The unidentified poacher and his elk | Utah DNR
An Idaho resident has been sentenced to an eight-year hunting suspension after killing a 6×6 trophy bull elk in Utah’s Box Elder County while holding a resident license he did not qualify for. In addition to the ban, which took effect this year, he was also ordered to pay a $453 fine and $12,000 in restitution to Utah’s Poaching Mitigation Fund after pleading guilty to wanton destruction of protected wildlife.
Utah Division of Natural Resources Division of Law Enforcement officers were first tipped off about the kill back in 2023 and later determined the man in question had obtained a Utah resident elk license without meeting the state’s residency requirements. By the time officers sealed up their investigation, the meat had already been consumed but officials managed to seize the antlers as evidence, which are now expected to be listed in one of the state’s periodic poach and roadkill auctions.
Announcing the bust late last week, the agency took to Facebook to let the public know that “it is illegal to falsify your residency status when applying for a hunting/fishing license, and may carry severe consequences.” Captain Chase Pili of the Division of Law Enforcement noted that officers each patrol roughly 385,000 acres and that public tips remain a critical tool.
“This is a perfect example of how we build strong cases from a simple tip from a citizen,” he said.
While the post kept the violator’s identity anonymous, a name has been circulating online and in hunting circles as the individual involved. Despite the murmurings (it sounds like he’s an influencer of sorts), the DNR has neither confirmed nor denied the identification, and we have been unable to independently verify it either.
On the DNR’s Facebook post about the case, a woman identifying herself as connected to the hunter pushed back against the agency’s framing. She wrote that the residency issue stemmed from a change after he got married, not from any intentional effort to cheat the system.
“Everything was legal on that hunt… He would have never shot the elk if he knew his tag was forfeit due to residency changes,” she posted. She added that they “have too much to lose to do something stupid like that,” described the situation as “unfortunate,” and said the hunter “should have looked into the regulations more beforehand.” She also claimed she was not present when the bull was killed and only learned of the residency problem later, while suggesting Utah DNR has a particular dislike for the man.
If this young lady’s story is true, it sounds like, despite the hunter’s apparent best intentions, he still broke the law. This conviction comes amid an ongoing scrutiny of residency claims for hunting licenses across the West. Idaho itself recently lengthened the residency period required for a lifetime hunting license from six months to five years after complaints that nonresidents—including some with large social-media followings—were briefly establishing residency to exploit the system.
Either way, this fella’s eight-year reciprocal suspension means that he cannot legally hunt in any compact state until it expires. How the conviction may affect any outfitting or guiding activities remains unclear, as Utah DNR has not addressed that question or confirmed if the man involved is in fact the outfitter rumored to have been involved.
