‘Nightmare’ elk hunt turns heads on the levee

[Schaaf]

Glad to see the guy that shot the Fort Peck town buck by the playground finally drew a WY tag.

 

[westbranch]

The chewing about not being able to retrieve the animal seems to be appropriate. However, seems like they hit a honey hole by reading the regs and getting in on some elk that many others didn't know about. If its a walking trail, then hunting permitted signs should be posted. Just because it's a popular dog walking area should not make it inaccessible for hunters. Why are we trying to conceal the sport from dog walkers and casual recreation. There are enough times society bows down to the the loud mouth anti whatever cause they have. If no laws were broken, don't see the issue here!

With no plan to get the meat and letting the elk sit in the sun for 2 days sounds a lot like wanton waste.

Edited to add - Hard to believe tenderloins and parts of the hindquarters were fit to eat. Maybe the warden watched the guys cook them and choke 'em down

Wyoming law defines wanton waste as “to leave, abandon or allow any edible portion of meat from a big game animal, game bird, game fish or small game animal to become tainted, rotten or otherwise unfit for human consumption prior to processing at a person’s home or at a processor.”

 

[nrpate05]

Interesting story. Having lived right down the road for a few years, it never crossed my mind to hunt there. I wouldn't have even if I had known that it was legal, but it seems they are good map readers and figured out a spot they could hunt in a zone that is largely private. On our public lands, one recreation type doesn't trump another, but unfortunately in these situations the hunters usually lose out (thinking of the moose that was shot at Brainard Lake near Boulder, CO). In this day and age we've gotta go above and beyond to enhance our public image. This certainly doesn't help.

 

[flatcoat]

For some context: It’s a popular dog walk and xc ski spot once it snows. It’s not uncommon for folks to jump shoot ducks here so hunting is fine. The major issue is shooting across the river, depending on where you are, puts people, homes, and livestock in backdrop. And the snake is running higher than usual, nobody in their right mind would think about trying to wade an elk across from an island. Just another dumb tourist doing dumb stuff. Glad they didn’t shoot anyone/anything unintended.

 

[DouglasR]

Hunttalk would write an 80 year old man, wfg doesn’t have the stones.

 

[brymoore]

Thank you On-x!

 

[bts09]

How do we actually feel about the suggestion (in the story) that the mere act of shooting elk that were "trapped" on an island is not ethical? The story seems to spend more time on that portion--that it's not fair chase to kill elk that are in the middle of an island--and less on the issue of shooting an animal that you can't retrieve. For me, the inability to retrieve always means you don't take a shot. But I'm curious what others think about the ethics of shooting the elk where they were, assuming you had a retrieval plan in place.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Savage...literally

?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Pretty simple in my eyes the hunters did not do their homework and got rightfully chewed on by the local game warden for it.
The comments by passers by was some good medicine too it appears.

I think they should have been ticketed for wanton waste. The warden should have claimed the elk, as essentially it was the state/locals who retrieved them.

If any thing the subtext of the situation is that the locals went very gentle, and were incredibly helpful to a couple of jabronies.

For some context: It’s a popular dog walk and xc ski spot once it snows. It’s not uncommon for folks to jump shoot ducks here so hunting is fine. The major issue is shooting across the river, depending on where you are, puts people, homes, and livestock in backdrop. And the snake is running higher than usual, nobody in their right mind would think about trying to wade an elk across from an island. Just another dumb tourist doing dumb stuff. Glad they didn’t shoot anyone/anything unintended.

"Through some connections to people in town, the Upper Midwesterners procured a canoe and wheelbarrow as tools for extracting the meat. But the Snake River is running unseasonably swift, and their first attempt at a crossing resulted in a capsize, a soaked Minnesotan and an unmanned canoe being carried downstream."

Wade... they couldn't even figure out how to use a canoe.

 

[noharleyyet]

?

Grampa's Model 99...

 

[DouglasR]

Is this stretch of river really sketchy?
Aren’t there raft rental places?
Why’d it take so long for someone to help?

 

[rwc101]

Minnesotans who can't use a canoe?

 

[DouglasR]

Why didn’t Brad Neilson just ride his high horse across the river and help them get the meat out?
His feet wouldn’t have even got wet.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I wasn't going to write this but the article pretty well spells it out if you look at a map for 30 seconds. Shooting elk on an island as they move from private to other private is how you hunt that tag if you are doing it on public land. Most people just avoid the day use area and plan much better.

 

[southdakotaelk]

Still amazes me how some hunters can be so ignorant . I believe they are few , but they are always the loudest and make the rest look bad .

 

[schmalts]

tough luck that the hikers and float fishers showed up, not my concern, they are hiking in a multi use area. The concern is shooting across a river you don't know if you can cross?? That was stupid.

 

[RobG]

Around here when SAR reports a rescue it usually some guy from Minnesota. Minnesota man is giving Florida man a run for his money.

 

[schmalts]

Shot my first deer with almost that same Savage. Mine had the Octagon barrel

 

[elkduds]

Grampa's Model 99...

I noticed the m.99 before anything else in the pic registered. Then the car.

We share much of our public land w other users. If/when they turn against hunting, it will be to our detriment. Which is to say, image matters now in ways it didn't used to when we were the only ones using the most public places.

 

[Gellar]

I’m not saying that what these hunters did was right, but I get the feeling the author of this article does not hunt and probably doesn’t like you hunting either.