Distressed Elk

idahofishnhunt

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Dec 2, 2012
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Southwest Idaho
Quite an interesting mix today of ethics, politics, and the law. I'll be interested in others opinions on this matter for sure. All I can do is give the facts on how it played out for me today, and the choices I made.

My daughter has a tag for a doe antelope so we were out today looking for one. Fast forward to us driving down the road and there was a cow elk bedded alongside the road in the ditch, as I slowed down it stood up...I thought it odd it didn't run away, but I snapped a picture of it, and as I started to drive away...it started to run, that's when I noticed it's leg was broke. The shock on my daughters face pretty much told me that besides knowing I needed to do something...now I really needed to do something.

I already knew the answer but I tried to call Idaho Fish & Game....closed...how convenient. I figured the Citizens Against Poaching must be open 7 days a week, and I have their number in my phone...so I gave them a call. Someone did answer, and when I told them about the elk...guess what they said? We are not involved with injured or distressed animals, just ones that have been poached. Oh my...gotta love these agencies. So they gave me another number of a place called Animals in Distress. I called this place and got a lady on there...with after much talking with her she tried to convince me that she was authorized and licensed by Idaho Fish and Game to tell me I can shoot the elk, but she wasn't sure about harvesting the meat afterwords.

Hmm...ok, no way am I just taking someones word for something like that. She said she was going to try and find some IDFG peoples names she had and call them to ask. As she was doing that I looked her up...she was who she said she was, but I could not find anything to do about her being licensed to tell me to shoot something. So I call my wife, and she is back home and sluething around on the internet for any IDFG contacts or hotlines. She ends up sending a message to them on their Facebook page. They respond back and tell her that they have contacted the Sheriff's office and the Sheriff acts as a conservation officer in leu of IDFG when they cannot be reached or make it to the scene. So I'm there waiting for the Sheriff when I get a call from an IDFG officer out of Twin Falls. I tell him what is going on, and the location and I can tell he knows the area I am talking about. He is going to get in touch with IDFG officers, and take care of it.

So I part ways with the elk....that is now bedded back down out in the grass with her head down. A few hours later when I come back through the area she is still in the same spot...who knows what IDFG will do...hopefully they will check it out Monday.

Fact of the matter is...as much as ethically the right decision would be to put her down, and harvest the meat. Because of unclear laws, and politics...that just wasn't going to happen, all I could do is walk away. No way I would consider harvesting that animal unless the Sheriff or IDFG officer was right there and put it down, and then told me I could do so. Just too many horror stories out there.

Anyways...that's how it played out, and those are the decisions I made. Seems like there should be some more clear cut policies on that...but then you have the human factor, and either you shoot it to put it out of it's misery and leave it...whereas someone comes along and thinks someone poached it. Or you shoot it and harvest it...and someone comes along and thinks you are really poaching it and harvesting it. Not really a win, win scenario here. I think I made the only choice I could legally make...my daughter understood, and we are both without regrets because we tried to do as much as we could...it's just sad that poor elk is probably still out there suffering unless the coyotes or wolves get it tonight.

Here is a link to the video.

http://vid1311.photobucket.com/albums/s666/idfishnhunt/Videos/IMG_4154.mp4
 
Here in Oregon there is an OAR that states something to the effect...."there is no law prohibiting a person from putting down a suffering animal". If I came across that elk I would have killed here humanly and notified the authorities on Monday morning of her location. They are not going to allow you to keep the elk because sadly if they did there would be a lot more suffering elk.

I have no idea how the laws work in Idaho but the evidence is there to show she was messed up beyond repair.

Bummer deal for sure.
 
I would not have hesitated one bit to shoot it, but I would have covered all of my bases by recording the phone calls from the different personnel you talked to, to the video and everything in between. Then I would have sat there and waited.
 
With the video you had to show how bad her leg was, if it was me, I would have put her down and taken my chances on what the Sheriff Deputy would do when he got there. However, I can fully understand why you handled it the way you did.
 
As hard as it might be to come upon that, it's a good thing you didn't shoot, because I'm betting you would have been facing poaching charges.

Exactly...not worth taking the chance, no black and white on this in my opinion. I gave the video to IDFG, and the location again...apparently the memo along with video is being circulated. I guess they get calls such as these, but never a video to actually show it. It should be interesting to see what unfolds internally....maybe something, maybe nothing, but all a person can do is take the initiative.
 
Yeah, that just sucks. I do have a small bit of past experience with something similar.

When I was a teen I worked on a christmas tree farm. One year the week after rifle season (wisconsin) we saw a doe whitetail that had a front leg dangling. I was with my boss, he drove back to his house to get a gun to put her down. In the 15-20 minutes that it took him to get back she hobbled off onto the neighbors property, so he didn't shoot her.

Next late spring there was a 3 legged doe with 2 fawns on the property. Couldn't tell you for sure it was her, but I always thought it was. She was around for another 5-6 years before we stopped seeing her.

So, as harsh as it is to see an animal that obviously is in pain, you never know what will happen. Unless I saw an animal that couldn't get up, or was stuck in something, I don't think I would do anything, besides call game and fish and let them do their job
 
As bad as that looks from a human perspective, many animals in that or similar situations survive and live for quite a while.
 
"So I'm there waiting for the Sheriff when I get a call from an IDFG officer out of Twin Falls. I tell him what is going on, and the location and I can tell he knows the area I am talking about. He is going to get in touch with IDFG officers, and take care of it."

There ya go, you've done your part.
 
Tough deal. I wouldn't put an animal down unless I KNEW I was following the law. If someone was with me with the proper tag/permit, different story. mtmuley
 
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