A whole bunch of elk hunting questions...........

kenr74 · Nov 3, 2015

I managed to get a spike this year after a few dry years. Nice to have the freezer turned on again. Overall it was a year of firsts for our group which raised questions we didn't have answers for.

1. Opening day we came across a huge elk carcass that was only missing the head. It wasn't there during deer season and I don't see any other seasons open between deer and elk.

Should we have reported it to the poaching hotline? There wasn't anything obvious(like a poachers drivers license) laying next to it.

2. One of our group members shot a spike opening afternoon just before dark. He looked for it with no luck and assumed that he missed it. I was busy with mine so we decided to look again in the morning as a group. After looking in the morning we figured that the shot was missed and elk was long gone. 24 hours after the shot we stumbled across the elk. It was bloated and the coyotes had had a good time with it. I went ahead and gutted it in the dark hoping we could save it. Went in he next morning and it was obviously not good meat. The animals had another night of feeding and the meat was green and smelled bad.

Should we have tagged it and left it? Just left it? Reported it?
Can the shooter still hunt since they did shoot an elk?
When it comes to reporting online do they report that they got an elk? We figured yes on this one.

mjbskwim · Nov 8, 2015

Since your conscience told you to ask on here these are rhetorical questions

Koda · Nov 8, 2015

talk about a bizzaro world kind of opening day, sheesh. If you honestly really tried to do the right thing then just carry on. The odds of this are an extremely low unfortunate occurrence that can happen. Last year I read about an Oregon hunter that was attacked in the woods by a naked man, I hope he didn't need counselling.

kenr74 · Nov 8, 2015

It was definitely a strange opener for us. Usually one shot and done. Kind of bummed everybody out to waste an animal. I figured we did the right thing but couldn't find anything in the book the state puts out.

erudne · Nov 8, 2015

Not to over ride the State, because we would never do that:
I have harvested wounded elk and tagged em and then had a hind quarter stolen while I hauled the head and hide out of a steep canyon, in freezing weather. Life is like that.

When it comes to wounded animals, and most other things in life, it is what you do when no one is looking, that defines your character.

If you feel, guided by the ROL and your conscience, you made the right decision then you did the right thing and you have no need to feel guilty.

Vaultman · Nov 14, 2015

Just my opinion:
1. Sounds like the meat was all still there. Therefore this is a not a question in my mind. Absolutely report it.
2. Read the reg's, and if it isn't in there then I would call F&G and find out. If there was a question about it then I would have stopped hunting. My gut tells me if you are going to report it as a harvested animal, then that hunter better not have continued hunting. If you intended to report it as a filled tag the day you found it dead, what would you do if that hunter harvested another spike the next day. Isn't that poached, or can you then just change your mind and say, well I wont count the first one?