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Contested carcasses cause ruckus
By CAT URBIGKIT, Casper Star-Tribune correspondent
4/8/03
PINEDALE -- Cokeville outfitter Sharon Dayton told his fellow outfitters Friday of problems encountered by several hunters who had other hunting parties claim and steal animals they had killed during last fall's hunting season.
At the spring convention of the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association in Pinedale Saturday and Sunday, Dayton said a 13-year-old boy managed to shoot his first spike elk, which began to roll down the slope and was using a two-way radio to communicate with other members of his hunting party when he heard members of a second hunting party radio that they saw an elk was down. By the time the boy and his hunting partners arrived on the scene, the second party had claimed the elk and took it away. The thirteen-year old's first elk hunt had turned sour.
It wasn't an isolated incident, Dayton said. Just a few miles away, a 75-year-old man had a similar problem, also losing the elk carcass to another hunter who wrongfully claimed it, Dayton said.
Dayton told the outfitters that Wyoming needs to have a law making it illegal to remove a contested animal. He suggested that if one hunting party contests a downed carcass, that carcass shouldn't be removed from the site until a game warden or other law enforcement officer arrives on the scene to investigate.
When asked if there were other states with such laws on the books now, Dayton responded that he wasn't aware of any.
"We might be pioneering on this," Dayton said.
B.J. Hill of Swift Creek Outfitters/Teton Horseback Adventures in Pavillion said as he listened to Dayton's story, his blood pressure began to rise as he recalled a similar situation.
Hill said his story involving a six-point bull elk (scoring 320) brought down with much effort by one of two hunters affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
"The bull was one of those black-horned elk that had been in the thick timber," Hill described. "Its tips were perfectly white ...." Hill said after an intensive hunt involving 21 rounds, the hunter brought the big bull down, but another party arrived at the carcass first, contesting ownership of the trophy. Hill said arguments began and it nearly erupted into a backcountry brawl.
"I had to back off and say whoa," Hill said.
Although he knew that the other party was in the wrong, and was in fact "unprofessional and unethical," Hill said, "I looked at my two hunters and said: 'This is not worth the hassle. Let them have it.' "
Hill said when he later asked a game warden about such incidents, he was told that "whoever can win the fist fight" gets the carcass.
"This is not the way to handle this," Hill said, agreeing that Wyoming should pursue a law to protect innocent parties in contested carcass cases. Several other outfitters expressed their agreement, stating that if nothing happens to help resolve these problems, someone may end up getting shot in a fit of temper over a contested carcass.
The outfitters agreed to have a committee consider the issue, and will confer with Wyoming Game and Fish Department and legislative representatives about the issue.
By CAT URBIGKIT, Casper Star-Tribune correspondent
4/8/03
PINEDALE -- Cokeville outfitter Sharon Dayton told his fellow outfitters Friday of problems encountered by several hunters who had other hunting parties claim and steal animals they had killed during last fall's hunting season.
At the spring convention of the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association in Pinedale Saturday and Sunday, Dayton said a 13-year-old boy managed to shoot his first spike elk, which began to roll down the slope and was using a two-way radio to communicate with other members of his hunting party when he heard members of a second hunting party radio that they saw an elk was down. By the time the boy and his hunting partners arrived on the scene, the second party had claimed the elk and took it away. The thirteen-year old's first elk hunt had turned sour.
It wasn't an isolated incident, Dayton said. Just a few miles away, a 75-year-old man had a similar problem, also losing the elk carcass to another hunter who wrongfully claimed it, Dayton said.
Dayton told the outfitters that Wyoming needs to have a law making it illegal to remove a contested animal. He suggested that if one hunting party contests a downed carcass, that carcass shouldn't be removed from the site until a game warden or other law enforcement officer arrives on the scene to investigate.
When asked if there were other states with such laws on the books now, Dayton responded that he wasn't aware of any.
"We might be pioneering on this," Dayton said.
B.J. Hill of Swift Creek Outfitters/Teton Horseback Adventures in Pavillion said as he listened to Dayton's story, his blood pressure began to rise as he recalled a similar situation.
Hill said his story involving a six-point bull elk (scoring 320) brought down with much effort by one of two hunters affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
"The bull was one of those black-horned elk that had been in the thick timber," Hill described. "Its tips were perfectly white ...." Hill said after an intensive hunt involving 21 rounds, the hunter brought the big bull down, but another party arrived at the carcass first, contesting ownership of the trophy. Hill said arguments began and it nearly erupted into a backcountry brawl.
"I had to back off and say whoa," Hill said.
Although he knew that the other party was in the wrong, and was in fact "unprofessional and unethical," Hill said, "I looked at my two hunters and said: 'This is not worth the hassle. Let them have it.' "
Hill said when he later asked a game warden about such incidents, he was told that "whoever can win the fist fight" gets the carcass.
"This is not the way to handle this," Hill said, agreeing that Wyoming should pursue a law to protect innocent parties in contested carcass cases. Several other outfitters expressed their agreement, stating that if nothing happens to help resolve these problems, someone may end up getting shot in a fit of temper over a contested carcass.
The outfitters agreed to have a committee consider the issue, and will confer with Wyoming Game and Fish Department and legislative representatives about the issue.
