Poachers at it again

[caelkhnter]

Information needed to solve bull elk poaching near Williams

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is asking for the public?s help in finding a poacher that killed a large bull elk sometime during the weekend of Sept. 6. The poaching occurred near Scholz Lake and Garland Prairie along Forest Road 141, just east of Williams.

The elk was shot with archery equipment and was left in the field to waste. The poaching took place a week prior to the opening weekend of the legal archery elk season. A field investigation also discovered that the animal had been shot several times in the head. Game and Fish officials believe that someone may have come across the wounded elk and put the animal down by shooting it.

?This is a blatant example of poachers? disrespect for wildlife, and the laws and seasons that are established to protect our wildlife resources,? says Wildlife Manager Mike Rice. ?We need help from the public to catch the poacher. If you were in the area recently, please try to recall anything you might have seen or heard, or any conversations you may have had. Maybe someone doesn't realize he or she has the key to solving this case. Poaching of wildlife is considered a major loss for the residents of Arizona and our wildlife resources.?

Anyone with information about this poaching can call the department's Operation Game Thief hotline toll-free at (800) 352-0700. Callers may be eligible for a reward of up to $350 in this case. All calls may remain confidential upon request.

 

[Bates7]

God Bless you CAELKHNTER for posting this. I don't know if it's you or just who it is but I've seen this posted on multiple forums and I thank you for that.
I'm an AZ native and I really love the area where that elk was poached. In my 30 years of hunting big game I've hunted that area several times for deer and elk. It is by far my most favotite hunting area in AZ.
The area has several units: 7,8,9 & 10 to the northwest. Believe it or not, there has been more poachings in these areas in the last 30 years than anywhere else in the state as far as I know.
I was actually deer hunting up there back in the eighties when the unit game warden came by our camp one evening and told us about several elk that had been poached and left in an area about two miles from where I was hunting that day. When I heard that story it made my blood boil. I had actually heard the shots but I didn't think anything of it because it was deer season. I just thought; man that guy is a terible shot. I must've heard about 9 or 10 shots.
I studied wildlife mangment at ASU and I'm a very dedicated and pasionate hunter/fisherman/conservationist and these acts of crime are way out of hand. I have several friends that are wildlife managers in AZ and we converse alot about this problem. They are every bit as fired up as I am. One thing that needs to change is the reward for reporting an elk poaching. The current $350 reward has been around forever. It's not enough. I think that it should be $10,000. Now I know that my state government isn't the most fiscally sound state in the union but I think that the RMEF, AZ Elk Society and other consevation groups could take up a collection for a reward fund. I wish I new how to promote something like that. If anyone out there could give me some pointers, I'll gladly take them.
I hope that the AZ G & F can catch these SCUM BAGS.

THANK YOU.

 

[CAnAZbwhnter]

I agree with both of you guys...this act is a shame and wish these fu@$ers would get caught so they can pay... I spin my wheels when i think about how the heck these fools can disrespect our outdoors like this. Nothing about it is right!
In regards to the money, I think most of us would happily turn a poacher in for free. But increasing the reward is also not a bad idea