOTHING HAPENED BUT YOU MIGHT GET LUCKY IN YOUR CASE.....ATLEAST THEY TOOK THE HORNS.

[jackelope]

ATLEAST THEY TOOK THE HORNS.

really?

they just shot it, took the meat, and nothing else....no horns nothing.....JUST LEFT EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

i would think the important thing to take if you're gonna kill an elk would be the meat. i'm not sure i understand your post.

[boneaddict]

 

[rosscrazyelk]

Well, I called it in but the attitude of the person on the other end of the phone sounded like he did not give one ounce of care in the world..

[Machias]

At least you did your part, now it's on them.  Thanks!!

[Cascade_Sherpa]

just on a side not, i submitted a report about two weeks ago now. left my name number and haven't heard from the game department once  i will continue to report any illegal activity i may encounter in the woods because that's the right thing to do, but more and more im starting to believe that fish and game really doesn't care unless it makes the news. sad   

This is the second or third post with this kind of response.  Unfortunately for ALL of us, I've had the same kind of response from OUR public servants the Fish and Wildlife department.  Several years back while hunting a three point and better area of the St. Helens tree farm, my dad and I found two dead spike bulls in different locations in a single day.  It appeared both bulls were mistakenly shot and left to spoil and bloat. We took the time to record everything we found and phone the game department with locations and descriptions.  We weren't expecting appreciation, or any major applause from anybody. It just seem like the right thing to do. What we got was a very short and pointed conversation from the local warden who asked us what our motivations were for reporting the 'incident'.  When we told him we weren't sure what he was suggesting, he said "look guys, you aren't going to get any bonus points out of this".  As if that was the only thing that a couple of hunters could be interested in.  The whole thing totally pissed me off, we thought we were doing the right thing and were made to feel like we committed a crime by the very person whose job it was to protect law abiding citizens and game animals!

[elksnout]

That last post really pissed me off. I can feel my blood boiling. Makes you want to punch that a-hole right in his stupid face. I've heard other stories like that thru the years about hunters reporting crimes and then having the gamey come about one word away from accusing the guy of doing the illegal activity. One of my long time friends turned some creep in up on the Lahar wash, saw the guy drop two bulls and the warden had the nerve to ask him what caliber he was using as if he was the shooter and the guy got away for Christs sake.....

[300rum]

I called the hotline number that is on our parking permits last season and left a message as it wasn't in progress and on a Friday night and it said to get a hold of dispatch only if an emergency or in progress.  Anyway, I left a message with the info and told them that I had additional info and I was never called back, ever.  I am not impressed and probably won't call back.  FYI, the info I left was that there was a truck coming out with a headless deer on a flat bed truck on a closed road, when we spoke with the guys there was a rifle in the cab, no head for the animal on the flat bed truck and no bow to be seen.  I can understand why someone won't call, I won't.  If they don't care to call back.   

[groundhog]

The agents here in eburg are usually all over it if you call a suspected poaching in. They will come out and get DNA at the least so that they may be able to make a match at a later date. My brother turned in a guy for shooting a cow in a closed unit and he turned out to be a Seattle cop. The local agent wrote him up and my brother got ten preference points out deal! Don't hesitate to call it in just make sure you talk with and officer and not someone behind a desk.

[Rob]

a guy  i used to work with found a four point bull skeleton and cut the antlers off, then brought them to work. he didn't know you're supposed to leave 'em if the skull is intact(does anyone know why?). simple enough mistake...I didn't report him.

I had never heard this before...  Is this really true???

[Coasthunterjay]

WOOPS, sorry to make that sound wierd...guess i should of explained myself better....

ATLEAST THEY TOOK THE HORNS.

really?

they just shot it, took the meat, and nothing else....no horns nothing.....JUST LEFT EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

i would think the important thing to take if you're gonna kill an elk would be the meat. i'm not sure i understand your post.

my point was because only the meat on what i found was taken that the gamewarden didnt do anything....

I HATE TO SEE AN ANIMAL GET POACHED.......for meat, body parts, fun, whatever....doesnt matter.

But with the horns taken he might have more of a claim that the gamey might listen to...thats all i was saying...

gamey didnt even care about what i had to say when i found a illegal sized animal killed....

[Coasthunterjay]

Well, I called it in but the attitude of the person on the other end of the phone sounded like he did not give one ounce of care in the world..

my point exactly....thats basically what i got also.......

terriable man....wish someone cared out there.........but they might be doing something that w dont know about and just not making a big deal out of it.....it is there job and they probably get tired hearing about it.

we probably just take it differenty not being in the middle of it all the time....

Either way if i see it again, ide still call it in.....its the right thing to do!

[alecvg]

a guy  i used to work with found a four point bull skeleton and cut the antlers off, then brought them to work. he didn't know you're supposed to leave 'em if the skull is intact(does anyone know why?). simple enough mistake...I didn't report him.

I had never heard this before...  Is this really true???

Yes, it is illegal to take a skull, though the wardens don't seem to enforce it so much from what I have heard.

[Cascade_Sherpa]

What would be the reason for a law against removing elk skulls from the woods?  Not that there has to be a reason behind a lot of our silly laws, but I'm curious also after reading the last two posts.  Maybe if somebody knows, they can enlighten us......

[boneaddict]

An old poachers trick was to shoot an animal, stash the head then return for it later as a "found" skull.  You can still get permission from the WDFW and other game departments.  You can take a lot of good pics of the area, the kill, the situation etc. and that will save them from going out into the field.   If its obvious its not poached then usually you'll get the green light. 

for example th ebuck I found yesterday was in velvet, and had chew marks and thus not worth much as a trophy.  I am betting that after e-mails and calls are made, they will OK me to go get it.  If not, I will give them the coordinates and they can.   I also believe if its a big trophy, then they would probably keep it.   I do know a gal who even got permission to keep a ram skull this last year.  That shocked me.

[mossback91]

Many of the wardens here are cool with it if you ask them

[boneaddict]

bottom line, its not that bad of a law though I have found a lot of skulls.   It gives them the ability to nail someone if they suspect them of foul play.  Its that whole interpret thing that has you by the nutsack though, if you decide to haul it out and haven't gotten permission yet and they nail you.  Good luck with that one.  I guess you won't be applying fo rth e Master hunter program for the next 10 years.

[Cascade_Sherpa]

Most of the time when I find an animal skeleton in the woods the coyotes and other critters have spread the bones, hide, etc. around so much its hard to tell what if anything happened. The skull could be a hundred feet from the rib cage, and a hundred feet from the leg bones.  I find it hard to believe that a warden could deduce whether it was a legal kill that was boned out, winter kill, or poached kill, if several months or even a whole winter have gone by.

[elkkiller]

just on a side not, i submitted a report about two weeks ago now. left my name number and haven't heard from the game department once  i will continue to report any illegal activity i may encounter in the woods because that's the right thing to do, but more and more im starting to believe that fish and game really doesn't care unless it makes the news. sad   

[Hillbilly270]

u gotta report.......five elk were killed on the coast here and left lay.  someone reported it and the wardens ended up locating the people who did it.  a couple teenagers apparently shot them for "fun".  They must of told some buddies at school and word got out.  at least some people do get caught.

[littlebuf]

an update to the comment i made on here. the game warden did finally call me back. apparently she was out of town for training and called me as soon as she got back. which is almost more disturbing than not getting called, there so under staffed that it took almost a month to follow up on a poaching report because there was some training?!!! i know its not the employees fault, she said i gave her a good lead and would work hard at cracking it but man its still sad