Sounds like you not only may have trespassers, but tresspasseres that are poor shots. Is it possible some of these elk were shot with a bow on adjoining land where somone had permission to hunt and they took refuge in your place. Not making excuses, just wondering which laws are being broken, and wich ones are "blatant" violations.
I think in Mt if you wound an animal that goes on to land where you dont have authorization to tresspass, you are supposed to call the game warden, and he tries to contact landowner or give authorization himself to attempt a retreival. In all reality, I have archery hunted tips of triangle shaped private (and public) land that were surrounded py private land (that I dint have permission to access) on three sides, and the game I was hunting may only be on a ten yard wide piece of land (where I have permission to hunt) It is pretty obvious, it is unlikely if I shoot an animal with my bow that it wont die on the property I have permission to hunt, even with a perfectly placed shot.
It sounds like you have folks that MAY be tresspassing, and wounding elk on your land without an honest attempt to make a recovery. It also MAY be a possobility people are arrowing game on adjoining land and not making a decent effort to recover, when it goes on your property. Either, way, its a sad deal.
One thing I have found that works good is to allow ONE or TWO honest people to hunt your land annually, and in turn give them the authorization to "patrol" it and "watch over it" when youre not able to. The more eyes/ears, the better, and some guys wll spend alot of their own time watching over land that isnt thiers, just to protect an animal they may have a chance to harvest. just a thought.
life IS good
You could always try setting up trail cams where you think they are coming onto the property, and getting pics of these people, their vehicles, etc. and then reporting them to the local LEO's.
