(November 2017) Washington: Wildlife officers doing what they seem to love doing -- seizing and killing orphaned wildlife

WASHINGTON -- A wildlife rehabilitation facility in Rochester was reeling Monday after the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife seized three baby deer and an elk.

The animals were euthanized, because officials say they'd gotten too used to humans.

One photo WDFW shared with KING 5 shows a fawn sucking on a person's ear. State officials call it a pattern at For Heaven's Sake Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation. Several young deer and an elk were all too comfortable around humans, they claim.

  Rescued only to be killed by WDFW

Rescued only to be killed by WDFW

In a press release sent Monday, WDFW wrote that "state regulations and national wildlife rehabilitation standards direct wildlife managers to euthanize habituated animals rather than release them into the wild."

"The situation at the Rochester facility could have been avoided if the rehabilitators had limited human contact with the animals, weaned them sooner, and released them into the wild in accordance with state guidelines," said WDFW Wildlife Program Assistant Director Eric Gardner, in the release.

But the allegations are not true, if you ask the woman who runs the facility.

"All the fencing covered with tarp so they can't see us," Claudia Supensky pointed out.

Supensky showed KING 5 the area where the deer and elk live, designed to reduce wildlife interaction with humans. No one is allowed to treat the animals like pets, she says.

WDFW coming to kill animals...

That's why she was shocked to learn a summer intern told the state exactly that, and after a few visits, state officials showed up with a trailer to seize the animals. They took three fawn and one elk.

"Just blew my mind. I couldn't believe they could just come in and take them," she said.

WDFW says wildlife is state property and the law requires any wildlife to be removed if it loses its fear of humans. They point to photos of the animals lingering around officers.

"What we saw were animals that were very used to humans, came up to the people that entered the pen, looking to be fed.The elk head-butted one of our staff," Gardner said.

WDFW killers pretending they love wildlife

Gardner called it a tough decision, but a necessary one. Deer and elk that grow accustomed to humans have a harder time surviving in the wild and can also be a danger to humans. He says they're normally released prior to winter, and the organization's plan to keep the animals until spring is atypical.

Supensky disagrees. She says some of the animals just needed more time to learn wild behaviors after weeks of being bottle fed. It's common practice for them, she says, to keep deer over winter to give them a better chance at survival and no one has yet to tell them it's bad practice. She also questions why the animals needed to be darted and tranquilized for loading onto WDFW's trailer if they trusted humans so much.

Left with little word about what would happen to her facility, Supensky didn't even know that the four animals seized were euthanized KILLED until KING5 told her Monday.

"They were? This is the most awful thing I've ever experienced in my life," she cried.

THE TRAILER OF DEATH:

Despicable WDFW officials using an apple to lead

these innocent animals to their death

WDFW is hoping to place some of the remaining deer in a research study at Washington State University.

They also hope to use this experience as a learning lesson for the public. Many young ungulates taken to rehab facilities are mistakenly removed from their mothers by people who assume the animals are abandoned. If found, wild animals should always be left alone while appropriate authorities are called.

"It's really unfortunate that something didn't go right this time. None of us like being where we're at. It's not a pleasant situation for any of us. We really hope we can continue to work with our rehabbers and provide the service we all want them to provide which is to recover these animals and get them released back to the wild," Gardner said.

WDFW won't let For Heaven's Sake take any more deer and elk, but the group decided to stop taking all new wildlife because they're so worried the state might seize more.

"We know for a fact that given the time, these animals could've been released. To take them and kill them, healthy animals we've put all the time and work into?" Supenksy said. "This is a matter of being killed before they were given the time to be released. My heart is so sick and so sad."

The Supenskys also told The Chronicle that the deer were so frightened by approaching WDFW officers that they fled to the nearby woods and eventually had to be lured with apples and then shot with tranquilizer darts in order to be rounded up. The Supenskys claim that in all their years working with animals they have never failed to successfully release a deer back into the wild.

"WDFW did not provide (For Heaven’s Sake) and these slain fawns and calf the opportunity to reach physical, behavioral, and psychological capability for release before seizing and euthanizing them,” Karp was quoted as saying in a press release from A Soft Place to Land.

Glaze says that the heavy-handed action at For Heaven’s Sake is not the first time that the WDFW has unfairly targeted animals at rehabilitation centers for lethal action despite other non-lethal options being available.

Glaze noted that Dan Boeholt, a property owner near Montesano, had previously offered WDFW the opportunity to relocate the deer onto 65 acres of his land and was disgusted when he found out the animals had instead been euthanized.

Others have taken notice too, including 19th District state Rep. Jim Walsh, who asked in a public Facebook post, "With all of the problems it has, WDFW makes a priority of killing Bambi?" 

(KING5 - Nov 14, 2017)

Pennsylvania: Poacher shot and killed beautiful elk and left its body to rot

PENNSYLVANIA -- Wildlife Conservation Officer Dan Murray of Centre County received a tip from a member of the public on November 30 regarding a dead bull elk on State Game Lands 100 in Burnside Township, Centre County.

Officer Murray and WCO Mark Gritzer necropsied the elk and determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound.

They believe the elk was shot outside of the elk season in the first few days of the rifle deer season.

Any information regarding this case should be reported to the North Central Region Office at 570-398-4744. You can also report online or through the Operation Game Thief hotline.

(Fox43 - December 8, 2017)

Colorado: Colorado Parks and Wildlife tells Estes Park police officer to kill injured baby elk. He refuses and saves its life.

COLORADO --  It all started as an unfortunate mishap for a 2-week-old male elk calf.  He fractured his leg and was alone.

In the animal kingdom, that means he would soon be part of the natural food chain. Except an Estes Park police officer found him just off of Highway 36 near the causeway.

Feeling sorry for the injured calf, the officer contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife for advice.

Officials told the officer to euthanize the suffering animal [by shooting it].

Instead, the calf was brought to veterinarian Dr. Marie Cenac, who didn't think twice about treating the wild animal.

"I didn't think twice because it's the right thing to do," she said.

With its broken leg in a splint, the calf is being force-fed a nutritious formula every few hours.

COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE WANTED IT DEAD

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said while it empathizes with the officer's reaction and decision, the elk should have been left in the wild and euthanized if suffering.

Yeah, typical wildlife agency. if they had their way, they'd kill everything. 

"Kids and animals, I have a place in my heart that just aches for them," Cenac said.

All parties agree, taking an animal from the wild and treating it falls in a gray area, which for one small and hurting elk, is in Estes Park.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it took possession of the baby elk and will take to its wildlife veterinarian in Fort Collins for further treatment.

Hmm, I don't believe them. They'll kill it as soon as the media go away. And if anyone dares ask any questions, they'll lie and say it's fine or they'll lie and say it had non-treatable injuries. Rarely do you find a government wildlife agency that doesn't subscribe to the idea that they simply kill all the orphaned and injured wildlife.

(KDVR - June 13, 2017)

Idaho: Poacher shoots and kills bull elk, leaves his body to rot

IDAHO -- A poacher shot and killed a bull elk on farm ground earlier this month near White Owl Butte, which is about 19 miles southeast of Rexburg.

Whoever shot the animal didn't harvest any of the animal's meat or its antlers.

“This is not hunting. This is wanton killing,” said Idaho Fish and Game Regional Conservation Educator official Greg Losinski.

The person shooting the elk was not a hunter, he said.

“When they do this, they are criminal. They are not hunters. That's an important distinction,” he said.

Fish and Game conservation officers investigated the incident and found the elk had been shot multiple times.

“More than one suspect was likely involved in the poaching,” Losinski said.

Located about 11 miles from Rexburg, White Owl Butte farm ground is a popular site for snowmobiling and antler hunting.

Losinski believes that someone may have seen something during the time the poacher shot the elk. He's asking the public's help in locating the person or persons responsible for the incident.

It was a resident who informed Fish and Game about the bull elk.

“It was reported. That's the way it works, and that's why we ask the public for assistance. We can't be everywhere,” he said.

If someone notices some suspicious behavior involving wildlife, Losinski asks them to take a picture and to report it. Pictures taken with smartphones can often provide the GPS coordinates.

“You can say, 'Hey, I saw this and want to let you know.' That way we can check it out,” he said.

This type of shooting takes away from Gem State residents who purchase hunting licenses and legally hunt the animals during designated hunting seasons.

“It hurts the residents and the citizens of Idaho,” Losinski said.

Fish and Game normally holds hunting season in the fall. Occasionally Fish and Game opens up temporary hunting to trim herds encroaching on ranchland.

“In the winter we have depredation hunts to help reduce conflicts between elk, deer, ranches, livestock and feed,” he said. “It's keeping wildlife away from haystacks. If you harvest an animal, you can keep it.”

Losinski didn't know the exact penalty the poacher faces in this case. If he turned himself in, Fish and Game would handle it. But if caught, the poacher could spend some time in court, pay a fine and possibly go behind bars.

“Depending on what the prosecutor and the judge decides, it can be hundreds of dollars or more," he said. "There can be jail time."

It's not likely that the incident was an accident.

“It would be hard for this to be a mistake,” Losinski said.

Anyone with any information about the crime is encouraged to call Fish and Game Sr. Conservation Officer Andrew Sorensen at 208-390-0632. Or they can call the Citizens Against Poaching (CAP) hotline 1-800-632-5999.  Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.

(Idaho State Journal - April 5, 2017)

Oregon: Poacher sought after bull elk found unlawfully killed in Hood River County

OREGON -- A bull elk found dead in Hood River County was likely killed by a gunshot wound on private property, and the Oregon State Police want to know who's responsible for this unlawful killing.

A release from OSP's Fish & Wildlife Division said the 6x7 "trophy" elk was left in a cherry orchard just west of the Hood River Valley off Rhiordan Hill Road.

Officials believe the elk died from a gunshot wound during the 2016 archery season.

There's a $2000 reward available if you can help authorities catch the suspected poacher. The Oregon Hunters Association's "Turn-In-Poachers" program (TIP) and the landowner are both contributing to the reward.

You can reach the TIP program by calling their hotline at 1-800-452-7888.

(KATU - Sept 28, 2016)

Oregon: Police asking for public's help in Douglas County elk poaching case

OREGON -- The Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife Division is asking the public's help in identifying those responsible for the unlawful killing of a bull elk in Douglas County.

On the morning of September 17, 2016, OSP was notified of a dead bull elk in the 4000 block of Rueben Road in Glendale.

OSP Fish and Wildlife Troopers responded and found a dead elk in an open field between two houses.

Police say they determined it had been shot and left to waste. Investigation revealed the elk was most likely shot on or around Saturday, September 17, at 2:30 a.m.

A reward of up to $500 is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. The reward is comprised of $500 from the Oregon Hunters Association Turn-In-Poacher program.

Anyone with information is asked to contact OSP Senior Trooper Aaron Baimbridge through the Turn in Poachers (TIP) hotline at 1-800-452-7888 or 541-817-4473. (Email - aaron.baimbridge@state.or.us).

Information may be kept anonymous.

(KPIC - Sept 20, 2016)

Oregon: Officers rescue elk which had fallen into an unused well

OREGON -- Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife​, Brookings Fire/Rescue​, 10-10 Express Tow Ltd​ and Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Troopers rescued a cow elk yesterday that had fallen into a shallow well near Brookings.

The elk was tranquilized and carefully hoisted out. Once out of the well, an anti-sedative was administered and she was awake in about 10 minutes.

   

The cow was not injured and left the area shortly after getting to her feet.

Great teamwork and problem solving to all!

(Oregon State Police Facebook - Sept 25, 2016)

Utah man Zack Holdaway accused of illegal killing of Nevada elk

NEVADA -- A Utah man who worked as a big-game hunting guide in New Zealand was arrested after authorities accused him of killing a trophy elk illegally in Nevada last summer, cutting off its head and leaving the rest of the carcass to waste.

Game wardens in Nevada and Utah invested several hundred hours in what they compared to a homicide investigation leading to Saturday's arrest of Zackry Holdaway, 26, of Cedar City, Utah.

"This is an egregious waste of Nevada's wildlife," Chief Nevada Game Warden Tyler Turnipseed said Wednesday.

Holdaway could face tens of thousands of dollars in penalties if convicted of poaching-related charges in the 2015 incident near Pioche, 180 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The counts include big game poaching, possession of an illegally killed big game animal, and trespassing and wanton waste of a game animal.

Big game poaching is a felony punishable by up to four years in jail, but jail sentences typically are suspended for a first offense, Lyngar said.

Holdaway was released Monday from Iron County jail after a family member posted the $10,400 bail in Lincoln County, Nevada, where he's scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 2, said Ed Lyngar, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

"We don't have to worry about extradition," Lyngar said. "If he doesn't show up, he forfeits the bail."
Efforts to reach Holdaway were not immediately successful. A spokeswoman for the justice court in Pioche said they had no listing of a lawyer representing him.

Holdaway's Facebook account indicated he started working in February for an outfitter in New Zealand, and Lyngar said investigators used his Instagram account to track him.

"We knew he was in New Zealand and wanted to wait until he was back in the country to make the case," Lyngar said. "We view big-game poaching as our biggest crime, like a homicide. You can imagine trying to solve a homicide with no witnesses and very little physical evidence in the middle of the desert."

Investigators had little to go on until a local rancher came forward with grainy, nighttime images from a trail camera of two people in an off-road vehicle, Lyngar said.

"It was near happenstance," he said. "It allowed us to nail down the exact time it happened."

All but one of the charges carries an automatic revocation of hunting privileges and likely forfeiture of weapons or equipment used in the crime.

"The suspect knew better. It was not an accident," Lyngar said. "And on top of it all, he took the head and left the entire animal — hundreds of pounds of meat — to waste."

Public support during the investigation shows people take wildlife crimes more seriously than they used to, Lyngar said.

"The sporting public is outraged. The non-sporting public is outraged," he said. "I grew up in Nevada and in the old days, it wasn't always like that."

(SF Gate - July 27, 2016)

Washington: A wealthy Lewis County trophy hunter is accused of illegally killing a bull elk known as “Bullwinkle,” who had become a local celebrity in the Ellensburg area.

WASHINGTON -- It was midmorning when Leon Mankowski was outside his home putting up Christmas lights last Dec. 1.

It was a Tuesday. When you’re 71 and retired from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, you decide when you feel like putting up holiday decorations.

Mankowski remembers that day well.

Suddenly he’s hearing shots. “KABOOM!” he remembers.

By the second shot he has a pretty good idea of what’s going on.

Leon Mankowski, of Ellensburg, looks at a photo he took of
one of five bull elk, including Bullwinkle, that frequented his
yard over the past few years. Only two of the five are still
alive. (Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times)

Bullwinkle — the bull elk that had become a local celebrity, the elk that didn’t mind at all when gawkers drove up to the hayfields to photograph him and his buddies — has been killed.

As the state’s Department of Fish & Wildlife puts it, sure the five bull elk in the group were considered wild, but they also had “habituated to valley life,” the laid-back life in the farm fields and among the fruit trees.

“This was murder, plain and simple,” says Mankowski about the wealthy hunter charged with shooting Bullwinkle.

“I’m guessing he probably got 50, 60 feet away from that elk when he shot him. Now that’s hunting, in the middle of a field? Disgusting is what it is.”


Leon Mankowski and Craig Schnebly reminisce about Bullwinkle, a bull elk that was often seen and admired in Ellensburg over the past few years. (Erik Lacitis / The Seattle Times)
Mankowski is referring to Tod Reichert, 76, a self-made entrepreneur from Salkum, a tiny unincorporated community in Lewis County.

Reichert made his fortune by starting a shake mill from scratch in the 1970s with a three-man crew, says the website for Reichert Shake & Fencing.

He has spent $214,200 since 2007 for auction trophy permits in this state, with the big chunks being $47,000 in 2007; $50,000 in 2015 for an elk hunt in Eastern Washington; and $75,000 for the same hunt in 2016, according to state and court records.

The state says its auctions generate money for “the management of the hunted species.” Critics wonder about the ethics of selling a public hunt to the highest bidder.

This is not the first time that Reichert has faced hunting-related charges in this state.

But he has so much money that a $5,000 fine to him is like a $5 fine to you or me. It has absolutely no effect on him.

In 2012 he pleaded guilty to interfering and giving false information five years earlier to a U.S. Forest Service officer regarding an elk hunt in the Umatilla National Forest. He was fined $5,000 and agreed not to hunt in national forests for two years.

Celebrity elk Bullwinkle is seen in February 2015. He was
shot by a hunter Dec. 1 in Ellensburg. (Leon Mankowski)

In that case, Reichert had used an outfitter not authorized to provide guide services in that forest and was not truthful about it. The outfitter also used a helicopter to spot the elk, a crime in this state.

In the Bullwinkle case, Reichert faces criminal charges of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree.

According to a report from the state’s Fish & Wildlife police, Reichert shot Bullwinkle in an area not open to “branched antler bull elk” hunting. As male elk mature, their antlers branch out, last one season, fall off, and the process starts again the next year.

The state says they can’t be hunted in that area because it’s mostly private land and there were few bull elk there besides Bullwinkle and his habituated buddies. Not much of a hunting experience.

Reichert did not return a phone or email message. His Spokane attorney, Stephen Hormel, said he had no comment, other than his client has pleaded not guilty. In a hearing Tuesday in Lower Kittitas County District Court a trial was set for Aug. 19.

The Kittitas County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office had offered a stay of proceedings if Reichert paid a $12,000 civil penalty, forfeited hunting rights for 12 months and performed 24 hours of community service.

“A monarch bull”
Mankowski lives in a home on five acres, just he and his Lab-mix dog.

He pulls up on his computer the dozens and dozens of photos he took of the elk, which sometimes rested near his living-room window. His dog would visit them.

He remembers them splashing around in a pond he had built in his garden.

“I felt privileged that such a majestic animal would grace our presence,” says Mankoswki. “Then this schmuck comes along.”

He says that on some days there would be a traffic jam on the country road where he lives — “people taking pictures, taking movies; the elk didn’t care.”

The locals had given Bullwinkle other names, too — Fat Bastard, Fat Boy, F.B., Chief Joe, Ranger, Schnebly’s Elk, the latter because he liked to hang around Craig and Nancy Schnebly’s farm.

Craig Schnebly brings out a huge antler that Bullwinkle dropped two years before at his 300-acre alfalfa and timothy hay farm.

The antler is 4¾ feet long. It weighs more than 16 pounds. It has 8 points — the top rung in antlers, “a monarch bull.”

“It’s just amazing,” he says.

Schnebly, 63, is also a hunter.

But hunting an elk in a hayfield?

“It’s stretching my definition,” says Schnebly.

He estimates Bullwinkle was 12, still in his prime. “He was the most confident of the bunch. He carried himself with authority. He pushed the other bulls around here.”

Damage taken in stride
Schnebly says he didn’t mind the damage the bull elk caused on his property.

“I guess it was a welcome nuisance,” he says, having the 800- to 900-pound Bullwinkle and his pals around.

Bullwinkle liked to lie down in the hayfield.

“He would eat as far as he could reach, mow down the section around him, get up and bed down again,” says Schnebly.

As the antlers grow they are covered by a hairy skin known as velvet. The bulls rub the velvet on tree branches and it eventually falls off. Schnebly points to a plum tree. “Torn to smithereens.”

Leon Mankowski, of Ellensburg, is seen in the hayfield
where the bull elk called Bullwinkle was shot by a hunter.
The elk, known locally by many different names, was
very tame and often lounged around in Mankowski’s yard.
(Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times) 

He would ask Bullwinkle why he’d go after his fruit trees when there were plenty of other trees around.

“He’d just stand there, look at me, take a few steps and wander off to the apple trees,” says Schnebly.

Expensive hunt
To get Bullwinkle, besides the $50,000 he spent at the state auction, Reichert also bought 313 of the 2,746 raffle tickets (11 percent of the total) going for $6 each for an Eastern Washington elk permit. He won one. He used that raffle permit to kill Bullwinkle.

He has spent big money for auction permits in other states, too.

In 2007, for example, Reichert paid $40,000 for a “New Mexico Governor’s Tag” for an elk hunt.

In Ellensburg, the death of Bullwinkle lingers on with the locals.

Mankowski takes a visitor to the site.

He tells of looking at the hayfield from his home that Tuesday morning and seeing a group of men, one of them wearing a blazing orange hunting vest.

Mankowski ran to his pickup while dialing 911 on his cellphone and asking for the poaching hotline.

He says, “By the time I got here they had already loaded him in the truck. All I could see was antlers and feet sticking out.”

The incident report from Fish & Wildlife officials tells of some locals saying they “were just helping out” Reichert.

One of them, says the report, told police that Bullwinkle “was somewhat of a neighborhood pet and it would probably generate calls from people complaining.”

The report says that the owner of the hayfield had given permission for the hunt to take place, and that Reichert told police that he had relied on the locals to tell him if they “were good to go” on the hunt, and they had said yes.

A man identified as Tod Reichert in a state
Department of Fish & Wildlife incident report
is seen holding the front leg of the
bull elk locally known as Bullwinkle.

The report says it was up to Reichert to find out if that location was permitted for hunting branched antler bull elk.

This group of bulls had been around for five years. One got hit by a vehicle. Another was shot. Then Bullwinkle was killed.

Now there are two left.

Mankowski says they don’t show themselves much in the daytime.

“They sleep in the willow, hiding all day,” he says. “They saw their buddy shot in front of them.”

(Seattle Times - June 20 2016)

Arizona: Flagstaff PD block off highway so herd of elk can cross

ARIZONA -- Well that's not something you see every day.

Two Flagstaff police cars helped a herd of elk cross the highway on Monday.

Flagstaff resident Rachel Finders sent 12 News a video that shows the animals crossing Highway 89 after waiting for more than an hour to do so.

 

Finders said that two police cars had to block off both sides of the 45 mph section of the highway so the herd of elk could safely cross. She said that before the animals crossed they were standing pretty far from the highway so she doesn't think motorists were able to stop in time for the elk to cross.

Finders thinks that somebody made a non-emergency call to alert the police to the animals attempting to cross, which is why police showed up to stop oncoming traffic.

The video is amazing and Finders got to see it all unfold from her backyard!

(12 News - Feb 1, 2016)

Idaho: "Uh, yeah, I came home and found an elk in my basement. Yes, yes, that's what I said. An elk."

IDAHO -- An elk in Idaho found a nice place to warm up while trying to escape the cold mountain snow the area has been seeing.

The homeowner was awakened at around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday when a cow elk ended up in a basement room after falling through a window well.

 

  

 

After hours of unsuccessful attempts to get the elk out of the home, Blaine County Sheriff's Office deputies and Fish and Game officers herded the uninjured elk up the basement stairs and out the front door by barricading a path with furniture.

(9News - Jan 1, 2016)

Elk submerged in old cistern rescued

COLORADO -- A yearling elk was rescued Thursday after it was found trapped in a old cistern full of water. It was about 20 feet deep according to Golden Police and the animal was submerged with only its head and nose out of the water.

Animal Management Officer Segal initially received a call about a deer trapped in well but when he arrived he realized it was actually an elk.

A dad and four children were in the area assisted Animal Management Officer Segal as he worked to free the elk. The men used a 2x6 board to raise the elk's front legs and then slip a rope around its chest.

The elk did not resist according to police, possibly because he was in shock or too tired. AM Officer Segal grabbed the elk by its fur and pulled the elk's front legs out of the well. AM Officer Segal and the dad held onto the elk while the children used the 2x6 to lift the rear of the elk.

Once pulled from the cistern, the elk was cold, wet, shivering and tired. AM Officer Segal and the others covered up the cistern as best they could and then covered the elk with a tarp and left it to rest and warm up. Friday morning AM Officer Segal returned to the area to check on the elk, he found the tarp but the elk was gone.

(9News - Nov 20, 2015)

Hunters Free Elk Calf Stuck in Barb Wire Fence

MONTANA -- There’s nothing that makes a hunt more enjoyable and exciting than seeing wild animals up-close on the landscape. A couple of bow hunters, however, had an extremely different kind of up-close-and-personal encounter during a recent hunt in Montana.

 

“It wasn't a good sight upon initially walking up to her,” said Seth Wheeler, a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation from Montana. 

 

Wheeler and hunting partner Jim Loomis came across an elk calf stuck in a barb wire fence. Its front right and rear left legs were so tightly tangled in the four-strand fencing that it could only lay on its back. It took the two hunters 30 to 45 minutes of work to finally free the calf. 

Once free, it was so zapped of energy that it could not move. Loomis drew close, removed the water bladder from his backpack and offered it to the calf. It drank and drank. 

 

“It seemed like she knew we were there to help her,” said Wheeler. 

 

Eventually Loomis and Wheeler went on their way knowing they did all they could to help. 

 

Loomis shares his water

 

“We left her laying there with her head up looking around. She was still very weak. We did not go back to that area hunting, so I cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that she indeed did survive,” added Wheeler. “With that said, she looked like she was on her way to recovery and we at least gave her a chance.

"We are hunters, but above all we are conservationists and wanted nothing more than to save this majestic animal!”

 

(Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation - Oct 7, 2014)

Wyoming: Convicted felon William Cruise, 51, gets an updated mugshot after he and Jason Moss, 36, charged with knowingly killing a bull elk inside Fossil Butte National Monument

WYOMING -- Back in 2014, William Cruise and Jason Moss went into the Fossil Butte National Monument looking to kill an animal. They quickly found an elk that was normalized to all the tourist traffic in the park and killed it.

Wildlife officers charged Cruise and Moss. Likely, like most crimes, they got probation. In June 2015, Cruise got an updated mugshot.

Full Name: William Dean Cruise
Gender: Male
Race: White
City: Kemmerer, Wyoming 83101
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180 lbs
Hair Color: BROWN
Eye Color: BROWN
Arrest Age: 51
Arrest Date: 06/11/2015
Arrest Time: 2:53 PM
Arresting Agency: U. S. MARSHAL'S
Location: Sweetwater County, Wyoming
Charges
#1 US MARSHAL HOLD-FELON IN POSSESSION OF A FIREARM, UNAUTHORIZED TAKING OF WILDLIFE, UNLAWFUL USE OF A WEAPON

ORIGINAL STORY: 

WYOMING -- Two Wyoming men have been cited in connection with the illegal killing and poaching of a bull elk last week inside Fossil Butte National Monument in southwestern Wyoming.

The 4-by-3 point male was shot and killed inside the monument, which under federal law is off-limits to all hunting. In addition, the Wyoming state hunting season for bull elk had closed Oct. 24, more than two weeks before the incident.

The Nov. 6 shooting and killing occurred in the Middle Canyon area on the east side of the monument, hundreds of yards inside the park periphery.

Owing to its close proximity to legal hunting zones outside the monument, its entire 22-mile boundary is fenced, with “No Hunting” signs posted clearly at frequent intervals along the wire perimeter. 

Signs also identify it as national park land. Yellow “No Hunting” signs and prominent National Park Service (NPS) markers are posted at the park’s only entry points, where the north-south road enters and exits the park. Hunters can and do use the road to travel to legal hunting grounds outside Fossil Butte.

Cited for investigation of illegal use of a firearm in a national park and taking of wildlife in a national park was William Cruise, 51, of Kemmerer. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department also issued citations for hunting killing bull elk out of season and for not properly tagging the killed animal.

How about we stop with stupid replacement words like "bagging", "taking" hunting", "poaching"... just say what it is: killing.

Cited for investigation of disturbing and harassing wildlife was Jason Moss, 36, of Opal, WY.

(May be Jason Lee Moss, who has an extensive arrest record.)

The three federal violations require appearance by the two men in U.S. District Court in Green River, WY. A federal investigation continues.

An NPS law enforcement ranger on patrol had encountered William Cruise along the main road inside the monument the afternoon of Nov. 6, about two hours before the elk was shot.

Park Ranger Kayla Powell provided him with a hunting brochure and park map, on which she noted for him his location inside Fossil Butte. She also advised William Cruise verbally that hunting is banned in the monument. 

Later on patrol, Powell responded to the sound of the gunshot and summoned a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ranger for a joint response.

The citations were issued the next day after the men returned to the monument to help NPS and state game authorities locate and remove the dead elk. The hunter killer had partly field-dressed it Nov. 6 before darkness fell, preventing immediate removal. Neil Hymas, Wyoming Game and Fish’s game warden in nearby Cokeville, WY, said meat salvaged from the carcass was distributed to needy families in the area.

The Nov. 6 incident was the second case this fall of illegal discharge of a firearm inside the monument.

On Oct. 10, a local resident saw a man shoot a rifle at a mule deer and reported it to park authorities. Contacted later, the shooter admitted his action and said he mistakenly thought he was on BLM land outside the park. A search found no dead or wounded animal. The man was ticketed and fined for violating the federal ban on use of firearms in a national park.

Nationally, hunting inside any of the 401 units of the national park system is not authorized unless specifically allowed in federal “enabling legislation” that created the park or monument. No such authorization was included when Fossil Butte National Monument was established in 1972. By contrast, the law that created nearby Grand Teton National Park does allow the park to conduct an annual elk hunt, but only in limited locations and times under special rules.

The elk that was illegally shot was a member of the West Green River herd, which numbers more than 4,000 animals and inhabits vast public lands around Fossil Butte. Those lands include 1.4 million BLM acres and the Kemmerer District of Bridger-Teton National Forest.

During the fall hunting season, a fraction of the herd — about 400-500 elk, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department— ranges within the monument’s 8,198 acres. Hunters can and do legally hunt elk and other game on public lands outside Fossil Butte.

“Principles of ethical hunting are important to our southwestern Wyoming neighbors and to all in a state whose wildlife are such an important natural and public resource,” said Fossil Butte Superintendent Nancy Skinner. “We at the Park Service also appreciate and thank our inter-agency Wyoming partners who helped handle this matter: The Green River District of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Kemmerer field office of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.”

Cokeville Game Warden Neil Hymas said,”I want to give Nancy and Kayla and the park credit for this. I have half the county to cover during elk season, and Fossil Butte hires a law enforcement ranger to help during hunting season. Her position there prevents by far the majority of hunting violations that can occur around the park. They are a great, great help to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.”

(Sweetwater Now - November 14, 2014)

Crow game warden cited for poaching in Wyoming

WYOMING -- As a game warden for the Crow Tribe, Clayvin Herrera has cited poachers — mostly nontribal members — as one of his duties.

But now he has found himself on the opposite side of the law.

Last year, Herrera and two other Crow tribal members were charged by a Wyoming Game and Fish Department warden for killing three bull elk without licenses.

Now Herrera finds himself embroiled in a 147-year-old treaty rights quarrel.

“We just needed food that day,” Herrera said. “It’s evolved since then into this craziness, and it’s started to get political, and I don’t like politics at all.”

In this photo taken on Feb. 17, 2015, Clayvin Herrera, right, a game warden
 for the Crow Tribe, and felow tribe member Ronnie Fisher, are shown on the
Crow Reservation in northern Wyoming. Last year, Herrera, Fisher and
another tribal member were charged by a Wyoming Game and Fish
Department warden for killing three bull elk without licenses. Now Herrera
finds himself embroiled in a 147-year-old treaty rights quarrel.
 (AP Photo/The Billings Gazette, James Woodcock)

Herrera has been a game warden for the Crow Tribe since 2012, working for a couple of years before that as a cop for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. So the reservation is a place he’s familiar with.

He grew up just north of Fort Smith — a town of 160 folks that sprang up when Yellowtail Dam was built in the early 1960s. Fort Smith gets its name from an even earlier establishment, a U.S. Army fort built in 1866 to defend immigrants from Sioux Indian attacks as they traveled the Bozeman Trail to gold mines in Virginia City and Bannock.

Decades later, the town has become the headquarters for fly-fishing companies that pan for a new kind of gold — money paid out by anglers seeking brown and rainbow trout that inhabit the legendary Bighorn River.

Not far from this recent history, Herrera’s childhood home still stands. Although it’s now tattered and used for storage, the home shelters and supports links to ancient times. Weathered, gray tepee poles that are used during the annual Crow Fair celebration recline against the eaves outside the house. Inside the padlocked door are collections of peeled pine sticks for ceremonial fires and evergreen boughs hung from lines to dry for smudging.

“This is where I learned how to hunt, walking down Soap Creek hunting whitetails and shooting birds,” said Herrera, 33, gesturing out the window to the golden grasses of a nearby field, the Bighorn Mountains rising in the background highlighted by a fresh smear of bright snow.

Back when Herrera was a youngster, when a family member shot an elk or deer, his grandmother would telephone her sisters, who would arrive to help butcher the meat while the group chatted in Crow, the only language Herrera knew until he started grade school.

“When you bring an elk home and you don’t tell anybody, pretty soon the calls and texts start coming in,” Herrera said.

That’s just the way the tribe operates, he said. When tribal members are hungry — which can be often at the depressed reservation — other Crows pitch in to help feed them. On a reservation with a 30 percent poverty rate and a 46 percent unemployment rate, such acts of sharing are not uncommon.

“By the time I got done handing out meat from my deer, all I had is a little backstrap,” said Ronnie Fisher, a fellow tribal member who was also cited in the elk poaching incident, along with Herrera and his brother, Colton Herrera.

The hunt that has landed the three men in court occurred on Jan. 28, 2014. They had driven into a southwestern corner of the reservation, at the base of the Bighorn Mountains, in search of elk when they spotted a herd on a ridge above Eskimo Creek.

With up to 3 feet of snow on the ground in some places, they slowly trudged closer, following the moving herd for about two miles before finally seeing three bulls within shooting range. In the process of hiking, though, the men had left the Crow Reservation and moved into the state of Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest.

“Grandma always told stories about the mountains and how we can hunt,” Herrera said. “’Never let anyone tell you what you can’t do,’” he said she told him, always speaking in Crow.

So the men knew, when they each pulled the trigger, that they were no longer on the reservation.
Herrera said it took eight hours for the men to pack out the elk meat and heads. He bristled at the accusation that they left any of the meat behind.

“We took all the meat,” he said. “It was Ronnie’s and my brother’s first elk, otherwise we would’ve left the heads.”

The meat from his elk fed Herrera and his three daughters — he’s a single father — for a month, lots of spaghetti with meat sauce and Hamburger Helper.

A Wyoming Game and Fish Department official refused to comment on the case since it is ongoing.
Trouble came about eight months later when the three men were cited for poaching by a Wyoming Game and Fish warden. Herrera was also charged as an accessory after the fact. An accessory after the fact is someone who knows that a crime has been committed, but still helps to conceal it. Herrera said he told the warden everything when he was first interviewed because “he had nothing to hide.”

The Sheridan Press reported in a Feb. 6 story that when the tribal members attended a pretrial conference in Sheridan County Circuit Court, Colton Herrera asked for a change of plea hearing and Fisher and Clayvin Herrera told the judge they intended to represent themselves and would use a tribal rights defense.

With the new information the judge decided to schedule a new change of plea hearing for Colton Herrera on March 9. Clayvin Herrera and Fisher have status conferences set for March 12.

At the root of Herrera’s assertion of Crow treaty rights to hunt in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains are two federal treaties: the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie treaties.

In 2013, the Crow tribal government adopted a resolution that called for the tribe to “exercise fully its treaty right to hunt on all unoccupied lands of the United States which are located within the traditional Crow homeland.”

The tribe defined the region as stretching from the Bears Paw Mountains in northern Montana, west to the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains, south to the Wind River Range in Wyoming and east to the Black Hills of western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming.

In 2013, the tribe also said it would develop regulations for off-reservation hunting and a licensing process, which has not occurred, according to Conrad Stewart, chairman of the tribe’s Natural Resources Committee, although he said the tribe has had conversations with Montana officials.

Still, Stewart had a public notice drawn up, dated Feb. 12, in support of the Herreras and Fisher to exercise their treaty hunting rights in Wyoming.

“It is the position of this Committee this activity is protected by the Crow Tribe’s agreement with the United States Government; and, that such activity will be rigorously enforced under this supreme law,” the notice states, in part.

“It’s kind of an issue of what’s the bigger crime,” Stewart said.

“We’re talking about a treaty,” he added. “We’re not going to let a state dictate to a sovereign nation.”

History doesn’t seem to be in the Crow Tribe’s favor on this issue. A 1995 ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Wyoming in a similar case. Tyrone Ten Bear was cited by Wyoming Game and Fish for killing an elk in the Bighorn National Forest without a license.

Although Ten Bear’s attorneys asserted a treaty right to hunt on the land, the court said that right was lost when Wyoming became a state in 1890.

The Crow Tribe appears to be hanging its new hopes on a later court decision. A 1999 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that hunting and fishing treaty rights for the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa in Minnesota were still valid off the reservation. That treaty dated back to 1837.

At first, Herrera said he was offended by the poaching charges and upset. He said the incident has provoked more racism, including name-calling.

“It’s still here and still alive 100 percent, and it affects us every day,” he said.

But he’s been able to put the issue behind him to some extent, finding peace while sitting under the cottonwood tree outside his childhood home.

Now he’s trying to look for a bright side to the incident. Herrera is hoping that the charges may lead to better communication between the Crow Tribe and the state of Wyoming. It may also promote more talk between tribal members about poaching and waste. Herrera would like to see the tribe integrate a hunter safety course into the schools to be proactive.

Maybe the situation will even be a place to start talking about enforcing hunting regulations on tribal members. Right now, there is no hunting season on the reservation. Consequently, big game like deer and elk are often hard to find.

“You can get sucked into that negativity easy,” Herrera said. “So I’m moving forward as a Crow Indian in a modern society. We still have our own ways and our culture. So we’re lucky we still have a lot of the things we had before — including our hunting rights.

“From our perspective, it’s a right we’ve always had.”

(Great Falls Tribune - Feb 27, 2015)

Three elk pulled from pond

COLORADO -- Aspen firefighters braved the thin ice of a private pond that trapped three elk Monday morning in the McLain Flats area, using axes, a saw, rope and a ladder in a frantic effort to rescue the exhausted animals.

While a bull elk and a cow were saved, another cow didn’t make it despite firefighters chopping through the ice in an effort to make a path to shore for the animals.

The dramatic scene played out at a home on Trentaz Drive, a small street off McLain Flats Road in the Starwood subdivision, starting around 8:30 a.m., after the homeowner contacted the Aspen-Pitkin County Communications Center.

The cows swam in circles, while the bull was by himself motionless in another part of the pond.


Firefighters used a ladder and rope to anchor themselves before they began sawing the ice using a chainsaw-like tool called a K-12.

The pond is 8 to 12 feet deep, estimated Alex Burchetta, director of operations at the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. With the elk unable to gain purchase on the pond sides, they quickly tired in the icy water.

Deputy Fire Chief Parker Lathrop, Capt. Kevin Smiddy and firefighter Marc Zachary worked their way out and began hacking away at the ice. Lathrop fell through the ice at one point.

“The idea is to cut a path to shore so they can come out on their own,” said sheriff’s deputy Grant Jahnke, who was first on the scene.

Kevin Wright, an officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, stood nearby. He said he wasn’t sure how long the big animals could withstand hypothermia.

“We’ve had them fall into ponds before,” he said. “Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don’t. They’ve had them in reservoirs, and they usually drown. These private ponds are notorious.”

As firefighters worked, the cows began swimming closely together. The bull, using a channel cut for it in the ice, joined them and made its way to the shore.

“C’mon, buddy, lead your girls out,” one person said.

“They have to be getting close to the point of exhaustion,” Wright said around 10 a.m.

The tired bull sank back into the pond. One of the cows then simply could not keep its head above water any longer and was soon lifeless.

With the weary bull offering no resistance, firefighters put rope around its antlers and began trying to pull it ashore.

“C’mon, big boy! C’mon!” an emergency responder yelled as several people exerted themselves for the animal.

With a path to dry ground in front of the other cow, Smiddy threw a few chucks of ice behind it to prod it, along with a few pokes from a pole, and the elk got its front legs out and was soon standing near the bull. The cow then briefly headed toward the thin ice of the property’s other pond before heading up a hill to stand and rest.

After the bull slipped back in the water, crews expertly threw a rope behind its haunches and again began hauling. This time, they were successful, and once out the bull simply laid down by the pond, its 10-point rack shaking slightly around 10:30 a.m.

Wright later issued a $70 ticket to homeowner Daryl Shadon for unlawfully feeding wildlife. Two piles of hay were near the pond that trapped the elk, a food source that brings them right to the edge of the water.

“It’s been placed there,” Wright said. “It’s illegal.”

Shadon, who also lives in Dallas, said after the ordeal that the hay was left over from bow-and-arrow target practice last summer, something he said “won’t happen again.” But he said it wasn’t the hay that led to the incident. Herds of elk routinely travel through his property, and on Monday, his housekeeper’s approaching car spooked a herd. The three animals then became trapped, Shadon said.

“Because I’ve got geo-thermal in the pond, to save all this energy, it never freezes,” he said.

Wright said he instructed Shadon to remove the hay and install fences around the ponds, measures Shadon said he would implement.

“I hate to see something like that happen,” he said. “That’s just terrible.”

Outside his front door, the cow remained on the hill. ReRe Baker, the sheriff’s office animal-control officer, checked on the elk around 3:30 p.m. The bull was still bedded down but rose at her approach before lying back down, something she took as a positive sign. The cow by then was gone.
(Aspen Daily News - Jan 6, 2015)

'Arrogant' POS cop who shot beloved community elk Big Boy should go to prison for a year, says prosecutor

COLORADO -- A former Colorado police officer convicted of killing a treasured bull elk in Boulder has avoided prison time altogether and will instead serve 200 hours of community service for the crime that angered a local community and sparked marches and vigils.

Ex-cop Sam Carter, 37,  was sentenced Friday to four years probation and will have to serve 30 days on a work crew, the Daily Camera reported. He'd faced a maximum punishment of six years behind bars.

Carter, who will also have to pay $10,200 in fines, was convicted in June for shooting the beloved elk Big Boy as it grazed beneath a crabapple tree on New Year's Day 2013.

Prosecutor Stan Garnett was seeking at least a year in prison for Carter in part due to his 'flippant' and 'arrogant' attitude toward his crime, 7News reported.

But Judge Patrick Butler said that type of sentence would be 'largely symbolic' and Carter would likely be released on parole in just a few months, according to the Daily Camera.

'I am not interested in symbolic gestures,' the judge said in court, the news website reported. 'I want the sentence to benefit the community that was harmed.

During the hearing, Carter apologized to the citizens of Boulder and asked for a chance to 'repair the damage that I've caused.'

'I am haunted by this incident every day,' he said, according to the Daily Camera.

In asking for prison time, Garnett told the judge the cop had shown no remorse for his actions.

'Carter shows no acknowledgement of the impact of his acts on this community, on the Boulder Police Department or on law enforcement in general, and remains, in the words of the probation officer, "flippant" about his conduct,' Garnett wrote the sentencing judge, according to the station.

'Carter's behavior while on duty as a uniformed police officer was reprehensible and he should be sentenced to the Department of Corrections.'

Defense Attorney Marc Colin said the sentence was 'well thought out and well reasoned,' the Daily Camera reported.

Big Boy's death fueled massive public outcry after the officer claimed the elk was injured and he shot it to put the animal out of its misery — a claim neighbors in the Mapleton Hill neighborhood of Boulder denied.

During his trial, Carter's attorney argued that the elk had become dangerously domesticated and was scaring local dogs.

But prosecutors told the jury the killing was a case of poaching by an officer who sought to use his position to get an illegal trophy mount.

After shooting the elk, prosecutors said, Carter called a friend and former officer to pick up the carcass and butcher it. They also said Carter later forged a tag to pass off the dead animal as road kill.

The trial opened with debate over whether the elk's prior 'bad conduct' could be used as evidence, and whether jurors familiar with Big Boy could be impartial.

'Sam Carter is not guilty of anything but trying to protect citizens of Boulder from a nuisance elk,' Colin argued, as some in the packed courtroom shook their heads.

Prosecutors flashed a photo of the elk looking peaceful in a yard, and later showed another picture of a uniformed Carter hovering over the animal's carcass, grabbing its antlers and smiling.

Prosecutors say Carter called another officer, Brent Curnow, to come cart away the body in his pickup truck, and together they butchered the animal for its meat. Curnow pleaded guilty last year to tampering with evidence and other charges.

The officers swapped text messages about 'hunting' for 'wapiti,' the Shawnee word for elk.

The exchanges culminated with a stark message from Carter to Curnow well before Carter's shift began: 'He's gonna die.'

Nestled against the foothills and home to a Buddhist university, Boulder is known for its love of the outdoors. Its residents routinely rank among the country's most fit.

Witnesses said the sight of the hulking animal was a highlight of countless hikes and jogs.

'Maybe we're strange, but the philosophy up here is live and let live,' pet supply store owner Mary Lee Withers said. 'That elk never did anything.'

Carter's attorney, Marc Collin, told the Daily Camera he disagrees with the prosecutor's position.

'It's fair to say we are very disappointed in the DA's position,' he told the news outlet. 'It is not consistent with the way other criminal cases are treated.'

(Daily Mail - Aug 29, 2014)

Boulder deputy on Sam Carter's claim Mapleton elk was injured: 'It was a lie'

COLORADO -- A Boulder County sheriff's deputy testified Friday that ex-cop Sam Carter told him a "lie" by saying he had orders to shoot an elk in a Boulder neighborhood because it was injured in an accident.

 

Sam Carter, left, and attorney Marc Colin, right, watch witness Roger
Koenig enter the courtroom starting the third day of Carter's trial in the
shooting of a trophy elk on Mapleton Hill in Boulder, Colorado May 30, 2014.
BOULDER DAILY CAMERA/ Mark Leffingwell

Sheriff's Deputy Jeff George testifies Friday, the third day of Sam
Carter's trial in the shooting of a trophy elk on Mapleton Hill in Boulder.
(Mark Leffingwell / Daily Camera)

 

After taking the stand in Carter's trial, Deputy Jeff George said Carter had discussed the elk with him prior to shooting it in Boulder's Mapleton Hill neighborhood Jan. 1, 2013.

"He mentioned on approximately two occasions that there was a bull elk up in the Mapleton Hill area seen harassing dogs and people," George said.

Carter, 37, is facing charges including attempting to influence a public official, tampering with evidence, official misconduct, illegal possession of a trophy elk and unlawful taking of a big game animal after he shot the elk while on duty.

The trial centers on whether the shooting was a plot to kill a beloved trophy elk and cover it up, or an officer euthanizing an aggressive and injured animal.

George said he met with Carter and a few other officers for coffee before going on shift the night the elk was shot, and he said Carter told him he was going to go look for the elk.

"The way that I interpreted it, Sam had authorization to put the elk down if he saw it," George said.

George said he got a text from Carter telling him he had located the elk. When he arrived on the scene, he said he was "very surprised" at how big the dead elk was. When asked by prosecutor Fred Johnson if Carter appeared to be "proud" of the kill, George said yes, and said the photo Carter took with the elk was "something out of a hunting magazine."

After helping load the elk into the truck of Brent Curnow, another former Boulder officer, George left the scene. He said he was "shocked" the next morning to see the elk all over the news and immediately called his supervisors.

"Did you think something was up?" Johnson asked George, to which he replied, "Absolutely."

George said he did not notice any injuries on the elk aside from the gunshot and saw no evidence of a car accident. When asked by Johnson if he believed Carter's initial story that the elk had been injured in an accident, George said that, in his opinion, "It was a lie."

George also said in talking to Carter about where he was when he fired on the elk, Carter failed to account for the houses and sidewalk in his line of fire.

 

"Elk are a part of nature and nature is a very special thing
on earth and it [is] really sad that elk died and whatever
police officer did [it] made a really bad [decision]
and should be arrested and ashamed."

 

"It was a very dangerous shot," George said.

He testified that on previous occasions Carter had told him that if the Sheriff's Office ever had an elk carcass, "He'd like to have it."

Sgt. Alastair Mcniven talks about the GPS system installed in Boulder police
cars during the third day of Carter's trial in the shooting of a trophy elk on
Mapleton Hill in Boulder, Colorado May 30, 2014.
BOULDER DAILY CAMERA/ Mark Leffingwell

'Didn't like sergeants knowing where he was'
Boulder police officer Melanie Patterson, who also had coffee with Carter and George that day, said she thought Carter was just going to "go look at it." When she saw the story the next morning about the elk being shot, she texted Carter and he acknowledged he had shot it. Patterson said initially she was not surprised.

"I figured if officer Carter put that elk down, he had a legitimate reason to do so," Patterson said.

Patterson said she assumed Carter would tell a sergeant about the elk, but when she came to the police station the next day her supervisors were still trying to figure out who had shot the animal.

Boulder police Sgt. Alastair McNiven also testified Friday that he talked to Carter twice in the hours after the shooting and that Carter never mentioned shooting the elk, something he said he would have "expected" Carter to tell him.

Patterson said she initially supported Carter but felt misled after media reports came out of the texts between Carter and Curnow.

She also said Carter told her he had learned how to disable his GPS and even offered to show her how to do it in her police vehicle.

"He didn't like certain sergeants knowing where he was," Patterson said.

Ted McEldowney, emergency communications manager for Boulder police and fire, said there was evidence on the dashboard of Carter's unit that indicated a person had been moving it and had been "yanking" the GPS antennae cord in and out.

'We just shoot them'
On cross-examination, Patterson did say she had previously helped Carter and Curnow pick up a deer carcass after it was hit by a car. Carter and Curnow were on duty at the time and Patterson was not, and she came in Carter's truck to pick up the deer.

In a separate incident, federal police officer Pete Rodriguez testified that, in 2008, while on patrol at Boulder's National Institute of Standards and Technology, he encountered a deer stuck in a fence but "very alive."

Rodriguez said he called out for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, but Carter showed up instead and, upon getting out of the car, reached for his weapon.

"I said, 'Whoa, what are you doing?' and he said, 'We just shoot them,'" Rodriguez testified. "But I told him, 'We're not going to shoot no deer tonight.'"

Carter's attorney, Marc Colin, on cross-examination pointed out that Rodriguez described the scene in a report as a "murder scene" due to blood coming from the deer's antlers, which were still in velvet.

"So what Mr. Carter saw was a deer hanging upside down, thrashing around with blood everywhere?" Colin said.

The trial is expected to last several more days.

(Daily Camera - May 30, 2014)

Earlier:

Boulder ex-officers plead not guilty in elk death

Internal report: No other Boulder police officers aware of cops' plans to kill Mapleton Elk

Boulder officers arrested, accused of plotting 'trophy' kill of Mapleton elk

Boulder police suspend 2 officers over Mapleton elk shooting, sheriff launches probe

Off-duty Boulder officer in elk shooting had called in sick, operates taxidermy website

Boulder chief on elk shooting: 'If that officer needs to be fired, I assure you he will be fired'

Evans: "It's not about the elk"

Boulder cop's text hours before shooting Mapleton elk: 'He's gonna die'

Ex-cop elk killers: DA seeks to combine two cases into single trial

Animal abuse treated too lightly in Boulder

Why did Big Boy die? Officer on trial over elk