One of the bulls | WGFD
In the span of about two weeks this month, someone (or several someones) in Wyoming went on a killing spree, shooting a collared cow moose near Dubois, a calf elk southwest of Lander, and three bull elk near Hyattville. The egregious part of each and every one of the bloody cases is that no meat, heads or antlers were taken.
The Hyattville bulls were found within a few hundred yards of each other roughly three-quarters of a mile south of the Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site. Initially, two bulls were discovered on Oct. 15th and a third popped up the following day. According to Game and Fish, decomposition indicated they were killed between roughly Oct. 3rd and 10th, before the season opened in that area. The Lander calf elk was shot in the head on Oct. 4th in the Crooked Creek/Meyer Basin area and reported the same day, while the Dubois cow moose, collared as part of a research project on the Jackson Moose Herd, died on Oct. 17th, with collar data suggesting she may have been wounded as early as Oct. 15th.
Head shot | WGFD
For the time being, Game and Fish is treating them as separate investigations, which is probably correct considering that Hyattville is a long way from the other two. But what is seemingly difficult to ignore, is the shared method in which all of the animals were killed. With nothing touching these animals other than the bullets used to senselessly kill them, hunters are expressing their frustration.
“I don’t need to kill just to be killing,” J.R. Larsen, southern Wyoming regional director for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, told Cowboy State Daily. “And not even taking the meat? What’s up with that? Grow up, have some ethics.”
The Dubois animal adds another layer. That cow was a research moose from the Jackson herd, collared in the Gros Ventre as part of a University of Wyoming study. That group has already dropped from around a thousand animals in the late 1980s to roughly three hundred animals today, making the removal of this cow all the more detrimental to overall herd health.
Collared cow | University of Wyoming
"The loss of this animal represents not only an illegal waste of Wyoming’s wildlife, but also a needless impact to the Jackson Moose Herd, which has been struggling for decades," Jackson Wildlife Biologist Aly Courtemanch said. "The loss of a prime-age cow moose isn’t just the loss of one individual but all of the future calves she would have contributed to the herd as well."
The timing coincides with the close of a multi-year Fremont County poaching investigation announced earlier this week. In that case, Dakota Jordan of Lander pleaded guilty to eight wildlife charges involving deer, elk, and a moose dating back to 2021 and received a lifetime revocation of hunting and trapping privileges, jail time, and $18,000 in fines and restitution.
Wyoming Game and Fish is asking anyone with information on the open cases can call the Stop Poaching Hotline at 1-877-WGFD-TIP (1-877-943-3847), text TIP411 with the keyword WGFD, or submit tips online at wgfd.wyo.gov.
