EBS STAFF
Game wardens with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks are looking for information about someone who poached an elk near Big Sky, according to an FWP release.
Someone submitted a tip on the FWP’s violation reporting hotline that an elk was killed on private land on Chief Joseph Trail, in Hunting District 304, without the landowners permission on Nov. 10.
Wardens were able to find the remains of the elk near the road. According to the release, the poacher or poachers had left the tenderloins and half of the backstraps on the carcass, which rotted. The elk was a spike bull.
In HD 304, spikes are only allowed to be harvested by youth hunters and disabled adult hunters with a permit to hunt from a vehicle, the release states.
The person who reported the poaching described the person who shot the elk as a white man in his 50s of average height with a round face and a short, graying beard. According the FWP, he was seen with six Hispanic men packing out the elk in white garbage bags. The elk meat was carried off on two Polaris Ranger UTVs, the release states—one black, the other camo. Both had four-door hard cabs.
FWP requests that anyone with information about the case visit myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/tipmont to provide details or call the FWP violation reporting hot line at 1-800-TIP-MONT. They may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
